• MaddenMatrix: Walkthrough of NCAA Football 11 Dynasty at E3


    MadScientist06 of MaddenMatrix.com managed to capture seven videos of him going through a dynasty at E3. In the first video, we see him setting up a dynasty as well as a glimpse at recruiting before finally starting a dynasty game. The other videos manage to show off the better part of a full game of Penn State vs FCS Southeast as well as a matchup of Penn State vs Alabama. Watch the first video after the break and follow the source link for the remaining videos.




    Comments 65 Comments
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah -
      So this is the first extended play video? Awesome!
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah -
      Ya'll are probably analyzing this right now. I watched them all, and certain plays over, but I can't tell you how much I hate the 'ask coach' feature. I didn't like MadScientist's play style, so I didn't get much out of it, accept there isn't an "illegal man downfield" penalty, as a defender got blocked into a wr catch in the second video. It all looks much better though. I saw a new defensive play or two as well, but everything went so fast.

      He went right to 40 times to recruit by speed. And he set his depth chart by speed as well. I hope that doesn't work out very well for people this year. I hope the higher overall players play like it on multiple levels, and therefore will trump the speed only card. I bet MS was shocked when Bama came out and was working him with the run!
    1. Deuce's Avatar
      Deuce -
      I wonder what level he was playing on? If its AA I'm a little scared of what's going to happen when my little 'academic' school goes up against a good team. The CPU run was pretty powerful and that was against a very good D (rating wise). I sure hope I have to sim to end a few times b/c I'm getting blown out. Would be like 2004 all over again.
    1. AustinWolv's Avatar
      AustinWolv -
      Who else thinks it beautiful to watch the CPU bust a nicely-blocked running play?
    1. Deuce's Avatar
      Deuce -
      Quote Originally Posted by AustinWolv View Post
      Who else thinks it beautiful to watch the CPU bust a nicely-blocked running play?
      Hell ya!!
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Either Alabama's offense is incredible or his defense is just horrible. (And I don't mean ratings)
    1. morsdraconis's Avatar
      morsdraconis -
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      Either Alabama's offense is incredible or his defense is just horrible. (And I don't mean ratings)
      Well, Alabama is basically rated 99 everything in the freakin' game so I'd say it's partly ratings.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Gameplay starts around 3 minutes in to part 5 and goes through the final video. I can't wait to be able to play on something longer than 2 minute quarters. It was fun to watch him play on offense. He tends to throw to the flats too often but the PSU playbook looks cool. Bama-PSU might be one of the first games I play when I get the game.

      As for defense, it was very frustrating to watch him play, or not play, defense. His play calls were lazy and horrific. Not matching up personel is a cardinal sin in my book. He often had base formations early on against 3 or 4 WR sets and late in the game he ran a nickel or dime against a Bama offense that wants to run the clock out. Should I talk about his obsession to run as many Cover 3 blitzes as possible? I HATE running any sort of heavy blitz out of zone coverages. I'll send five men maximum when in zone coverage and I only blitz out of zones once in awhile. When I blitz I prefer to run man-to-man due to so many open areas in Zone blitzes, especially when you are running cover 3. He got burned constantly on it. I really question his defensive play calling.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Quote Originally Posted by morsdraconis View Post
      Well, Alabama is basically rated 99 everything in the freakin' game so I'd say it's partly ratings.
      Partly. But I wrote that post after the Bama TE took the ball in the flats, covered up the ball, and then proceeded to lightly jog for a 20 yard (or so) gain, with most PSU players running straight past him.
    1. Jayrah's Avatar
      Jayrah -
      Yeah rudy I totally agree. That's why I didn't get much out of it. It seemed to me like he was trying to 'break' the blocking by throwing every angle and every user player he could at it. Happily, it didn't work, and in fact, got crushed.

      I too wonder the difficulty. I would guess AA. That would be huge. The difference between an FCS and Top Team is CAVERNOUS. 93-0 (though some was super sim) to getting beat down pretty darn thoroughly as a #17, in just a matter of minutes. This is a spread we've been waiting for.

