rudyjuly2's Blog
q Terrible cpu running game. The cpu just never ran the ball well and the sliders were watered down to the point that it was impossible to fix correctly.
q No cpu deep passing game. The computer just dinked and dunked its way down the field and never threw deep. The cpu QB still threw too many interceptions. After having major problems the last two years in this area, I am concerned with how this will be addressed this year.
q Suction blocking. The blocking engine in the game is still poorly done. This requires a lot of work and I won’t be holding my breath.
Now as the new year began and I hung up my video football cleats, Ian Cummings and the Madden team have blown me away with their desire to create a true football sim. I haven’t purchased a Madden game since ’05 and everything they have said sounds great. We’ll have to wait and see about the execution but so far so good.
This is where the NCAA team has failed badly. Many of the new enhancements that Madden is getting won’t be found in NCAA and I’m bitterly disappointed. Here is the laundry list of features that Madden has and NCAA does not.
q New QB Ratings! Quarterbacks have always been done poorly but in an effort to create a more unique and diverse experience, the Madden team have created five new ratings to improve the way quarterbacks play. Accuracy ratings have been split up to short, medium and deep ball accuracy. Quarterbacks are also rated on how well they execute play action and throw on the run. Yes!! I’ve always wanted this to really get virtual quarterbacks to emulate their real life counterparts. But the NCAA chose to spend their time elsewhere. On what I ask? I’m still waiting. HUGE mistake.
q Ian Cummings has been very active on the forums and blogs giving us unprecedented access and insight for Madden. The NCAA team has been slow to provide good info and their hyped Community Day didn’t even allow anyone to talk about the game resulting in further frustration.
q NCAA will not be using the weight and momentum system Madden is implementing this year. Don’t know why but given the Madden team’s desire to create a pure football sim, this doesn’t sound good for NCAA.
q No defensive matchups. This is a feature more suited to the NFL so it doesn’t bother me as much with NCAA but its still a missing feature.
q The fact the developers believe Supersim minimizes the need for in game saves. Wrong! Some of us want to actually play our games but don’t always have an hour or more free time in a row to do so. Even if Madden doesn’t have it, the explanation given by the NCAA team ticks me off. I don’t want to sim the game. Baseball games have in game saves so no excuses.
q No refs on the field. The sidelines and refs have been added to Madden. Not a big deal to me but just another point for the Madden team.
q Fluff Focus. The NCAA team has added windsocks and Season Showdown features that appear meaningless to me. The focus just seems to be on the wrong things.
q New Camera – I will give the NCAA team props for designing a new camera angle system. The one benefit for the NCAA team I see so far.
# 2
N51_rob @ Mar 30
Good post. This might be the year that I buy Madden and not NCAA. I'm still waiting to hear what the "Big News" for NCAA 10 is this year before I totally give up or get totally frustrated with what they have to offer this year.
# 3
GoToledo @ Mar 30
I am right there with you Rudy. I am also still waiting for the "big news" to drop for NCAA. I am loving all of the physics issues being addressed by Madden along with the new ratings and other features listed above. This is literally the first time in as long as I can remember where I am more excited (a LOT more) for Madden than NCAA.
# 4
blazer003 @ Mar 30
I don't know about everyone else, but I'm renting NCAA '10 before I buy. I'm sick of their bull. NCAA '09 plays like garbage on and offline. There is so much that is lacking, I swear that these are a bunch of unmotivated slackers that sit around most of the year and then scramble to get the title out and have a ton of mistakes because of it.
NCAA '08 played pretty well online, and would have really been great with better gang tackling (like '09) and better blocking programming. But no. They go and render the pass rush useless, and make short passing so easy a kid can do it. I'm sorry, but when I'm regularly able to get 75% completion rating online, against the best players, that's not acceptable.
But the biggest thing the in game system is missing is realism, which seems like something Madden is focusing on. I shouldn't be able to look at a defense and from the first second the play starts, know where everyone will be. Why isn't NCAA focusing on realistic gameplay? I just don't know.
NCAA '08 played pretty well online, and would have really been great with better gang tackling (like '09) and better blocking programming. But no. They go and render the pass rush useless, and make short passing so easy a kid can do it. I'm sorry, but when I'm regularly able to get 75% completion rating online, against the best players, that's not acceptable.
But the biggest thing the in game system is missing is realism, which seems like something Madden is focusing on. I shouldn't be able to look at a defense and from the first second the play starts, know where everyone will be. Why isn't NCAA focusing on realistic gameplay? I just don't know.
