NCAA Football 11 review - johnprestonevans's Blog

johnprestonevans's Blog

NCAA Football 11 review

Posted on July 23, 2010 at 08:22 AM.

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NCAA FOOTBALL 11

College ball gets the jump on the pros by a week or so in real life. In the videogame world the two EA Football combatants hit the virtual grid iron within a month of each other. NCAA Football has traditionally lead the way with its mid summer launch, giving fans of the sport a chance to "warm up" for the big leagues in August. That has been my experience in the past with NCAA Football. With its big brother Madden warming up in the tunnel, does this little brother have what it takes to step out of the shadow and into a career of its own?

Gameplay.
There is no other sport quite like football. With so many cogs in the wheel and parts to the game it seems a difficult challenge for game developers to get everything just right. When talking about Madden or NCAA there always is a piece missing from the puzzle. Football is a game of strategy, strength, physics, agility, speed and teamwork. When implementing these elements into their collegiate game, EA took to task the issues that have been plaguing its series and football games in general.
This season those cogs have been greased, and the wheels of NCAA Football turn with power and precision. Locomotion is easily one of NCAA 11's best new features and biggest game changer. Simply put, locomotion governs how the players on the field move and feel as you control them. This year players speed up, slow down, pivot, turn, lean and juke with lifelike authenticity. These improvements are not simply cosmetic animations either. This feel of total control and realistic player reaction resonates in every part of NCAA 11's gameplay. From a QB stepping back and planting his feet for a throw, to a wide receiver cutting his route on a post pass, the players on the field finally behave as you would expect them to. This is most evident in the running game - which is a pure pleasure this season. Running backs twist, juke and push with surprising realism. The running game is also helped by two other key factors. One is the new blocking AI that vastly improves the experience. Offensive linemen are a lot smarter this season and will make their assignments most of the time. This forces you as a back to be patient and look for those holes to run into rather than the full speed ahead approach in years past. The 2nd game change is the removal of the sprint button. No longer will you hold the right trigger to give your player that extra speed burst. The change in a players speed is controlled by the AI. If you get into open space the player will run faster. This is a great improvement over years past since almost everyone simply held the trigger for extra speed the entire time anyway.
Defense has also been tightened up. Coverage is excellent through all parts of the field - even in the flats which have been problematic over the years. AI will sometimes blitz heavily with great success. There is definitely an urgency at times as QB sacks appear more prevalent than ever before.
Another improvement in NCAA Football 11's gameplay are the controls. Play calling can be a daunting and time-consuming task in football videogames. This year EA decided to give players the option to simplify your play calling by offering a more streamlined play calling screen by default. Now the game will recognize the situation that you are in and put up a single row of 3 plays that it suggest for you to pick from. Delightfully, these AI play calls are quite accurate and intelligent to what you would probably choose to run. You of course still have the ability to go deeper and open up the full playbook if you like.
The controls themselves are excellent. A simple click of the right thumbstick opens up a secondary menu. This legend gives you the extra button layout to perform line shifts, hot routes, audibles, blitz packages and other strategic changes on the fly. NCAA 11 really becomes a read and react game of chess when you step up to the line. Running a no huddle offense is no longer simply a repeat of your last play. Now you will have the ability to make quick adjustments as you reset your squad on the fly. No other football game to date has achieved this level of gameplay - whether its the players on the field or the coaching on the sidelines.
NCAA Football's tagline this year is "120 Ways to Win". This means that each school in the game plays they way their real life counterparts would. If your favorite team runs a spread offense, then expect to see that same playbook in NCAA 11. The reality of this feature is that no game will feel the exactly same. As you progress through your season you will need to make adjustments to the different play styles of each opponent.
Game modes are plentiful and offer what you would expect from a modern AAA sports title. Road to Glory is your own personal football experience where you take a highschool prospect all the way through the college ranks. Exhibition, practice and dynasty modes are also available.
The best of the bunch is Online Dynasty mode. From here you will be in charge of running a football program over a number of years in a way that no other sports game has connected you before. Online Dynasty is a new benchmark for connectivity with its Dynasty Wire feature. This is a weekly wrap-up of the league's events where scores, highlights and stories can be created and viewed by all players in that dynasty. There is an incredible sense of union and camaraderie that accompanies this shared experience. Writing your own stories with the storybuilder feature is an excellent way to tell the world what is going on with your team. What's even better is that all of this content is accessible on PCs and mobile devices like iPhones. Now you can recruit, see highlights and standings, pose trades and write articles no matter where you are.
In terms of breadth and depth, there are no better football gameplay experiences than NCAA Football 11.
Gameplay = 9.5/10.