      And the running by the cpu is GREATLY improved. It's one thing to hear about it, but seeing it on a play by play basis is even better. And it looks like taking int's back to the house will be a bigger challenge too.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      Rhombic's take:
      Quote Originally Posted by rhombic21 View Post
      I guess it's better than last year in that players definitely seem to at least react if a receiver crosses their face, but it still seems to me like their initial drop movement is off. Watch the MLB that's in a hook zone at 4:10 of Video (3 of 7). He runs all the way to the other hashmark, while a receiver crosses his face and sits down right in the area that he should have been covering. The AI stupidly throws at this receiver anyways, but the zone itself doesn't look right to me.

      Look at the play at the 5:36 mark of Video (5 of 7). The Weakside ILB drops all the way across the center, so there is now a HUGE gap between him and the CB, while there are three players standing relatively close to one another on the strong side of the formation. Again, the computer doesn't take advantage of it here, but if the weakside receiver runs some kind of skinny post/slant, it's wide open, as is a cross coming back to the weakside, because the ILB has so strongly over-committed himself to dropping to the middle that he won't be able to change directions and run with a receiver crossing his face going the other way.

      Watch the MLB at 1:01 of Video (7 of 7). A (the slot receiver) is running a skinny post right over the middle of the field. He appears to be in a hook zone, but look where he goes to cover. Look at the massive hole in the coverage, and the defense is only rushing 3 people! Look at how open that receiver is against max cover, on nothing more than a simple post over the middle!

      The dreaded 5 WR Four Verticals play at 1:44 of Video (7 of 7). Look how wide the fuck open A is. If the ball is thrown on time, he makes the play easily. Further, the fact that the CB (who isn't even responsible for covering that route) makes the play inherently means that the receiver running the streak on that side was open deep. If he had been running a fade route instead of a streak down the numbers, the one of them would have been open by 10 + yards. Explain to me what sound coverage scheme leaves a player that wide open on 3rd and 15, at the sticks, right over the middle. The defense didn't even blitz.

      LOL at the play at 3:35 of Video (7 of 7). Watch the FS, who is supposed to be in a hook zone right in the area where the ball is eventually thrown. Watch him the entire play, don't watch anybody else. The user player (the SS, who is responsible for the deep third) is covering way out of his zone to try and stop this play, and it's still wide the fuck open because the rest of the defense is absolutely clueless.

      There are about 3 receivers who are open within 3 seconds of the ball being snapped on the play at 4:20 if Video (7 of 7). A is open once he crosses the LB. X is open virtually at the snap of the ball. B is open shortly after that right down the middle of the field (where an MLB of some sort ought to be covering).

      Another thing that seems off to me is the first play of the second gameplay video (three of seven). If you look, the offense is essentially running some kind of 4 verticals play, with the two wingbacks going down the seams. Now, it seems to me that the two linebackers in hook zones ought to carry their man deeper, since they don't have anything threatening their areas.

      And looking at the PA TD from that same video, it still seems like the DBs in man to man coverage do not get deep quickly enough. They essentially wait for the WR to get right on top of them before turning around and sprinting back, which means that they will constantly get beat deep unless they have elite speed. If there was a way to tell the outside CBs (and the each of the CBs individually) to play off (give a bigger cushion), and to maintain a bigger gap between them and the WR (i.e. to play more conservatively against shorter routes), then I wouldn't have a huge problem with this, but since there's not, it's a problem. Average CBs shouldn't be able to play aggressive man to man defense, but at the very least, there ought to be a way for me to tell my average CBs to employ an "I'm an average CB so don't try to be a superstar" logic, while my elite players play more aggressively. I don't want a global setting that applies to everybody, because then if I do happen to have a lockdown CB who can afford to gamble more because he has make-up speed, then I want him to take advantage of it.

      The QB containment at 5:22 of Video (6 of 7) is a complete joke. The defensive end is initially in perfect position to defend it and then gets suctioned/sealed back to the inside. Other players stop it, sure, but the point is that the defense does not contain the passer correctly. If the defense had been in a different playcall, the QB very easily could have ended up waltzing into the endzone.

      Also, where exactly is this improved pass rush? On plays where the defense did not get a player in untouched on a blitz, the QB seems to have a ridiculous amount of time. Even the AI QB of FCS SE against Penn State.

