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Rudy
10-08-2010, 05:18 AM
After playing around 75 games of NCAA 11 I have a pretty good grasp of my thoughts on the game. I’ve played the game after each patch (with patch #2 having a terrible effect on the cpu running game) and I’ve also used a conventional offense and spread offense. Overall the game is solid but still has some crucial areas it needs to improve upon. I don’t play online so I will not comment on that aspect.

PRESENTATION

•This area improved a bit. ESPN integration and team entrances are good. Custom stadium sounds are always great although it would be better if you could select the default team to make editing quicker.
•I still like Brad Nessler but losing Corso hurt. I miss his humour. They need to add a third analyst to bring some fresh blood to the commentary.
•Cut scenes are good but I’d like to see real time presentation like MLB the Show along with real coaches on the sidelines.
•Where are the stats? Football on TV is always displaying stats for both the current play and cumulative stats over the course of a game. Stat overlays are very rare in NCAA 11. They need to take a page out of Madden’s book in this area.
•I'd love to see a quick halftime show where they show a few video highlights along with game scores and compare offensive impact players. A weekly college recap show like 2K5 would be fantastic but I won't hold my breath.


DYNASTY
•The recruiting difficulty is fantastic. It allows you to play as elite programs and maintain realistic recruiting levels to keep the game from getting too easy.
•The recruiting changes were very good. Adding a set number of topics and randomizing the topics reduced some of the tedious aspects. Some might find it too time consuming (there is a quick call feature) but I find it addicting and fun.
•Still lacks discipline. The recruiting needs to allow you to sway topics down and not just up.
•Pipelines are big but the game doesn’t let you see what state the kids on your current roster are from. That’s important if you want to maintain pipelines.
•When changing positions weight seems to have no effect. A free safety under 200 pounds shouldn’t be able to turn into a solid defensive lineman. Please fix this as the calculated overall rating for a player in these scenarios also messes up the depth charts.


GAMEPLAY – Running Game

•The new “locomotion” momentum system combined with improved blocking logic has really improved the running game. You have to read holes and lay off the turbo. Option blocking is correct now making the reads realistic and fun. I’d like to see a little more weight and momentum given to the players but the improvements to the running game are one of the highlights of NCAA 11.
•The read option is still a bit weak. Blocks don’t hold up as well as other running plays but it still works.
•I’m not a fan of the dual stick controls as I really don’t know how necessary leaning my upper torso is. The truck move doesn’t work as well as in the past and the stiff arm doesn’t work at all.
•The computer can’t run the spread option. The quarterbacks are lousy at running the option and whenever you face a spread team like Oregon and Michigan; those rushing attacks are putrid when compared to reality. The 120 Ways to Win does not apply to the cpu if they run a spread. A huge emphasis needs to be placed on this, particularly as some of the top college players play in this system.

GAMEPLAY – Passing Game

•There are more misfires on throws this year and sliders help fix most concerns.
•Press coverage is done well. The jam takes a good amount of time (not too long) and wide receivers still beat it at times resulting in big plays. Good risk-reward here.
•The addition of the hurry up is nice. It gives the teams more personality but why restrict the ability to call plays at the line of scrimmage to this mode? If I choose to huddle, I’d like to have the same ability to call a variety of plays at the line through an improved audible system.
•Linebackers still jump too high in the air knocking down passes that lack arc. The pass trajectory of these passes needs to be improved so this doesn’t happen as much.
•Play action passing is horrible. Far too many sacks and not enough time to throw the ball. Play action is a big part of football and yet you really can’t use it much in NCAA 11 for fear of the automatic sack.
•Zone defence was horrible when this game was shipped and is still bad after three patches. They need to make defenders smarter in zones and also split the pass coverage slider into separate man and zone sliders so we can fine-tune this area ourselves. If one area is too dominant it makes defensive play calling boring. Safety play is particularly bad here.
•The cpu is far too blitz happy, particularly on third downs leaving slot receivers too open many times. Tone this down and disguise the blitzes better.
•The cpu defensive play calling logic is flawed as they tend to choose their personnel based on down and distance and not enough on offensive personnel. They often come out intent on stopping the run on early downs leaving their secondary exposed. This is clearly a problem when facing spread teams.
•Mobile cpu quarterbacks not only run the option poorly, they also rarely scramble. When they do the game still chooses a safe baseball slide the majority of the time. These athletes should be fighting for yards. It’s not the NFL. More rollouts and scrambles are necessary to distinguish the pocket passers from the mobile quarterbacks.
•The cpu QB always tends to drift to his right in the pocket which results in numerous sacks for the left defensive end while the right DE gets paltry sack numbers.
•For defensive purposes I’d love to see a game planning option where we can shade DBs inside or outside to take away slants or outs as required.
•A hot route to fake a blitz would add some strategy.
•Bring back the DL slant out option. It was removed for a double spy which I never use.


