Question for those unsatisfied with M11 but like NCAA11

[Presswithsafetyshade]

I enjoyed the NCAA 11 demo. I had issues with certain things (IMO the "skating" in NCAA is worse than the Madden demo, the lighting at 12:30 on a partly cloudy day is way off, psychic DB AI) but overall I liked it. I can't, for the life of me understand how one can praise NCAA for it's locomotion, blocking, route running and better AI when the Madden demo is better in almost every respect in those categories. NCAA 11 is becomming what some say (me not included) about 2k5, a quality game with significant flaws hyped to be something legendary. IMO the Madden 11 demo is better at EVERY aspect of football than NCAA.

[NDIrish98]

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

As is easily noted by playing both, Madden and NCAA are not utterly different game play approaches as they were last year. They are much closer to one another. In fact, it is NCAA that has moved much closer to Madden over the past development cycle. Nevertheless, I've seen a lot of posts claiming to love NCAA 11 but hate Madden 11. When I play the Madden demo, I get the sense that they are essentially the same game with tuning differences that, for the most part, make sense in the context of what the games cover. For example, NCAA's players have greater curve in the speed department. NCAA's players don't change directions as smoothly or as quickly. This is realistic, as college football players are, on average, slower and less agile than NFL players. In fact, the Madden demo has highlighted one of NCAA's flaws to me; the fact that NCAA linemen don't seem to make mental errors (where as they make far too many in Madden). I'm curious as to why you prefer NCAA, and what about Madden turns you off so much. The same people who are calling NCAA one of the best football games ever made are calling Madden garbage, and I can't seem to figure out how that can be when they are virtually the same game, only tuned different. NOTE: I'm talking pure gameplay here. I understand the StratPad complaints and I'm with you, but I'd prefer it be kept out of this thread.

if Madden played like NCAA does this year, that would be a HUGE leap for Madden. Madden doesn't feel like football at all, NCAA does. and another thing that turns me off about Madden is the difference in graphics, Madden looks waaaaay too cartoonish, whereas NCAA looks MUCH more realistic, which plays a huge part in the realism for me.

[NFLHITMAN]

Quote: Originally Posted by Presswithsafetyshade

I enjoyed the NCAA 11 demo. I had issues with certain things (IMO the "skating" in NCAA is worse than the Madden demo, the lighting at 12:30 on a partly cloudy day is way off, psychic DB AI) but overall I liked it. I can't, for the life of me understand how one can praise NCAA for it's locomotion, blocking, route running and better AI when the Madden demo is better in almost every respect in those categories. NCAA 11 is becomming what some say (me not included) about 2k5, a quality game with significant flaws hyped to be something legendary. IMO the Madden 11 demo is better at EVERY aspect of football than NCAA.

I agree 100%

I like the Madden Demo more than NCAA.

EDIT: I also liked the rating system in Madden over NCAA.

Example:

Jake Locker predicted to be the #1 pick in this next NFL draft is rated a 97 but how many other QB's in NCAA is rated in the 90's??? A LOT.

Jake Locker has been clocked with a 4.4 forty yard dash and his speed is 72 while Nick Montana is 80 lol.

Alabama wins the Championship and suddenly every starter on that team is rated at least 90 lol.

[ZoneKIller]

Changing teams mid-franchise/dynasty.
Being able to edit body types.The customization NCAA gives with Custom Sounds and Teambuilder.

Frachise/Dynasty in general is why I prefer NCAA 11.

[PGaither84]

Regarding the passing game:

Quote: Originally Posted by adembroski

I feel the other way around. One of my problems with NCAA is the inability to precisely control the touch I put on my passes. I feel far more in control of this in Madden.

I use Playmakers Varsity Sliders where QBA is set to 5 [NOTE: VARSTIY difficulty, I accidently was using All-American and the results were terrible.] With those sliders, I could just lob a pass up and it would LOB. It didn't matter if it was a drag route to the TE [a route I love in Football] a deep post or a corner route. The opposite was true on bullet passes. My QBs will try to fire the ball in there. choosing the right kind of pass, along with having a QB who's accuracy you could trust to fire into tight coverage or not makes playing QB in this game a lot of fun to me. Nate Montana and Andrew Luck feel very different to me.

Quote:

I would like to agree, because I see where you are coming from, but my problem with Game Planning in NCAA is that it isn't anything like game planning. Many of the categories within NCAA's gameplanning aren't "Game Plan" type things, but team personality sort of things... a mentality you would instill in training camp and expect to be carried through the season.