      But they fixed the AI! Bullshit.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by JeffHCross View Post
      Rhombic's take:
      Yeah it doesn't look like "greatly improved" is going to live up to the billing. To me, its almost to the point that I believe EA has intentionally decided to dumb down defense so that the casual gamers can put up Tecmo Bowl numbers with ease. Its really sad b/c this game is pretty close to being a very solid game. However, the total lack of any defensive AI is probably going to ruin this game unless you enjoy 40-50 point shoot outs where 1 mistake or the last one to have the ball wins.
    1. morsdraconis's Avatar
      morsdraconis -
      Quote Originally Posted by CLW View Post
      Yeah it doesn't look like "greatly improved" is going to live up to the billing. To me, its almost to the point that I believe EA has intentionally decided to dumb down defense so that the casual gamers can put up Tecmo Bowl numbers with ease. Its really sad b/c this game is pretty close to being a very solid game. However, the total lack of any defensive AI is probably going to ruin this game unless you enjoy 40-50 point shoot outs where 1 mistake or the last one to have the ball wins.
      But this isn't the final version of the game with all the tweaks (supposedly).

      Plus we have no idea what difficulty he's playing on.
    1. HawkFan's Avatar
      HawkFan -
      I would hold off judgment a little bit, as people have said before supposedly this is not the final version of the game with the tweaks they have talked about. Plus as stated above we have absolutely no idea what level this person was playing on.

      And I would also like to point out that in watching this the person playing seems obsessed with speed and getting to the edge all the time. Now this not the way I play and maybe it's no the way you play, I guess what I am trying to say is that we all play this game a little different than the next guy and while it may not look improved when he is playing, it may be greatly improved when we are playing it.

      Just my two cents.
    1. Rudy's Avatar
      Rudy -
      Patches and tuning sets should be able to help with some things. I'm offensively challenged so I don't see a major problem.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by morsdraconis View Post
      But this isn't the final version of the game with all the tweaks (supposedly).

      Plus we have no idea what difficulty he's playing on.
      That may in fact be the case. However, if EA was really confident that they had in fact "greatly improved" the pass rush and DB coverage, I believe we would have seen gameplay footage comparing the pre "greatly improved" gameplay versus the final build.

      I've just been burned too many times on next-gen by EA claiming things are fixed from the demo only to find out the same issues remain.
    1. Kwizzy's Avatar
      Kwizzy -
      Quote Originally Posted by CLW View Post
      That may in fact be the case. However, if EA was really confident that they had in fact "greatly improved" the pass rush and DB coverage, I believe we would have seen gameplay footage comparing the pre "greatly improved" gameplay versus the final build.

      I've just been burned too many times on next-gen by EA claiming things are fixed from the demo only to find out the same issues remain.
      Agreed, until i see something concrete, I'm going to remain a bit skeptical here... Hopefully this "tuning" feature allows them to make some crucial adjustments. I have EXTREMELY high hopes for this game & just from playing the demo, I think it has the potential to live up to those hopes with some adjustments to the defense.
    1. HawkFan's Avatar
      HawkFan -
      I see no problem with being skeptical but some of those out there (none that I have seen at this site) see one video and they write the whole thing off. That in my mind is being a little to skeptical.
    1. CLW's Avatar
      CLW -
      Quote Originally Posted by Kwizzy View Post
      Agreed, until i see something concrete, I'm going to remain a bit skeptical here... Hopefully this "tuning" feature allows them to make some crucial adjustments. I have EXTREMELY high hopes for this game & just from playing the demo, I think it has the potential to live up to those hopes with some adjustments to the defense.
      Yeah, if they can "tune"/patch the pass rush to get more realistic time in the pocket and improve the DBs man and zone coverage to provide BALANCE between offense and defense - 11 would be the most realistic/best game in the series to date.
    1. JeffHCross's Avatar
      JeffHCross -
      While I'd love to think that the E3 footage isn't the final build, every indication (from EA and attendees) has been otherwise. It's possible they still had some tweaks to test and put in between what they took to E3 and release, but it's unlikely. The game would have gone gold shortly after the show, so that doesn't give much time.

      To me, the bigger factor is that we don't know what difficulty he was playing on (probably Varsity), and there were likely no slider tweaks. Obviously, that doesn't bode well for Random Online players, but ... well ... it at least keeps hope for the rest of us.