KICKING GAME

•As usual, kickers have super strong legs on default. Must I tone this down every year by myself? When I do tone down the leg strength the cpu will still attempt field goals on Heisman that it has zero chance of making. Please fix.
•The kick return game, particularly punt return, is bad. Blocking on returns is simply bad and you can have your two year old defend returns if you want. The cpu will never break a long return.


SLIDERS

•I prefer the overall slider system of NCAA to Madden’s cumbersome sub menus but more sliders are needed.
•Split pass coverage into two new sliders: man coverage and zone coverage
•Fumbles, fatigue, injuries.
•Pass deflections. Some of us don’t care for super leaping linebackers so let us tone this area down ourselves.
•Kick and punt return blocking sliders.


MISCELLANEOUS

•Please offer in game saves next year. It’s crucial for some of us that don’t have an uninterrupted hour of gaming time.
•I’d like to see a true defensive camera next year instead of just player lock. Just use the same offensive camera angle and flip it 180 degrees.
•More camera angles period but keep the NCAA 11 default camera angle! I really like it and dislike all of the Madden angles.
•Please bring back full replays to the PS3. I hate that they get cut off all the time on long plays.
•Dreadlocks are needed. Denard Robinson may win the Heisman and yet he doesn't have his dreads in the game.


FINAL THOUGHTS

I really like NCAA 11. It’s a good improvement and the best NCAA game yet on my PS3. Definitely worth buying for the college football fans even if it isn’t perfect. For NCAA 12 they need to focus on the mobile quarterback more than anything. I want the cpu quarterbacks to run the option much better and scramble more often. That’s the one wish I’m hoping for next year. Hopefully Santa Claus delivers.

ram29jackson
10-13-2010, 10:41 PM
the game is still more animated and free flowing than Madden.

I like having all the teams and stadiums. Gameplay is important but sometimes this game is just amazing to look at.

steelerfan
10-14-2010, 03:19 AM
Good job, Rudy. I agree with about 98% of what you said.

One area that I can't wrap my brain around is your idea for a defensive camera. It seems it would only be good if you used the FS. Otherwise, they'd have to choose between letting receivers run free behind you (off camera and possibly without you knowing it) and backing the camera so far into the secondary that you would barely be able to see what was going on at the LOS. Thoughts?

Rudy
10-14-2010, 05:40 AM
Good job, Rudy. I agree with about 98% of what you said.

One area that I can't wrap my brain around is your idea for a defensive camera. It seems it would only be good if you used the FS. Otherwise, they'd have to choose between letting receivers run free behind you (off camera and possibly without you knowing it) and backing the camera so far into the secondary that you would barely be able to see what was going on at the LOS. Thoughts?

I'm not 100% sure how this would have to work but I think you would definitely have to keep an area of at least 5 yards visible behind you. As long as you don't get beat too bad you should still be able to see everything. As a LB it would be cool to have a better look at the OL and still see the RBs and crossing patterns. Even a player lock option where the camera doesn't rotate would be cool to me.

