OT: NCAA 11 Looks Amazing

Submitted by the_big_house 500th on

I just finished playing the demo of NCAA 11 for 360 and this game is looking incredible. First off I love how EA has finally brought the crowd and fans to life in the game to give it that "live on tv" feeling to it. Having the ESPN college football montage with the Gameday Logo is awesome too making it feel like your actually watching a real life college football game. This game however is being called "college madden" and I agree because a lot of the style in it resembles that of the new madden such as color depth, pixels, frames per minute, shadow on field and with the players and the entrances as well. I am so psyched for the full game and to play as Michigan running out of the tunnel and jumping up to touch the GO BLUE banner at midfield! I like the controls in this game but they are really in my opinion just an advanced style of 2010 with more of that Madden feel to it. I like the home field advantage style again too as it makes you feel like once again your not just playing it but you feel like your watching a real game. Graphics I'd have to say out of 10, 9 1/2. There were some reflections of 2010 in it. Not a lot but some. The realisitc feeling of the crowd was an awesome addition too! All in all sweet game! I am looking forward to it's release on the 13th! The demo btw has only a few matchups including OSU vs Miami, Clemson vs Missouri, Florida State vs Florida and Texas vs Oklahoma. I have finished the OSU vs Miami demo and beat the Buckeyes 14-0. Sacked Pryor twice so that always feels good!

those.who.stay.

June 30th, 2010 at 11:17 PM ^

and updated the blocking engine. It has been so bad for so long. Thankfully they've updated it to allow for real zone-reads and zone blocking. Also, draw blocking is a ton better too.

They'll get another $60 out of me this year.

MaizeNBlue

June 30th, 2010 at 11:45 PM ^

Woohoo for formation subs! Being a Michigan player just got so much more efficient. Adds a whole new dynamic to the game and forces people to use different defenses (a friend of mine has about a 60% win percentage online and uses the same 2-3 defensive setups all game, lame).

NOLA Wolverine

June 30th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^

EA just wont give up the absolute garbage base this game started on to make a legitimate football game. All the peripherals are nice, but when the game is this fundamentally flawed, you need to start over.

ijohnb

July 1st, 2010 at 8:50 AM ^

I had just got a 360 for the first time, before that, I think 06-07 was the last time that I played significantly on Playstation 2.  I have to say, 2010 was not good, not good at all.  I thought that the game setup in terms of running on to the field, pre-game, etc. was utter rubish.  I remember thinking "this is it?"

My other major complaint with EA's college football series is the incredible time commitment necessary for dynasty mode.  It just seems to drag ass, recruiting takes forever, the game seems to endlessly "load."  By the time I am ready to play a game I have to turn it off.  I hope they do take things in a better direction.

MaizeNBlu628

July 1st, 2010 at 9:19 AM ^

Shouldn't take that long if youre using Michigan. For recruiting, I just quick call about the top 15 recruits on my board mostly (prorated for more time for recruits higher on my board). This is until they are about to come for a visit, close to commit, or someone I really like. This is all I do, and I easily finish with a #1 recruiting class everytime.

pdgoblue25

July 1st, 2010 at 9:54 AM ^

I still can't believe they haven't really updated the commentary in about 10 years.  Madden has Gus Johnson doing the new game which I think is going to be AWESOME.  NCAA should have Desmond doing commentary in the game now.

Crime Reporter

July 1st, 2010 at 11:22 AM ^

I gave in and went to Dell and ordered it for $40 with free shipping. The demo has been fun. I was very disappointed with the 2010 version, so I hope this one lives up to expectations.

johnvand

July 1st, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^

I downloaded the demo and played as Texas vs Oklahoma, and I felt  like they overdid it with the rebalancing of Speed/Accel/Agility.

The Texas DE could barely get off the line and felt like I was controlling a statue.  Same with the RB, I'd hit him in the flat and it took him WAY too long to hit top speed.

Just felt really really slow.  

I did like that when Oklahoma went no huddle it definitely felt like I was at a huge disadvantage and scrambling a bit to get a good defense called.

Hair Raid Offense

July 1st, 2010 at 12:00 PM ^

I won't be buying NCAA 2011 this year, 2009 and 2010 both sucked, the actual games just aren't fun to play. All EA does is update the rosters every year. The basic game engine is exactly the same.

