Can Madden NFL 11 match NCAA Football 11? - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Can Madden NFL 11 match NCAA Football 11? Stuck

Posted on July 15, 2010 at 11:35 AM.

(17)

The NCAA team fired the first shot out of the gun this week with the best playing football game -- but still slightly flawed -- in history. Now the attention is beginning to slowly shift to the 10000 lb elephant in the room: Madden NFL 11.

What can Madden do to match and even NCAA's success critically? Well here are a few things:

Don't mess up the basics NCAA nailed- Most likely, Madden has this in the bag -- but you can never be too sure. Locomotion, pro-tak, auto-turbo, and the new animations NCAA incorporated are a huge reason why NCAA is so freaking good this year. Madden has to have that part down.

Unlike NCAA, have spot on commentary- The more I hear Nessler and Herbstreit talk, the more I am beginning to hate their commentary. There are numerous out of place lines, many of which we've heard for half a decade or more. What's worse is they are just kind of boring. Madden has to have a more exciting presentation from the commentary on up.

Capture the atmosphere- EA is touting they've done just that with proper music, chants, etc. for all 32 NFL teams. If fans of NFL teams can play a game and Madden and hear the right things at the right times, well that's going to make Madden seem a lot better than what it really is (which it could be pretty darned good to begin with).

Deliver the goods within the modes-Online dynasty is a surefire hit, the rest of NCAA isn't. Madden has to match Online Dynasty's success while also providing a reason to play other modes as well.

In the end, I think the Madden team has a chance to really bring out something special this year with the Madden franchise. If the gameplay matches NCAA's in quality with a proper NFL atmosphere around you, I suspect the game could be a legit contender for GOTY at OS. However, there are numerous pitfalls to suffer from for me too get too excited too quick, so final judgment has to be reserved for another month.

Do you think Madden will match and even surpass NCAA?

Chris is the Executive Editor of Operation Sports and maintains this blog on the site. He is also a native Oklahoman and avid storm chaser. You can follow him on Twitter @ChrisSnr.

Comments

# 1 sweatyteddytaco @ Jul 15

i hope its as good as ncaa...ive been playing the demo and love it, i just dont like colledge football that much.

# 2 bigsmallwood @ Jul 15

I would love for Madden to surpass NCAA 11, but I do not think it will happen. The gameplay in Madden 11 should at least match NCAA, but the presentation and lack of modes/attention to modes will probably come back to haunt them.

Gus Johnson is an exciting commentator, but from what I have heard so far the lines seem to be off and boring. In a few videos Gus Johnson appeared to be 3-4 seconds behind the action on field. And There is no banter with him and Collinsworth, who in real life is excellent.

I believe it has been said that E3 was not the final build so....we shall see.

NCAA 11 is going to be up for OS Sports GOTY....Madden 11 (without any SIGNIFICANT changes....) not likely.

# 3 adub88 @ Jul 15

As long it plays the same way as NCAA, locomtion and animations, I'll be happy. Ian has said the loco tech is the same, but players have more weight, so I guess I'll just have to wait for the demo.

I've never bought NCAA before, so let's see if Madden '11 will keep that fact going.

# 4 TLizChosen @ Jul 15

We will see. NCAA is good this year, way more than I expected...

# 5 stlstudios189 @ Jul 15

I am waiting till August to decide what game to purchase thsi year. If Madden can match NCAA then I will purchase it for sure.

# 6 labguy @ Jul 15

Chris you do know that the online franchise did not get updated, so no salary cap or free agency right? That missing functionality right there already makes NCAA's online dynasty 10 times better. EA said the usage of online franchise was not enough to justify adding to it this year. I guess they neglected to consider that the missing functionality certainly contributed to the smaller numbers of people using the mode. I am not trying to be Debbie Downer, so I will withhold judgement until the game drops, but I think the playcalling additions will not be the smashing success EA thinks it will....thus resulting in a waste of resources.

# 7 blkprince04 @ Jul 15

well to begin with ncaa player models look much better than madden's so madden is already 1 down......

# 8 gmitch23 @ Jul 15

Madden probably wont be better, NCAA's lighting makes Madden's graphics look like PS2. And im a die hard Madden fan.

# 9 gmitch23 @ Jul 15

o yea, Go Sooners!

# 10 statum71 @ Jul 15

I like 'em both alot this year. But head-to-head I think Madden's gonna take it this year.

# 11 doomsday72499 @ Jul 18

It is gonna be close imo...if they match up well....we get a great game....

# 12 khaliib @ Jul 19

Pro sports are difficult from the jump because they represent the best in the world. With Madden, it has lost it's WOW factor because there's little to what you can do with the product. You have only 32 teams and again these are the best vs NCAA with 120 schools (could be more if they included FCS schools) having a larger variance between teams. Getting a certain type of player actually means something because there is such a large gap between lower/top player's (still need to tweak ratings affect). NCAA still has a ways to go, which is good.

Madden to me has become more of a User vs User game, making the offline experience stale because of limited dynasty improvements. There's little that they could do to make offline better with just 32 teams.

Madden has come to a point (my opinion) were they need to provide fully customization of the game, not simple editor's here and there. Really open it up and allow gamer's the ability to build the game for themselves. Also, presentation has to go above and beyond with a limited amount of teams.

In a nutshell, NCAA still has upside/potential while Madden seems like that aging veteran.

# 13 Nemesix @ Jul 19

I do not like the direction that Madden is going. Every year they seem to take more and more stuff away from the offline franchises and other modes. Yeah the game-play and animations get better but at some point there won't be anything cool about franchise left to get excited about. I wish they could find a way to add the back-end stuff from NFL Head Coach into Madden. That would really give it something for people who like to do the more coaching/owner aspects of the game as well as playing it.