NCAA 11... one week later... MY TAKE...

[jaymo76]

Well the pre-release reviews for this game were off the charts and on release day I heard a lot of people here and at OS claiming this is the best NCAA game ever. Of course we heard many of the same things last year and after a week the sky had fallen and the game was viewed by many as a bust. So after one week does NCAA 11 have that special something we football gamers are looking for???

TWO burning questions:

1. Is NCAA 11 the best NEXT GEN college game ever? ..... YES... but...
2. Is NCAA 11 the best college game ever? .... NO... but...

This is by far the best "next gen" college football game and the best next gen football game period. There are just so many positives. These include:

-locomotion
-fluid run game
-cpu run game (with serious slider tweaks)
-formation subs (my personal favourite)
-ESPN integration
-team entrances / cut scenes / pre-game / post-game
-equipment upgrades
-amazing visuals
-autosave feature
-bowl specific presentation
-recruiting and the recruiting slider
-speed slider (slow is def. the way to go)
-MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS GAME IS JUST FUN TO PLAY!!!

However, there are some areas that need serious attention to improve upon the overall quality and experience of this game. Some items include:

-some weak/innefective sliders & penalty sliders
-man pass coverage~ DB's run the routes better than receivers
-broken zone D
-"holy leaping linebackers Batman" ~ seriously enough is enough!!!
-ESPN good start but needs more depth
-lack of stat overlays before, during, and after the game
-screwed up injury updates
-absolutely awful crowds
-home field advantage is very weak at best

In order for this game to rival IMO the best football game ever (NCAA 06) I will need to see the return of some basic features still missing from next gen. These include:

-matchup stick (best feature ever in the NCAA series
-FCS teams
-coaches on the sideline
-custom playbooks
-spring game
-heisman show
-blue chip prospects
-cpu auto mass subs
-height and weight editing of players (and throw in dreads too for the hair lovers out there
-gatorade shower / coaches being awarded the Bowl/Nat championship

So what features could put this game over the top and make it even better (if that's possible) than NCAA 06? In my opinion a lot could be done including:

-dynamic commentary
-dynamic rivalries
-weekly wrap-up show (similar to the extra point)
-coaching carousel
-calendar format similar to NCAA BASKETBALL 10 as your dynasty hub

Now overall I am really enjoying this game. After one week I give this game a solid 8.5 /10. It's a really good game. It's not great... yet... but it has so, so much potential. I believe the Tiburon developers are finally back on the right path and I see amazing things for NCAA 12 and on, AS LONG AS THE DEVELOPERS ARE AS COMMITTED AS THEY HAVE BEEN THIS YEAR.

NCAA 11 is my 3rd fave NCAA game of all time. I finally feel like I'm playing the quality of last gen games on my PS3 and I look forward to seeing how this game will continue to develop.

My top three of NCAA:
NCAA 06 (PS2) 9.5 /10
NCAA 07 (PS2) 8.75 / 10
NCAA 11 (PS3) 8.5 /10

[JeffHCross]

-matchup stick Overrated, if not borderline unrealistic
-FCS teams Pretty much been told that Teambuilder is designed to replace this. Would be surprised to ever see them again.
-coaches on the sideline Yes
-custom playbooks Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-spring game Overrated
-heisman show Overrated
-blue chip prospects Aren't these 5-stars? Or ESPN 150?
-cpu auto mass subs This is in there ... the CPU just doesn't give up until all hope is lost
-height and weight editing of players How so? This is definitely in there
-gatorade shower / coaches being awarded the Bowl/Nat championship Yes

It's interesting to me that I see many consistent items on wishlists from people who thought NCAA 06 was the height of the series ... and many consistent items from people who thought NCAA 04 was the height. Yet the two don't seem to match up very often. It's almost as if we have two schools of thought as to what was 'best' in the series, and so what is needed for 'greatness'.

Personally ...
Fix Man.
Fix Zone.
Fix HFA ... make it mean something.

Everything after that is gravy. Though I do badly want Custom Playbooks and a Coaching Carousel.

[HuskerBlitz]

This is the first time I think I ever heard anyone say NCAA 2006 was the best ever.

