Early Bowl Bound Thoughts
Been tooling around a bit with Grey Dog’s Bowl Bound the last few days and I think the game has a lot of potential. Text based fans who want a good college sports game previously only had the option (to my knowledge) of getting a copy of FoF: The College Years.
Now that they have released the 1.3 patch — which was vital because there were way too many injuries before it was fixed, it’s a much more playable game. Still a few quirks, AI blemishes and other things that need stamped out but I am thoroughly enjoying calling the plays in my OSU dynasty. I haven’t reached the recruiting stuff as I am only in week 4 (oddly enough you don’t do any recruiting until week 8 or so other than just checking interest levels). I just went on the road and routed Oklahoma 34-13. A total blast.
Anyway, right now my concern is the polling AI. I have read that it shakes out a lot better after the midpoint of the season but right now it’s all over the map. Michigan started out #1, is currently 4-0 and is now #4. This past week they were sitting at #1 in the nation, beat Notre Dame 16-6 and dropped 3 spots. Uh, no.
After OSU throttled the Sooners, we went from #4 to #1, leaping over Michigan, Miami, and Texas, all who won their game. The Canes beat V-Tech (#12) 58-24 and lost a spot. That’s not good. We’ll see how the polls shake out as the season unfolds.
I also had a run time crash error in an OT game against TCU which was a tad disconcerting. Still, I am enjoying playing the game right now despite its issues.
I’ll sim out a season to test the stats integrity, recruiting, and poll AI. Oh, and it does have a playoff option rather than forcing you to go bowling, which is nice.
December 26th, 2005 at 12:24 pm
Maybe the game simulates how the polls *should* work!