It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a good game of pigskin and for the first time it’s not coming from a Madden game. The NCAA franchise, or the other child of sorts in the EA Sports world, has been nothing but a shadow to the giant that is Madden NFL football. Well EA Sports and the folks at Tiburon have been working very hard to separate the NCAA football franchise from the shadow of Madden and it seems Tiburon finally achieved that feet; to an extent. While there is so much NCAA Football 11 does right, there are still a few things it needs to do if it is to permanently become it’s *own* game. At least I can tell you that it won’t be discontinued any time soon, unlike NCAA Basketball. It’s time to start representing your school in my review of NCAA Football 11, unless you’re from USC.
Graphics
Everything from the menu to gameplay introductions, you will run into the new ESPN broadcast package almost everywhere you go. If you are accustomed to watching college football every Saturday on ESPN, you will feel right at home. Stadiums and players come to life under the new lighting system, fans will hold up D-Fence signs or "Hi Mom! Send Money!", and almost every school has their own unique introduction. I say almost because by the end of the introductions, the QB is doing the exact same thing regardless of the team that is surrounding him.
Player details are also impressive when on the field. You'll see the face of anguish as a running back goes flying past a defender, the QB celebrate after completing a successful TD pass, as well as the face of frustration when the ball ends up in the wrong hands. While NCAA 11 may look like last year's game, there are plenty of new and smaller details that you will come across the more games you played that ultimately make NCAA 11 a true college football experience.
Sound
Even though NCAA 11 does a great job with incorporating the ESPN presentation, the announcers could do a better job to back it up. It really feels like a good amount of the times Herbstreit and Nessler can’t seem to keep up with the action. Erin does her job in reporting on the sidelines but I never felt like the announce team truly got me into the game the way they could have.
Now one of the weirdest things I encountered involving sound was how ineffective the home crowd was to the opposing team. In college football the noise a home crowd brings is second to none in any other sport. It makes it difficult for the road team to change a play and communicate with teammates on the field. This is how it’s been for a few years now in the NCAA football franchise. In this year’s game, even though players still have a hard time hearing the QB, the road team played with no effectiveness from the home crowd at all. Even though the play art goes static, players are still able to tell what play they chose and the crowd doesn’t exactly go nuts until the opposing team goes on 3rd and 4th down. While you can encourage the crowd to make more noise, you don’t hear that encouragement doing much.
Fun Factor
With gameplay aside, most of the fun you will experience in NCAA 11 will come from the PC side of the game like Team Builder and Dynasty Wire. Team Builder is the exact same feature that was given to us last year in which you go online to teambuilder.easports.com, create our own school and team from scratch then upload it to the game. The only notable difference between the Team Builder feature this year and last year is the ability to take your created team online in the Team Builder Showdown.
Online Dynasty mode is the newest online feature for NCAA 11 where you can either make a private dynasty for just yourself or invite up to 10 other friends to join the fray in what may be the deepest and most social dynasty mode I have ever experienced. You and your 10 friends can play up to 60 years, that’s if your crew is that hardcore. During your dynasty experience, you will be able to manage your team in any way you like, play your games, and recruit future college stars to your team through the all new recruiting system. Each week you are given 10 hours of phone time. It is up to you on how to spread those 10 hours towards your top 35 prospects while also choosing the right topics that will convince him to choose your scholarship over your competitors. While you have the ability to recruit on your console, I found it especially quicker doing it on my computer. This is something you can do via online dynasty but not offline which is a bit of a bummer. There is also the option of using the NCAA 11 iPhone app to recruit on the go but unfortunately my iPhone 3g has been giving me major problems lately and that’s another story for another day.
During your online dynasty you will come across something each week called the Dynasty Wire. Every member of the league will see this on their menu and it will give a recap of games played the week before along with headlines, photos, and videos. Users are also able to log on to dynasty.easports.com to see what happened to some of their friends games and even have the ability to create their very own story using the Story Builder option on the website. Afterwards, you can share your college football action to the rest of the world by posting it on Twitter and Facebook. The ultimate trash talk tool is finally available and NCAA fans have plenty of options to use at their disposal to get their opponents heated for the next game.
