Anyone else think the game is showing its age these days?

[canes21]

Hear me out. I love NCAA, I always preferred the series over Madden, but I think that NCAA 14 has finally begun showing its age quite a bit for me.

Even with the CFB Revamped mod updated the uniforms and fields and whatnot, which is a really nice update for the game, and playing it on an emulator at a constant 60 frames, I think the game has become a bit stale for me.

That's not really a knock on the game. It's almost 2021. This game came out in the middle of 2013. That's slightly less than 8 years. Almost a full decade. Games typically don't age too well in a decade. Games age a bit better now, but back in the 360 days, games were not aging well over that length of time.

Madden is just too updated for me at this point. I know, Madden catches plenty of flack and for good reason, but Madden has made a lot of changes to the game that have made it hard for me to play NCAA near as much as I used to. Combine that with NCAA 14's legacy issues and I find myself simply not playing the game much more at all.

Since 14's release Madden has added things like run fits and gap responsibilities, depth charge changes like Slot WR, Slot CB, Sub LB, and so much more than NCAA desperately needs, schemes that help the CPU create a roster that fits their playstyle, a better archetype system, traits that could work much better, pattern matching defenses, updated zone defenses that aren't just spot sitting like NCAA 14, actual RPO's, a whole host of new play types that NCAA 14 obviously wouldn't have, so much player gear, and many more things I am not thinking about.

Madden is far from a perfect game, but I find myself sticking with Madden 20 right now with some mods on PC over going back to NCAA 14 which almost saddens me because I love the dynasty mode of the NCAA games much more. The roster turnover, vast array of playbooks, and so much more make NCAA a unique experience, but I think Madden has been updated too much since 14 for me to want to really stick with NCAA 14 anymore.

I still criticize Madden annually for the slow progress, I haven't really bought but a couple Maddens in the past decade, but in 7 years, even with slow progress, Madden has hit a point for me that makes NCAA 14 just feel old now and hard to come back to as often.

What's worse is that I have fun playing Madden, but the majority of the time I am playing it I am really dreaming of playing NCAA 21 with all of the updates Madden has, but within an NCAA dynasty mode. It's a terrible tease of what could be.

Does anyone else find themselves struggling to come back to NCAA 14? I cannot imagine I am alone. Even for guys that are somewhat disappointed with Madden's progress, I am sure there are others here like me that find Madden has progressed to a point that does make NCAA 14 feel old and hard to come back to.

I would be in gaming heaven if I had NCAA dynasty mode with updates + all of the changes Madden has made to gameplay and things like new depth chart positions, the scheme and archetype system, and more.

[canes21]

Heck, I missed adding in one of the biggest changes that Madden 20 and 21 have made that make the gameplay for 14 even harder to comeback. Never before in Madden or NCAA's history has the ratings felt as important as they do in Madden 20 and 21. One of EA football's biggest weaknesses from the 06 games to Madden 19 was the lack of ratings feeling like they made a huge difference. Outside of speed and a few other ratings, players largely felt the same. Madden 20 finally made ratings feel like they mattered so much more and players truly feel different and 21 is like that as well.

Even when playing with the Superstar Abilities off the ratings matter so much more in these games than they ever did in NCAA 14 and that is one of my favorite things about Madden now, and it is a huge reason I am still playing 20 right now.

[Pea]

I remembered way back in Madden 2004 they already had those features. For instance, When going against the Eagles, Brian Dawkins would pretty much cheat up the line of scrimmage on almost every play. Peyton Manning would oftenly called audibles. Rich Gannon, Daunte Culpeper, and Michael Vick, would beat you at their feet if you have too many backs in zone coverage. Whenever you going up against Warren Sapp or Chris Hovan, you're oftenly rushed to throw the ball on almost every play.

Aside from Madden having this feature, there was also NCAA Football 06 that had something similar called Impact Players. Now given that it is an NCAA title they can't have the players' likenesses in this game. So unfortunately they may not be accurate representations of the key players in real life.

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[MrOctober430]

I agree 100% that NCAA 14 starting to show its age.

While Madden 21 isn’t great, it’s a damn beautiful game with stadiums, uniforms, equipment and player models being current. And whenever I play the FotF mode and playing the college teams I get sad because this what NCAA 21 would look like in stunning 4K definition.

I always been a bigger fan of college than pros but whenever I play 14, it doesn’t have the same feel like it did 4 or 5 years ago. I want the new teams, stadiums, playoff system, and recruiting strategies updated along with similar Madden gameplay.

I won’t understand why EA or 2k can’t do a customizable college football game.

[young22]

I've breathed new life into the game (for myself at least) with my new fatigue off sliders, a litany of house rules, and I plan on getting a gaming PC so I can get CFB Revamped when it's finished. Madden looks better and yeah the new plays, depth chart mechanics, traits would be cool, but NCAAs gameplay can be made very good, Madden on the other hand has just felt stale for about 6-7 years now.

[Von Dozier]

I think gameplay wise it's still miles ahead of the current Madden games. They just feel sticky and robotic, compared to the smoothness of the last gen games. The only thing I wish the last gen games had compared to current, is the WR sideline awareness.

[canes21]

Without making a long reply, with regards to the last two posts - I basically feel the opposite at this point.

I just feel NCAA 14 is tapped out. No slider tweaking can fix the core issues that plague the game that have been fixed in Madden at this point. Penalties, on and off-ball injuries, new passing trajectories, players can't cut on a dime like in NCAA, plus all of the defensive enhancements like the new zone coverages and run fits just make it too hard for me to go back to NCAA at this point.

The graphics and the bells and whistles are just icing on the cake. I cannot really say NCAA 14 does anything better on the field than Madden at this point. It shouldn't being such an older game, but I know plenty of people are still in love with the game. I was as well, but at this point I feel like father time has caught up to the game.

I'd honestly love to hear what you guys think NCAA 14 does better on the field than Madden right now. I mean that genuinely. Up until a year or two ago I felt NCAA was still the superior game, but I don't feel that anymore with 20 or 21. Not on the field. Franchise mode is another animal, but on the field only I honestly don't see how NCAA compares anymore thanks to the improvements I've talked about above plus other things I've failed to mention.

[Bigsheen]

It's interesting this is such a recent discussion for me. I just started up an NFL Superstar career mode on Madden 06 on the PS2. To me, the older games have always just felt so much more pure, including NCAA 14. Full disclosure, I haven't purchased a Madden title since 2008 on PS3, but I've played every single year since then.

No doubt, NCAA 14 has some major issues gameplay wise but instead of throwing up my hands anymore, I just push onto the next play because I know theres nothing to be done.

Imho, everytime I've played a recent Madden, I agree with some of the posters above, the movement feels entirely too robotic and it feels like the players are moving like they're running the 400 meter than down a football field; like their strides are too long.

Always been an NCAA guy, but I do love running a nice franchise on Madden (still the old games because it was the games main focus). Until EA actually shows that they will put some meat into franchise, I'll likely continue to stay away from Madden (not holding my breath).