I'll stick with my NCAA 08 on XBOX, atleast in that game you can give players dreads.

strafe

July 1st, 2010 at 2:10 PM ^

I'm considering picking '11 up as well. Then again, the $1.30 it costs me to burn it on a DVD is a pretty nice savings.

Seriously though, I was pretty happy with the demo after how disappointing '10 was. I'm going to wait and hear how the dynasty mode stacks up, though.

WhatTheFekete

July 1st, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^

Excited for the release of NCAA '11.  I haven't played since '08 on PS2, but now that I picked up an XBOX, I am looking forward to getting into it again.  I am sure that I have missed a lot. Other than what has been shown from EA (outside of the demo) what can I expect from the new game?  

The graphics and game play look amazing so far!  

What type of jerseys do you think that they will be wearing?  

Red_Lee

July 2nd, 2010 at 12:19 AM ^

Can't wait to play it. Got a $20 gift card to amazon from preordering red dead redemption so i'll be ordering it from there. 

Hah, I just moved up to Marquette after graduating from UM due to my fiance enrolling at NMU so I decided to take a crack at the Team Builder to replicate the Wildcats jersey. I did decent, but Team Builder is awesome. It could be improved, but I like it. 

MikeUM85

July 2nd, 2010 at 11:21 AM ^

I'm hooked on the series and have played every version since '03.  Like anything else in life, it does of course have flaws, but I think 11 is going to be a big step up. 

The Good.

  • Blocking AI improvement (these guys really block now, including moving to the second level)
  • Read option AI (the play now works and it makes the run-oriented spread offense work)
  • Graphics (they're fantastic)
  • Michigan Stadium upgrade (they have reportedly upgraded the in-game stadium to match the real world upgrades; have only seen limited screen shots of this so far but can't wait to see it if they did it right)
  • Formation subs (they're back! now you can use DRob in the spread and Tate in the Ace if you so choose)
  • Team entrances (touch the banner!)
  • Corso appears to be gone
  • Cardboard cut-out crowd is now blurred out in background, making the crowd seem more realistic
  • No huddle (so far on demo all it has is quick snap, but it's supposed to allow you to get up to the ball, have the players look to the sideline and then call the play; I hope it's there for Michigan)
  • Recruitment changes (they've streamlined recruitment, and made some changes that look like it will be more challenging vs CPU while taking less time)
  • Changes to effect of stats (speed players will now be much faster than slower players, but they've increased the importance of other stats such as agility and acceleration)
  • Punt return blocking (in the past, your blockers would never handle the gunners, making returns almost impossible; now they have a decent chance of getting blocks)

The Bad.

  • Commentary (same old boring, repetitive team; at least you can mute them)
  • No Coaching Carousel (many fans were calling for more depth on coaching in dynasty mode, with assistant coaches, coaches changing from team to team, etc., but EA is holding it back, probably for another year's upgrades)
  • Limited camera views? (while the demo is better than '10, the camera angle still cuts off the outside receivers/CB's and makes outside throws challenging/risky; I'm hoping the live game gives some more options but rumours are that they will remain limited)
  • Repetitive crowd cut-scene (instead of the cardboard crowd, they now have this 3-D group of fans they show over and over, randomizing hair, skin, clothes etc. but always the same group in the same spot; worse yet, you can't skip it, at least not in the demo)
  • Kick returns (it's insanely easy to score TD's on kick returns now, at least in demo)

The Ugly.

  • Fumbles (lots and lots of fumbles; QB's in particular fumble so often you can't hardly run with them, even if they're dual-threat; hoping they fix this before release or in a patch because you can't do all that much to control it)
  • Run commit (though it seems toned down, the ability to use run-commit with a pass defense to destroy your enemy on third and long has been very unrealistic and is abused in online play)
  • CPU blitzes (the CPU seems to randomly pick defenses so it blitzes a lot on downs when real coaches would be very unlikely to do so; e.g., the CPU will blitz fairly often on first and ten even against run-oriented offenses; this destroys play action unless you crank your pass-blocking up all the way)

Overall, the Good list outweights the Bad and Ugly by a wide margin, meaning for me this is a must-have and a fairly big improvement over the prior next-gen offerings.