Most Indepth NCAA Football 2011 Gameplay Review (VIDEO)

[topzzz]

EA Sports Needs to see this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtNEhEqbCVA


Yes. NCAA Football 2011 is awesome, but this video points out some of its BIGGEST flaws!

FROM YOUTUBE VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

This is probably going to be one of the most detailed NCAA Football 2011 Gameplay Reviews that you will see on the internet. My video is 20+ minutes long, and will go over some of the positives and negatives of NCAA Football 2011 on the field.

The video will mainly focus on the following topics:
1. Blocking.
2. Gang Tackling.
3. Glitches.
4. Pass Interferences.
5. Secondary Defense.

Although each of listed topics above have their good and bad points, you should know that this is actually the first year since NCAA Football 2006, that I'm not going to sell the game on Ebay. Of course, I am an Xbox Live player, so if the game "cheeses out" after the sim players stop playing, then I may have to sell it down the road, and get Madden. But currently, NCAA Football 2011 is a pretty decent game that is worth playing. That's not to say that NCAA Football 2011 doesn't have issues.

1. Blocking - If you haven't yet played NCAA Football 2011, you're likely going to notice a good change in the blocking abilities of the players. Although the change is good, for the most part, the blockers can go "stupid" and end up folding your entire play.

2. Gang Tackling - Yes. It's in the game, but only kind of. The annoying thing about gang tackling that EA doesn't seem to get is the fact that during certain animations, the ball carrier and the individual engaged cannot be engaged by another individual. For example: If you're being tackled forward, there will be some instances where other defenders attempt to push you back, but cannot interfere with the animation that you are in. If I am being truly honest, the gang tackling in this game is a joke, and isn't even half way there.

3. Glitches - They are extremely evident. Players will sometimes morph through each other, fake field goals work every time your opponent selects field goal block, a certain play has the QB stuck in a hand off animation, and although I didn't put it in the video, if you toss the ball to your RB on an option and the ball falls to the ground, your RB will freeze, before attempting to go for the ball. This is all extremely annoying, and mind you, are the glitches that I have only noticed for myself. I am sure that there are many more glitches out there.

4. Pass Interference - Plain and simple, it's not in the game. EA definitely needs to patch this problem, because I haven't seen one pass interference called, even when I am blatantly interfered with before the ball reaches my receivers hands.

5. Secondary Defense - Sometimes they are smart and sometimes they're taken straight from the movie 'Idiocracy.' The ball is thrown by the QB and even though the defenders see that the ball has been thrown, they will sometimes stick to their man, until the ball reaches the hands of the wide receiver. This is a definite problem that needs to be fixed!

Overall, this is the first year that I won't be selling NCAA Football 2011 on Ebay, but that's not to say that it doesn't have some HUGE problems. In fact, I am pretty pissed that I payed $60.00 for a game that has such common, easy-to-see issues.

EA Sports has to have game testers, right? If these testers are half decent (no offense), they would have noticed the issues that I have brought to your attention today. These issues are OBVIOUS, and all of them, but 1 (the glitch where the QB gets stuck in a hand off animation) showed up in a single game. Like I said, most of these issues happen every single game, and if you pay close attention, you will begin to notice them and get frustrated at them, just like I have.

[dalecooper]

Interesting review. I'm still watching it, but to respond to one specific thing, some of the blocking criticism is too nitpicky. For example the 2-on-7 play from about 3:30 - 5:00 in the vid. Yes it's true that rushing 2 on 7, you'd expect no one to touch the QB. But if you watch the video you can see why and how it happens. The rusher that gets the sack (a linebacker?) takes off in apparent coverage on a tight end, then peels off some 6 or so yards away from the pocket and takes a wide angle from the side. Most of the blockers at this point are looking upfield for rushers - it would be unrealistic for them to even see this guy, or think to account for him since it looked like he was going to run out in coverage. There is really just one blocker that could see the outside rush and stop it, but he commits to helping with the defensive lineman, who is coming free from his blocker at around the same time. And the quarterback drops and then backpedals to the left, away from his halfback, giving that guy no shot at helping out.

And just generally, when someone says "the blocking is amazing sometimes and sometimes it just folds" - doesn't that sound like football? Sure does to me.

[dalecooper]

On the gang tackling - until we get real physics-based tackling, this will never be super-realistic. Considering this is essentially old legacy-style animation tackling, I think it's pretty decent. You see really cool gang tackles at times, and other times you see kind of annoying animations that seem to ignore the extra bodies. It's going to require an engine overhaul to fix this.