Replay Value
With the option of using your PC to add a more social experience to your NCAA game, the replay value is up to the gamer. One of NCAA 11’s biggest drawbacks is the lack of new modes. While Tiburon calls Online Dynasty *new*, when you take out the dynasty wire and the ability to recruit players while on your PC or iPhone, you pretty much have the offline dynasty. Road to Glory is back but if you played it to the point where it got boring last year’s game, nothing has really changed in NCAA 11.
The only other mode you could call *new* is the addition of One-Button mode which allows newbie’s and vets to enjoy a more dimmed down version of NCAA 11 where one button does everything, the CPU assists on catches, and your players automatically sprint when running down field. When you look at NCAA Football 11, some players may feel that they are looking at NCAA 10 due to the lack of modes. If you feel like online dynasty is worth exploring, you will have your hands full. If it’s not, then NCAA 11 doesn’t have much to offer.
Note: Season Showdown is back in NCAA 11 but since release it has not been working properly. EA Sports and Tiburon are looking into the issue and hoping to release a patch within the next week or so.
Gameplay
There are plenty of additions and fixes in terms to NCAA 11’s gameplay and most fans will be very happy with these features. Locomotion is the new way players move around the field and they do so more smoothly and realistically. While you will run into a few clipping issues here and there, it’s nothing that will cause frustration during your time with the game. Receivers finally make sideline catches without running out of bounds and sometimes they do it too often even if they are 3 feet away from the sideline. Catches in the back of the end zone are finally accomplished and while they happen on a consistent basis, it won’t happen every time.
The running game in NCAA 11 is the best I have ever played as the offensive line actually does its job in giving you blockers and room to run. Now if you’re an impatient runner this will cost you as if you decide to go faster than your blockers you will run into plenty of hit sticks throughout the game. The new dual analog control gives you better control of your player by making the left stick his legs and the right stick is his upper body. So if you’re running and the opposing team begins to drag you down, you can use the dual analog control to try and fight the tackle, protect the ball, or push your player forward to gain some more yards. The ability to sway the player this way certainly helped out in those tight 3rd and 2 situations where fighting for that first down felt accomplishing.
NCAA 11 does use the new offensive play call style that Madden 11 will be utilizing in their game come August. When choosing a play you will be given a set amount of situational plays, up to 20, to choose from without the need of searching through all the different formations. I found this to make play time quicker and the plays shown were good options. I never had a problem or even a need to go into the more complex play options and I have been able to play games a lot quicker this way. The no huddle play call is also featured in the game and while I used it occasionally, the AI loved running it constantly. If you're looking to cut your game times in half, NCAA 11 succeeds but if you prefer to have complete control of your play on the field, you may just skip this feature.
Now NCAA 11 did have its fair share of bugs. I ran into a problem with the camera during extra point attempts as for some odd reason it gave me a viewing perspective from the other side of the field during the kick. Defenders tend to have stone hands when trying to catch interceptions and throwing up the middle is the worst idea in this game as 65% of my passes up the middle were deflected by the D, none of which ended with an interception. I also ran into a few occasions after a touchdown where the camera would stay in place while the players would run back to their sidelines. You are just sitting there for a good five or six seconds waiting for something to happen.
Buy, Rent, or Pass
Buy- This is by far the best college football experience I have experienced on the PS3. Even if you have an Xbox 360, this game is worth the $60. I found myself wasting my life away via Online Dynasty and even when am not in a specific game mode, I am just playing the game to enjoy a great game of football. NCAA fans will be pleased even with the lack of new modes and occasional bugs. If some of these issues can be fixed for NCAA 12, Madden better watch their back. Little sister is finally growing up.
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