See, I agree with you. I just look at the game plan feature like accelerated clock. I see it as a feature for a video game to help recreate what happens in real life. I see it as a way to have my players play the way I want them to. All game long I have them use conservative catching and conservative ball control instead of trying to break tackles. All game long I have my defenders go for the pick over the swat and conservative QB containment. it's those key situations where I want ym team to hold thier blocks a little longer or be more aggressive on screen passes or counter runs.

Quote:

I like the idea of having control over your teams personality, but it's not something you can change on a play-to-play or even game-to-game basis. Do you think Mike Singletary takes Takeo Spikes aside and says "I want you to play less intense for this game."

Again, I look at it more like "We need to force a turnover here, go for the strip!" This is very realistic. You see and hear about teams making these little changes all the time. Special teams acting differently at the end of a game and so on.

Quote:

IGN was referring to the ball bouncing off players and on the ground. I agree, it's a bit ridiculous in both games. If you're talking about pass trajectory, however, it's improved from the '10 versions of both games, but far better in Madden.

I was refering to just that. In NCAA and madden the ball bounces off of players nad gets "stuck" on them. However, in the Madden demo it has been happening a lot to me. In NCAA it happens, but not nearly as often or for as long as it does in Madden. In NCAA it tends to get un-stuck faster. The most noticeable part of it is when you swat the ball and it doesn't fall to the ground but keeps poping up in the air over and over again like a volly ball.

Quote:

For the record, I don't fault anyone for feeling NCAA 11 is better. I think I prefer NCAA 11 to a certain degree myself, I just can't see someone hating Madden and loving NCAA, and I've seen lots of posts to that effect in the impressions thread. I believe many of them are overreactions; people accustom to hating Madden, people who are somewhat disappointed it's not quite as polished as NCAA, etc.., but I'm sure there are those who believe firmly that Madden is crap and NCAA is outstanding, and I'm trying to figure out why.

I agree. In reality though, I was impressed by NCAA11 and not impressed by Madden. Let's say that the two games have a lot of things in common, however I can't list much of anything that I like more about Madden compared to the things I like more about NCAA. keep in mind, i don't care about College football. I love NFL football. I think that if the two games WERE just the same I would trade NCAA in to get Madden, but they aren't.

[RGiles36]

I too have been asking myself this question AJ. I can't wrap my head around it.

I finally picked up NCAA 11 and while it's a decent game, I'm far from uber-impressed with it. I should've grabbed Red Dead Redemption LOL.

I mean, I won't exaggerate and say that Madden is light years better. But I do think it'll prove to be a better tuned game.

Val, I disagree about the presentation. The first thing I noticed about NCAA was that there was no variety in the pre-play camera shots. Same tired angle every single time. Madden's presentation isn't much better (sigh) but it's more broadcast in my opinion. Madden just feels more alive to me.

Off topic: is there a way to turn off the auto coach-cam in NCAA? I find this to be annoying.

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by rgiles36

I too have been asking myself this question AJ. I can't wrap my head around it. I finally picked up NCAA 11 and while it's a decent game, I'm far from uber-impressed with it. I should've grabbed Red Dead Redemption LOL. I mean, I won't exaggerate and say that Madden is light years better. But I do think it'll prove to be a better tuned game. Val, I disagree about the presentation. The first thing I noticed about NCAA was that there was no variety in the pre-play camera shots. Same tired angle every single time. Madden's presentation isn't much better (sigh) but it's more broadcast in my opinion. Madden just feels more alive to me. Off topic: is there a way to turn off the auto coach-cam in NCAA? I find this to be annoying.

holy crap, I agree with two big time Madden players? LOL, I played NCAA for half a day. Blogged about returning it LOL. I have always liked Madden more. I know that Madden was a big jump last year, and loved it. This year NCAA took last year's jump. So if you think of NCAA as a year behind Madden, and remember how you felt about Madden last year, this is what I think is creating the "NCAA rules" theme. If Madden had those progression issues NCAA has, Ian would be called names, and someone would be offering to remove his tires and windshield from whatever he drives. Madden simply is a lightning rod.

[rooney8]

I know your saying just gameplay but I bet if there was a great new franchise mode on the way some of those people(myself included) wouldn't be looking for ammo. Silly I know but another year with bad franchise mode pissed people off that they will only look at the negative with Madden. Having said that I really think despite being similar Madden is just off in many areas. The biggest thing being the o-line constantly acts stupid. Way too many times I snap the ball and my HB is tackled as soon as he touches the ball.