Graphics.
While gameplay is this years biggest improvement, the graphics have also taken a considerable leap forward. The most evident upgrade is the game's new progressive lighting engine which renders astoundingly realistic looking shadows and highlights in all kinds of weather and time of day. Players now cash shadows on themselves as well as the environment around them. Still photos of the game are nearly photo-realistic thanks to this vibrant contrast in the game's lighting. Player models are very good too. Players look smaller than they do in a pro game like Madden. Since the game ships without real rosters there is no discernable look between individual players. They all basically look the same and are given generic numbers and names.
The animations are nicely done too. This marries well to the new locomotion engine. Transitions are a big part of this years game and most of the time they players look great performing their moves and morphing from one animation to another.
Tackling still brings a few small visual glitches as you will still see clipping and detection issues from time to time. This is not a prevalent issue and certainly does not detract from the overall experience.
What does take away from the experience somewhat is the crowd. EA has done a lot of work on the presentation of NCAA Football 11 (see the Presentation section of this review) to bring home an authentic college football experience, but for whatever reason has continued to ignore one of its biggest graphic weaknesses. Crowds look horrible from a medium distance. Stadiums are packed with a hundred thousand 2 dimensional cardboard cutouts that animate like they did 10 years ago. Close-up cutscenes of the crowd are solid and the wide panning shots from a far are also fine.
The stadiums themselves look fantastic. The team at EA has gone through great lengths to research the architecture and upgrade scoreboards and grand stands to many of its stadiums.
NCAA 11's framerate is decent. The game runs at a smooth clip most of the time. The only exception really is during online play where things can slow down if only slightly. But again, this is not a game-breaking problem.
You will be impressed at just how good NCAA Football 11 looks. This is a substantial step forward for a series that traditionally has lagged behind Madden's visuals. This is no longer the case.
Graphics = 8.5/10.

Sound.
When talking about college football you cant help but discuss the big bands that dominate its soundtrack. Right from the get-go NCAA 11 hits you in the mouth with drum beats and brass from its plethora of marching bands. Each big school has its own theme that plays religiously throughout the game. This added dimension of true to life audio helps heighten the immersion of playing a college football game. A bit more variety would help however. You will hear the exact same cue from your school's band every time you do something heroic.
The crowds sound fairly good too. They get excited when things are going well and decidedly quiet when they are not. Their reactions are not always on cue and while some of the bigger schools have specific chants associated with them, they still could use one more level of polish to remove some of the generic tarnish.
In the booth the game is beginning to sound a bit stale. The team of 3 has been reduced to 2. Lee Corso has left Brad Nessler and Kirk Herbstriet do a fine job calling the action, but much of their dialogue has been recycled from years past. Comments are not 100% accurate or emotive. A more progressive system is needed to bring commentary to the higher standards set in games like MLB The Show and Fifa.
There are no glaring problems with how NCAA 11 sounds, but it just feels like a forgotten part of the game. The neglect is beginning to show.
Sound = 7/10.

Presentation.
When you market your sports game with "New and Improved ESPN integration" you set yourself up for high expectations. This year NCAA Football has been given a much needed presentation facelift. The results are mostly positive.
First off the use of ESPN banners and logos are awesome. Games begin with the customary ESPN College Football logo as the commentary team discuss the matchup. Team specific intros have also been added to this year's game and they look great. Things like slapping the sign at Notre Dame or touching Howards Rock at Clemson are nice to see. Unfortunately these events are presented exactly the same way every game in a pre-rendered cut scene. A more dynamic camera approach would help to give these intro's more legs.
Camera angle options remain as a big omission in the game. There is only one angle to play from. Luckily that solitary camera works well for a generic vertical gameplay experience. For a game that boasts about ESPN broadcast presentation, the surprising absence of any broadcast options is perplexing.
ESPN instant replays are one of this years most impressive visual features. Logo wipes, camera edits and dramatic angles are extraordinary when watching replays. This comes very close to how you would see things on television.
Unfortunately NCAA Football 11 still lacks any kind of ESPN halftime and postgame show. Other than a few generic highlights at the end of the game, there is nothing that comes close to the fantastic ESPN shows that propelled NFL2K5 to the top of the sports presentation world years ago. The lack of commentary and analysis is bewildering all these years later. A well produced show that goes around the league with highlights and stories would be a huge shot in the arm for the ESPN broadcast content. Other details like out of town scores and Game Breaks would further heighten the authenticity of the experience.
NCAA 11 has taken a nice step in the right direction with the addition ESPN licencing. Hopefully this content will be blown out in years to come to include TV style camera angles and strong editorial segments.
Presentation = 8/10.

Overall.
To call NCAA Football the little brother of Madden is misleading. This year the collegiate edition of EA football finally steps out of the shadow cast by the pros and delivers a fun and exciting gridiron game. If there is anything that NCAA 11 does exceptionally well, its getting all the facets and intricacies of gameplay nearly perfect. Running the ball never felt so good. The gameplay is balanced, deep yet streamlined when you want it to be. A continued push towards real physics would be great, but this season's improved locomotion delivers a satisfying gameplay experience on either side of the ball. Online Dynasty is an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable experience with its fantastic online connectivity.
Graphically the game looks a lot better than it has in years past. Lighting is the biggest visual update. Other details like pixilated crowds and repetitive cutscenes still hinder achievement of a dynamic "real-time" look. The sound needs to be improved to keep up with what other sports games are doing. ESPN presentation has hit the ground running and even tough camera options and highlight shows are still missing, the overall look of NCAA is better than it's ever been.
This is must buy for college football fans. NCAA 11 is the best in the series in years. For those who only need one football game in their arsenal each year, it's a coin toss to judge whether or not to wait for that "other" EA pigskin game in a few weeks. Either way the bar has been set high by NCAA Football 11.
Final Rating = 8.7/10.

Comments

# 1 cmurr @ Jul 23

Nice review.. Even though I have always enjoyed the NCAA Football video game series, this year it really made some improvements. Aside from locomotion the animations, specifically the catches in this game are pretty awesome.