[topzzz]

Quote: Originally Posted by dalecooper

Interesting review. I'm still watching it, but to respond to one specific thing, some of the blocking criticism is too nitpicky. For example the 2-on-7 play from about 3:30 - 5:00 in the vid. Yes it's true that rushing 2 on 7, you'd expect no one to touch the QB. But if you watch the video you can see why and how it happens. The rusher that gets the sack (a linebacker?) takes off in apparent coverage on a tight end, then peels off some 6 or so yards away from the pocket and takes a wide angle from the side. Most of the blockers at this point are looking upfield for rushers - it would be unrealistic for them to even see this guy, or think to account for him since it looked like he was going to run out in coverage. There is really just one blocker that could see the outside rush and stop it, but he commits to helping with the defensive lineman, who is coming free from his blocker at around the same time. And the quarterback drops and then backpedals to the left, away from his halfback, giving that guy no shot at helping out. And just generally, when someone says "the blocking is amazing sometimes and sometimes it just folds" - doesn't that sound like football? Sure does to me.

I see what you're saying, and I thought about excluding that scene from
the video, because it has happened in real life.

Aside from that situation, the first play I discussed (where the WR
should have went out and blocked the safety) was a pretty big error
on EA's part, in my opinion.

But you're correct, that scene with the 2 rushers / 7 lineman was pretty
'nitpicky.'

Feel free to check out the rest of the video though. I feel like I have
made some valid points, and hopefully EA will take a look and fix these
issues for next years game.

[topzzz]

Quote: Originally Posted by dalecooper

On the gang tackling - until we get real physics-based tackling, this will never be super-realistic. Considering this is essentially old legacy-style animation tackling, I think it's pretty decent. You see really cool gang tackles at times, and other times you see kind of annoying animations that seem to ignore the extra bodies. It's going to require an engine overhaul to fix this.

Yes. Real physics-based tackling will probably be necessary. I simply get
tired of seeing the offense get an extra 3 yards, when there are 4 useless
defenders in front of a falling-forward running back, who's stuck in an
animation, and thus, can't be pushed backwards by the defenders.

But yes. It's decent, and it sometimes looks great, but sometimes it
doesn't.

[dalecooper]

Good review, I enjoyed that. I agree on a lot of your points. The only other thing I'd defend EA on a little bit was the issue of the secondary. In some cases you could argue that the reason they don't turn to the ball in the air is that they don't see it or it takes them a second to react - that does happen a lot in real life, and even though their heads may be turned somewhat, those helmets prevent them from entirely seeing what's going on, especially as they are trying to run to keep up with a receiver. So you could say that the entire secondary shouldn't always react to the ball, even at times when it seems like they are semi-looking in that direction. As far as the psychic corner turning around after a catch, that is a little harder to defend - however players and coaches do yell things during the play, so maybe one could argue that somebody yelled "Catch!" right at that moment? Still, I would bet that most of the DBs go psychic on pass catches regardless of where they are on the field, so you have something of a legit criticism there. The main reason they probably do it is that it's hard to have it be strictly based on field of vision - if you don't program the DBs to be looking around constantly, they'd be out of the play most of the time and it would be really annoying watching guys run free through the secondary. I guess they probably kind of cheat on that one and hope that players will ignore it for the sake of gameplay.

[rjsuperfly66]

13:55

I realized it too, but its like EA countered user abuse of the slot receiver, by on a lot of plays just having the defense run the routes for the offense. I'm sorry, but no nickle-back or dime-back is gonna make such a sharp cut like in the video. Those guys aren't gonna get disgraced by speed like in last years game, but they should at least be a step or two behind the receiver.

Hell, if the receiver were smart, he'd turn and run the other way since the defender running in front of him.

[topzzz]

Lol the defender automatically knew that the WR was going to make
a cut to the inside of the field. lol

Good points, RJ.

lol your video on MLB 2K9 is hilarious btw.

Quote: Originally Posted by rjsuperfly66

13:55 I realized it too, but its like EA countered user abuse of the slot receiver, by on a lot of plays just having the defense run the routes for the offense. I'm sorry, but no nickle-back or dime-back is gonna make such a sharp cut like in the video. Those guys aren't gonna get disgraced by speed like in last years game, but they should at least be a step or two behind the receiver. Hell, if the receiver were smart, he'd turn and run the other way since the defender running in front of him.