The box says this game is realistic and has an "advanced AI." The box lies.
However, it's strange that I found no shortage of controversy over the game's title: "Black College Football: The Xperience." While searching for reviews, the majority of forum posts and such, almost without exception, centered either on people complaining about "reverse racism" (a nonsensical concept), people writing rants about the "ignorant" and "uneducated" white folk who just don't get black culture, and people lambasting EA for excluding black schools from NCAA Football since whenever ('03 or '04, I think).
It's all quite pathetic. Admittedly, the highest concentration of this crap is on IGN. I don't understand, because to a degree everyone is right. Historically black colleges DO exist. That's a fact, and those tradition-rich schools are what this game focuses on. However, there's no doubt that a similar game titled "White College Football" would garner nothing but outrage, assuming it ever saw the light of day. The main counter I've seen to this is that "white people" already have their "White College Football," and it's called "NCAA Football." That's ridiculous, because major schools featured in that game no longer identify themselves as "historically white" (they can't --- they would be sued), and black players comprise probably half or more of EA's roster (which realistically reflects NCAAF). As for EA being "racist" for removing black schools from their game ---- no. EA removed a number of small schools some years back, and many of them were not HBCUs.
So why can't we all just get along? I don't care what level of melanin nature graced you with, so let's just talk about the game.
Sigh.
First of all, while I cannot say that this game is "good" in any sense of the word, at least it isn't Madden 08. As a PC user, I've been playing Madden 08 since release in 2007, seeing how EA has apparently abandoned the PC sports market. Maybe that's just as well, since they've been re-releasing the same game every year since Madden 2003, maybe longer, and haven't come close to giving PC users the same quality experience afforded console players. In any case, I reluctantly like BCFx simply because it isn't Madden, but it has no shortage of problems.
Graphically, the game isn't horrible, but it's disappointing considering that it runs on the Unreal Engine 3.0. I look at Unreal 3, Gears of War and Mass Effect --- then I look at BCFx, and my only thought is, "WTF?"
In terms of animation and physics, Nerjyzed Game Studios fumbled the ball. The players seem to be moving in slow motion at times, and when sprinting they all move like lumbering zombies on fast-forward. On the other hand, the football itself zips around at light speed, totally unrealistically, whether kicked or passed. Even on kickoffs, the return man gets the ball so quickly that your coverage team of zombies will rarely get to him before the 40 yard-line. Kicking to the goal line or end zone doesn't seem to make much difference.
General movement, aside from being slow, just feels .... floaty. It feels like you're controlling pixels on a screen, not playing a football sim. I think of great PC sports games like Pro Evolution Soccer, where the players running around and the ball rolling and soaring actually seem to have mass, and everything behaves realistically. Then I look at BCFx, and this realism is truly absent. It bothers me.
Other nits just pile up the more you play. The coin in the pre-game coin-toss floats above the official's hand. When a tackled player goes down face-first, often the ball will clip through the ground. Everybody seems to have the same face. Players who hit the dirt don't seem to recover until the play is over, making it pointless to even kid yourself about your RB trying to recover that fumbled football that's lying beside his left hand. Sometimes the ball will do strange things in flight, like magically warping or curving into or out of a receiver's hands (in fairness, the same thing happens on Madden sometimes).
What about the AI? Well, I'd love to write about it, but there doesn't appear to be any. Defenders will literally stand in place and watch you run by at times, and YOUR defenders will do the same while the computer runs by. This is the not the "advanced AI" advertised on the product's packaging!
All in the all, the BCFx gameplay reminds me of something that might have come out in the late 1990s. It didn't belong in 2007, and it certainly blows fat goats here at the end of 2009.
Audio? Well, the on-field sound, like the graphics, isn't just plain bad or anything, but it's lackluster. Also, tackling sounds seem to just drop out sometimes. I don't know why. Chatter between players is okay if you just ignore it, but it sounds silly when you're in practice mode with no band or crowd, and some guy blurts out, "We can't score if we don't move!"
The commentary isn't just lackluster --- it's terrible. I give it kudos for featuring two personalities other than Al Michaels and John Madden, but that's about it. There's no banter, and the guys say things that have no relation to what just happened. For example, I returned a punt for a touchdown, and the analyst said what a great job my offense did of moving the ball down-field. Another time, I had a quarterback in the third quarter who'd gone 23 of 27 for over 250 yards, having racked up 42 points, and an incomplete pass on first down prompted the commentator to say, "The defense is getting to him." Also, hilariously, onside kicks are registered as fumbles, and the announcers react accordingly.
Beyond that, the commentary is dull and very repetitive. With measly five-minute quarters, you'll still probably hear each line at least three or four times. The game might be improved slightly by turning the commentary off. I'll have to try that later.
One unique feature of BCFx is the ability to play a rhythm game with the marching band at halftime. It might be interesting, except the band appears to be a pre-rendered video rather than a 3D event, and it looks terrible on my 1680x1050 display. Further, buttons don't always register when you press them, and missing a beat ends the halftime show. This is really dumb, as there's no rational reason you shouldn't be able to continue playing even if you screw up. I mean ... I've never played in a marching band, but I've never seen halftime canceled because the tuba player was a step off, either.
There are other oddities: buggy menu behavior in-game, fading or cut-off commentary when selecting plays (which isn't important since the commentary sucks anyway), no player creation or editing features, and no season mode (though supposedly the BCFx Doug Williams Edition for 360 has one --- PC sports fans screwed again!).
So with this many problems, why should anyone even remotely consider playing this train wreck of a game? Well, like I said, it isn't Madden 08. That was enough for me to try it. And despite the laundry list of issues, I'm still playing BCFx, at least until Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 comes out. The college atmosphere IS enjoyable to a degree, and it's good that a company is trying to bring the college market to PC and reinstate some of the smaller schools that were cut by EA. I hope development on Black College Football continues, and I hope Nerjyzed keeps a PC version. It's a great idea that just needs some much better work behind it.