# 5
IMBOSSY @ Mar 31
You sound like a whiner. This years NCAA wasn't great but it was fine. The online Dynasty blows away maddens "League". Look at all the positives in the game. Also, recruiting is a million times better than anything outside of the game that madden offers. NCAA has it's flaws. It needs better OL/DL interaction, better ability to actually be able to dominate on D, and "Create Playbook" something that was instituted previously but never retained for unknown reasons. however, this years madden sucked also in game play imo. We'll see what full news is offered before crushing the NCAA developers.
# 6
rudyjuly2 @ Mar 31
Imbossy, using the term whiner is a little excessive. I'm certainly being critical and I've been a big fan of the NCAA series in the past. I agree that recruiting and dynasty mode is a lot more addictive than franchise in Madden. Its one reason I haven't played Madden in recent years. Online dynasty isn't for me though so that part is something I don't care about.
But its the exclusion of some great Madden features this year that has me really disappointed. I certainly expect NCAA 10 to be better than '09 and I will probably end up getting it and liking it. But I'm really bitter about the exclusion of the new QB ratings. So much so that I'm strongly thinking about passing on NCAA and getting Madden this year. Hopefully some future news will make me feel better about NCAA again.
One of the biggest reasons I prefer NCAA is the different styles of offense and defense teams play. But next gen NCAA really hasn't captured that very well. The cpu spread attack is lousy and with the way most quarterbacks seem to play the same way, I might as well just go with Madden. I really hope the playbooks are expanded, much better and more team specific, AND THAT THE CPU RUNS THEM WELL! The cpu execution on a lot of plays was awful last year, particularly the running game.
But its the exclusion of some great Madden features this year that has me really disappointed. I certainly expect NCAA 10 to be better than '09 and I will probably end up getting it and liking it. But I'm really bitter about the exclusion of the new QB ratings. So much so that I'm strongly thinking about passing on NCAA and getting Madden this year. Hopefully some future news will make me feel better about NCAA again.
One of the biggest reasons I prefer NCAA is the different styles of offense and defense teams play. But next gen NCAA really hasn't captured that very well. The cpu spread attack is lousy and with the way most quarterbacks seem to play the same way, I might as well just go with Madden. I really hope the playbooks are expanded, much better and more team specific, AND THAT THE CPU RUNS THEM WELL! The cpu execution on a lot of plays was awful last year, particularly the running game.
# 7
acts238shaun @ Mar 31
I still love the game and have found a great set of sliders that give realistic scores, but two things the sliders can't fix are the OL/DL issue and Robo QB. It's all or nothing, as you either get five picks a game or one every two or three games. If there was a better pass rush you'd see more innacurate passes, as the Qb is off when he rushes his throw. This is all inherent in bad game AI, which also causes Ryan Mallet types to run the offense as if they were Isaiah Stanback. How many times have we knocked out a scrambling starting QB (off a run, because God knows we didn't get to him with the pass rush) and the backup is a drop back guy who runs the QB read just like the other guy instead of playing to his strengths?
Fix these two things (OL/DL and QB play) and the game would have been a 9/10 instead of the 8.4 I gave it. Good article Rudy.
Fix these two things (OL/DL and QB play) and the game would have been a 9/10 instead of the 8.4 I gave it. Good article Rudy.
# 8
DJ @ Mar 31
Good points, Rudy. I'm taking a wait-and-see approach with both Madden and NCAA this year. You're right in that Madden sounds promising, but words only go so far. The ultimate judge will be how it plays once we have the game in hand.
I'm glad I still have my PS2 so I can play Madden and NCAA 09 and enjoy both games.
I'm glad I still have my PS2 so I can play Madden and NCAA 09 and enjoy both games.
# 9
4solo @ Apr 2
After reading the new blog about NCAA posted today, my faith that NCAA is going to be anything remotely as good as Madden is Fading FAST!!!
# 10
Kapone24 @ Apr 3
I agree, I also think they need to Fix the Flaw of the on-line Dynasty, there are some issues that I would like to see address:
1. like you can't view if your vs another team with Alternate uniforms. You see the regular home. Come on. I want to see FSU in black when I play them.
2. You can talk a player into staying only if your the commis
1. like you can't view if your vs another team with Alternate uniforms. You see the regular home. Come on. I want to see FSU in black when I play them.
2. You can talk a player into staying only if your the commis
# 11
rudyjuly2 @ Apr 3
I do like the new 3rd person lock on camera. I think its a great idea for the defensive side of the ball.
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As you said it doesn't make sense that some of the stuff like the momentum change in Madden won't be in NCAA. I remember last year in the podcasts that EA was doing they said that the new programing format they were using allowed them to take different things from other games once they were ready in that game, and just plug them into another title. And they talked about some stuff they'd taken from NBA Street to add to other titles and so on, so it really makes no sense why NCAA isn't getting the best stuff from Madden to improve gameplay. Unless they're dumbing the game down a bit, because they want Madden to stand out, since it's the flagship title.