College VS. Pro Aside, do you consider Madden an upgrade over NCAA? (360 Versions)

[lnin0]

I didn't think I would but I have to give the nod to Madden.

NCAA is a great game and it does have a different feel than Madden but pound for pound Madden is the more solid of the two.

Graphics: Both games look great but Madden has the extra year head start and it shows. Madden takes it to NCAA all over this catagory - be it better looking grass, weather effects, player models, stadiums, crowds, lighting - everything in Madden just has a little bit more umph than NCAA.
Winner : Madden

User Interface: Madden has the prettier of the two but it starts to break down after that. Everything is smaller on the Madden play calling screens than NCAA so I find NCAAs easier to deciefer. NCAAs main menu is also very slick and intuative while Maddens can sometimes make you feel lost. Madden also suffers from a lot more slow down when moving between its various menus than NCAA. The fact I can't see my oppenents remaining TOs in Madden also doesn't help.
Winner : NCAA

Presentation: This is a hard one because neither game has a really stand out presentation. Maddens is probably more sparce than NCAAs but Madden does seem to provide you with more relevant replays more often. NCAA does the tv style overlays more often but on the downside they tend to be unmovable and get in the way. The booth in NCAA provides a nice television style commentary that goes a long way for the presentation but can get repatitive. Madden is almost the direct opposite and while the radio commentary does nothing to immerse you in the game it seldom gets in the way. EA might have been able to buy out these exclusive football licenses but they cannot buy out my memories of 2K5's legendary presentation. Both EA games fail to do anything special or even great when it comes to this catagory.
Winner : Push

Features: While both titles are bare bones of their former selves Madden has added the most meat. While both offer up slimmed down franchise/dynasty type modes Madden goes the extra step with Superstar mode and some interesting minigames -at least compared to bowling and tug of war. These modes should help add a little longevity to the game for those not interested in just playing football but don't expect them to give either game the depth of NFL Head Coach (coincidence...I think not).
Winner : Madden

Gameplay: NCAA really impressed me but then Madden impressed me more. The collision detection in Madden, while not perfect, is much more cleaned up than NCAAs. You see far less of the bumping into walls of guys or getting stuck on players in Madden. While Madden's running game is the new buzz word this season I have to give some credit to NCAA because I almost - ALMOST - like its running game better. Madden's run game almost feels too powerfull this year. The QB in Madden all don't seem to have the superhuman powers they did in NCAA although neither game has yet to do this position perfect. Defensively I will say NCAA is a tad better, this also might be becuase the O-lines in Madden are too powerfull as well making it tough to pressure the QB consistantly. In the end there are things both still need a lot of work on but overall Madden just feels a bit more fine tuned.
Winner : Madden

Online: If NCAA, and all EA games for that matter, have a sore spot it is online. Online play in both of them has a long way to go to match what the rest of the world was doing years ago but Madden seems to have made the biggest strides this year. NCAA offered almost no options when it came to online play and topped it off with laggy / slow gameplay. Madden seems to have improved on this formula but not by any great length. Madden does give you better player stats to scout opponents but unfortunatly if you are the one getting the invite there is no way to see these stats before accepting. Madden is also about as optionless as NCAA was but at least they manage to work in field degredation online...when will either get weather or statium choices? The one other feature Madden does that NCAA doesn't is the ability to use a saved roster.
Winner : Madden