[jaymo76]

-matchup stick Overrated, if not borderline unrealistic
-FCS teams Pretty much been told that Teambuilder is designed to replace this. Would be surprised to ever see them again.
-coaches on the sideline Yes
-custom playbooks Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-spring game Overrated
-heisman show Overrated
-blue chip prospects Aren't these 5-stars? Or ESPN 150?
-cpu auto mass subs This is in there ... the CPU just doesn't give up until all hope is lost
-height and weight editing of players How so? This is definitely in there
-gatorade shower / coaches being awarded the Bowl/Nat championship Yes

It's interesting to me that I see many consistent items on wishlists from people who thought NCAA 06 was the height of the series ... and many consistent items from people who thought NCAA 04 was the height. Yet the two don't seem to match up very often. It's almost as if we have two schools of thought as to what was 'best' in the series, and so what is needed for 'greatness'.

Personally ...
Fix Man.
Fix Zone.
Fix HFA ... make it mean something.

Everything after that is gravy. Though I do badly want Custom Playbooks and a Coaching Carousel.

On matchup stick we will agree to disagree... I thought it was great for strategy purposes. Sorry on blue chip, I meant the Blue Chip "Elite 11"; Height and weight editing DURING DYNASTY, not just during player creation. The players never change in stature from year one on; Mass subs??? Really? I lost to USC by 29 and they never pulled their starters. I have not seen mass subs other than if I put them in. The teambuilder / FCS thing drives me nuts as it gets to the issue of "realism." I just want to play real schedules, not see FCS teams replace real FBS teams.

But yes, coaches on the sideline, custom playbooks and coaching carousel we definitely agree on.

[jaymo76]

This is the first time I think I ever heard anyone say NCAA 2006 was the best ever.

LOL... just go to OS, there is at least one thread per week for us 06 junkies

[JBHuskers]

There is an NCAA 06 I like.....Baseball, I busted it out every now and again til my PS3 crapped out that had the backwards compatibility. I just looked it up and it's not backwards compatible on 360

Good breakdown there Jaymo.

[JeffHCross]

On matchup stick we will agree to disagree... I thought it was great for strategy purposes.

Personally, I never found it useful or, to expand on what I said, very realistic. I can understand that in real football you can pick on a player, especially when you've broken his confidence. But that didn't seem to be reflected in the Matchup stick. I also didn't like the idea that you could look across the field and see how every player on the opposing team is doing. I understand knowing the composure of your own team, but the opponent? Please.

My objection is more for realism than gameplay, however, I will admit.

Height and weight editing DURING DYNASTY, not just during player creation. The players never change in stature from year one on

Agreed ... but I wouldn't want to see this under player control. Without limits (which, I'm sure, there would be none), this would be easily abused. Seems like on PS2 there was some advancement of height and weight in the offseason. Be nice to see a return of that.

I lost to USC by 29 and they never pulled their starters. I have not seen mass subs other than if I put them in.

I was speaking to 10, not 11. And I know it's darned rare, and much more rare than it should be ... but it is in. For whatever reason, it has to be a ridiculous blowout for it to occur. Even down 28 the CPU still thinks it can come back, for reasons passing beyond understanding.

The teambuilder / FCS thing drives me nuts as it gets to the issue of "realism." I just want to play real schedules, not see FCS teams replace real FBS teams.

I agree completely, I just don't expect to see it ever again.

[JeffHCross]

On another note, very good write up jaymo. Good read.

[AustinWolv]

Even down 28 the CPU still thinks it can come back, for reasons passing beyond understanding.

Have you seen the CPU get hot on Heisman and become unstoppable?!!!
Yeah, AI thinks it can come back because it can! LOL.

[JeffHCross]

Have you seen the CPU get hot on Heisman and become unstoppable?!!!
Yeah, AI thinks it can come back because it can! LOL.

I have. I actually almost lost one of those games, because of the ability for the CPU to recover an onside kick last year. My Hands Team had 3 onside kicks bounce off the same player.

It's still borderline ridiculous to see the CPU running hurry up late in the game down by Herculean margins.

[iBrandon]

I didn’t really read the post (no disrespect, but I am trying to avoid threads and posts about issues that I have yet to notice… not sure if your post even includes any) but I am having a blast with NCAA this year. Sure there are a few things that bug me, but nothing crazy. I think as I have gotten older, I’ve learned to enjoy the good things about a game and not to worry as much about the bad. Of course, if it’s a crazy bug and something that can’t be overlooked, it would put a damper on the enjoyment I get out of the game, but for the most part, I can over look minor things (some say the progression is broken, I can deal with that) and just enjoy the game for what it is.

