More on Heisman Challenge Mode in NCAA Football 13

The Heisman Challenge mode for NCAA Football 13 revealed late in the week was met with a considerable negative response from the community. The mode doesn’t seem to be particularly compelling or inspired – just thrown together in a manner that could be taken advantage of by marketing – and there are the predictable calls for development time to have been spent on areas deemed “more important”. 

In that respect it is reminiscent of the “legends” being added to NHL 12 last year. They were there for little reason beyond having their names attached to the product and consumers expressed disappointment there. At least NCAA presents more of a purpose in matching and exceeding career efforts with flexibility to place them on any current team for simple enjoyment factor.

Aside from that though having an alternate way to play, and especially for fans of the past Heisman winners involved, it’s not a bad thing to have it around as a change of pace to the standard ways to play. Improvements to elements like special teams and play calling were also a must here and that hopefully has implications beyond just the one mode.

What may have set off more people than usual is the gimmicky “Reaction Time” feature which allows the user to slow down the action for a few moments and make more decisive decisions. Managing how much “Reaction Time” a player has is now being left to the user as a strategy to consider (yes seriously). It’s important to note this feature will be available in both Heisman Challenge and Road to Glory but not in any other mode.

To expand on the basic details of the Heisman Challenge check out the full blog from EA Sports and for the game in action watch the lengthy webcast – and in doing so attempt to tolerate seeing it played extremely poorly by developers.