I actually purchased NCAA 2011 new for the first time in half a decade this year, and right now I put it as the #3 favorite game to play offline, with Super Tecmo Bowl, and ESPN NFL 2K5 being 1st and 2nd respectively. They could close the gap and surpass 2K5 IMHO in 2012 if they'd fix a few issues and stick with broadcast presentation rather than their own style (which doesn't fit 99% of the time). I don't think the same is possible with Madden, they simply have too far a gap to cover, and the NCAA team seems to have a better idea of how a game should be tuned, and how it should play, where as the Madden team struggles with some of the basic aspects.
- Fix the sliding, there's still a lot of it.
- Fix the rendering (you can't beat 2K5 with that horrible rendering)
- Add all of the missing transition animations so players don't look so weird going from a stop/start animation.
- Add ALL broadcast elements (not just some, and not with a few of 'your own' ideas thrown in, A L L broadcast presentation elements).
- Add more Commentary, and commentary that is not specific like Madden is doing. That gets repetitive soo fast. Make it generic, and applicable to multiple players.
- Add 'banter'. Let the broadcasters talk over a play. That's ok, it happens on TV. It's not a bad thing, it's what gamers expect, and more importantly, it's what we want! Create hours, and hours of banter, that is generic, and reusable. Again, do NOT go down the specific route that Madden went. That was a horrible design decision.
- Fix the ball arc. It's too low, and slow the ball speed down a little.
- Fix LB/DLine reaction time. It's ridiculously fast, and ultra unrealistic. Let them jump, but not as soon as you throw, and not such that they are literally blocking you a high percentage of the time. Once, twice a game maybe, but that's about it. Track how many times they have done it, and once they pass a threshold, greatly reduce the chances for a block.
- Fix LB/DLine jump/warp to ball.
- Remove the half turn from the DB's covering receivers that allows them to automatically turn (yes, they ignore locomotion, nice hack guys). Let Inside/Outside/Up/Down coverage actually mean something. I LOVE to throw on routes but because of this little hack that's been in the game for the last 4 years+, you can't do it. Get rid of it. It ruins the passing game.
I could come up with a lot more, but those are the big ones for me. Those are the ones I want to see to finally see an EA game on par with the ESPN NFL 2K5 game from 6 years ago.
08-09-2010, 09:23 PM
I just can't.....