[Sinister]

i agree with you Brandon, by the way i don't think progression is broke guys are used to have stellar people to draft each year it won't happen like that . though apparently there is a kicker and punter issue of them not being enough to recruit.

I feel a week later the game is still good most of the issues i've seen over different boards are all the same . also the list isn't large either. I 'm hoping for a tuning set in next couple a weeks and it fix a lot of the gameplay stuff. Game is hard and fun at the same time i don't feel cheated when i have a turnover or cpu scores on me.

[jaymo76]

i agree with you Brandon, by the way i don't think progression is broke guys are used to have stellar people to draft each year it won't happen like that . though apparently there is a kicker and punter issue of them not being enough to recruit.

I feel a week later the game is still good most of the issues i've seen over different boards are all the same . also the list isn't large either. I 'm hoping for a tuning set in next couple a weeks and it fix a lot of the gameplay stuff. Game is hard and fun at the same time i don't feel cheated when i have a turnover or cpu scores on me.

Yeah, I have no issues with progression. Overall I am really enjoying this game and the last time I said that about NCAA was NCAA 07 (or I guess NCAA Basektball 10...). The potential for this game moving forward is truly impressive.

[Coachdenz]

I really want Coaching Carousel , for me I enjoy the game, but it needs something else added outside the game.
Espn stuff is kinda a let down for me and I button pass the team entrances. but glad for the one's this matters too.
I want them to settle on a recuiting system tweak it from year to year and move on to something else.
I like the Spring game, but could live without it.
For me something really needs to be added to the off season like coaching carousel. I mean it's a major part of Football and this game is missing out.

I will say that the 2 online games that I have played so far have been really fun and I enjoy the game.

[jaymo76]

I really want Coaching Carousel , for me I enjoy the game, but it needs something else added outside the game.
Espn stuff is kinda a let down for me and I button pass the team entrances. but glad for the one's this matters too.
I want them to settle on a recuiting system tweak it from year to year and move on to something else.I like the Spring game, but could live without it.
For me something really needs to be added to the off season like coaching carousel. I mean it's a major part of Football and this game is missing out.

I will say that the 2 online games that I have played so far have been really fun and I enjoy the game.

Agreed with the BOLD statement. Enough recruiting changes... let's get some other areas of dynasty going (aka carousel, custom playbooks, etc.)

[JeffHCross]

I will say that, all things considered, I think this year's Recruiting system could be in the game for a long, long, time. It seems to have the right amount of balance. The difficulty and points awarded might need tweaked, but the actual interface should be around for quite a while.

[AustinWolv]

Agreed, I like it.

More flexibility and usefulness compared to the little football guy. More realistic in that good teams are going to attract good players and bad teams aren't loading up with 5 stars after a season or two.

[voltool16]

i know some think of this as just a useless feature....and it is the way ea implemented it last gen.

ive always had this idea for the spring game/spring training:

in real life, a lot of juco's and true freshmen enroll early in the winter and are able to participate and improve in the spring. this gives them an advantage over the other guys that come in in the summer, as the early enrolllees have gained important experience in the systems that the teams run.

if we could add this to recruiting, maybe a little emblem saying EE or something, it would be great to finish offseason recruiting and be able to play with and do some training camp practices with the new true freshmen. so say you needed a qb badly and he has a good chance of coming in and starting. a lot of elite qb's will enroll early and say he comes in as an 80 to start with, he would start the season as an 80. I think it would be cool to have a chance to take some early enorllees and juco guys come in and gain some awareness and progress 2 to 3 points before the season even starts. 6 extra months and all those scrimmages really does make a huge difference as far as being ready when the fall rolls around for a true freshman.

also, we all know that sometimes ratings dont matter and a guy just plays out of this world and over his rating in actual games. if you need depth at a position but want to redshirt somebody, you could play the spring game with the freshmen to see if any just "have it" as far as gameplay goes. this way before you redshirt, you can actually test players and see who may make more of a difference in gameplay than their rating suggests.

anyways....always wanted this in the game. the chance to sneak in one more wave of progression for a handful of recruits.

[JBHuskers]

I wouldn't mind a spring game....to sim and analyze the stats. I wouldn't want to play one though.

[HuskerBlitz]

Yeah, I always let the computer play out the spring game in last gen and looked at the stats. The problem I had with that, though, is the computer was programmed to start eating the clock in the second half.