JeffHCross
10-14-2010, 11:26 PM
For a defensive camera, all you have to do is look at Backbreaker for what not to do. The central problem with the idea of flipping it 180 is because, as the quarterback, you can be reasonably sure that nothing will happen behind you. As steeler pointed out, that's not at all the case for the defense. Plus, again using Backbreaker as an example, switching defensive players on a defensive camera can be horribly, horribly jarring.

Rudy
10-15-2010, 05:35 AM
I never switch on defense so I didn't mind the Backbreaker defensive camera. Player lock in NCAA doesn't allow you to switch either. I only played that game for 5 minutes (maybe less) so I can't remember what issues it had but I think that camera as an option could be good.

Oneback
10-15-2010, 07:25 AM
I know this isn't a wishlist thread but to just add on to the things you mention:


Offensive Playbook Creator - At this point I don't care if its something as simple as picking 25 existing formations from other teams playbooks where everything in that formation comes over. I would really like the ability to pick 25 formations then fill that formation from all the existing plays that are pre-built in that formation. Even better than that would be a play creator much like what NFL Head Coach had. Then allow the "created" playbooks to be used online, give OD commissioners the ability to either allow or disallow created playbooks and create a toggle in online matches that either allow or disallow created playbooks in the game creation screen. I have spent well over half my time playing this game looking for that one playbook that has everything I want only to be disappointed in that one playbook will have all the formations I want but the plays within that formation are not the same in another playbook and thus do not have the plays I want.
Better Defensive Playbooks - With all the work that has been done to the offensive side something needs to be done to the defensive playbooks. There are a lot of plays there that have the right concepts but are setup backwards.
Strongside and Weakside defenders - I know you can utilize formations subs to create formations for strong and weakside players however what happens when you guess wrong and have to flip the play at the LOS. I don't think this should be that hard to do as every offensive formation could be tagged with a strongside then when lining up the defensive players would just go to their side.
Defensive Play Creator - Much like the offensive playbook creator above it doesn't matter if this is something as simple as saving defensive setups via hot routes from practice mode or some sort of playbook creator like NFL Head Coach had but as with the offensive side of the ball I spend a lot of time in practice mode trying to fix existing defensive plays, creating plays and trying to figure out how to replicate these plays in a live game as quickly as possible so as to not get stuck in the middle of a play setup when the ball is snapped.


If they were to implement these few things and fix the way the CPU plays the game and the ability to run from the spread I would be giddy like a kid on Christmas morning.

JeffHCross
10-15-2010, 05:14 PM
If they're going to give us an NFL Head Coach style play creator, I hope they figure out a way to ensure the plays are legal. So many of the most popular plays on NFL Head Coach, at least from the play art, appeared illegal.

Personally, I'd hope for an offensive play creator that just let us take established plays and do hot routes, then save them. That'd be enough.

I agree with 2, 3 and 4 without comment. Need, need, need!

Rudy
10-16-2010, 08:34 AM
One thing that is really starting to bug me is how you have to set up the run with the passing game in the spread. You simply can't come out and establish an option running game out of the spread because the cpu is constantly mismatching personel by bringing in extra LBs and/or blitzing all the time. I just wish they would be a lot less unpredictable on defense - particularly in how they default to run stopping formations early on and how they blitz so heavily on 3rd down.

Weight really, really needs to be a bigger factor in how much of a push an OL gets in run blocking. That would make true 3-4 DEs matter more when you recruit along with heavier DTs for NT. The run blocking sliders need to be tested a heck of a lot more next year. They need to not only hold blocks longer but get more movement as you turn them up and hopefully without resulting in a ton of pancakes.

Rudy
10-20-2010, 05:17 AM
I will say the option reads are a huge improvement this year. Not only is the blocking better and the reading of the unblocked player a lot more interesting, they also improved the logic on the speed options. No longer does the QB keep the ball 90% of the time but you really do have to read the defenders who do force the QB to keep the ball instead of always going to the ball like a magnet.

jaymo76
10-23-2010, 11:00 PM
Great write-up Rudy. Piggy-backing off of oneback I would love to see a playbook editor. This would really put the gave to the same level as NCAA 06 (my personal #1).