NCAA or Madden

[hampshire2012]

I know I am jumping the gun a little seeing as madden hasn't even been released yet, but having always gone with madden I am wondering if I should make the switch this year.

I have always loved franchise mode but it sounds like NCAA's recruiting is in depth enough for me to get something out of.

What do you guys think? Would a fan of offline franchise mode enjoy NCAA this year?

[Pogo27]

Re: NCAA or Madden

Franchise mode in Madden is extremely week compared to dynasty mode in NCAA.

Sure, in Madden you have draft, trading, and resigning. But with trading and resigning you already know the talent you're dealing with, and with the draft it's 7 rounds, and you'll get players who see play time out of what, 3 rounds?

In NCAA, you've got a 70 man roster. Approximately a forth of these players leave every season, potentially more if you have players leave early for the draft. You have to replenish a forth of your roster every year, and you have to do it through recruiting (or get some transfers, which are fairly random). You don't know the quality of the player you're recruiting, not for sure, until he shows up on campus. Maybe he's a starter immediately, maybe he never makes the team and you cut him before the first season, hard to tell.

NCAA Dynasty mode has always had more depth than Madden Franchise, in my opinion.

[Eagles931]

Re: NCAA or Madden

This is exactly why im switching to NCAA this year. Madden looks weak, 'nuff said. And the is coming from a Madden fan for almost 10 years

[Skyboxer]

Re: NCAA or Madden

I know I am jumping the gun a little seeing as madden hasn't even been released yet, but having always gone with madden I am wondering if I should make the switch this year.

I have always loved franchise mode but it sounds like NCAA's recruiting is in depth enough for me to get something out of.

What do you guys think? Would a fan of offline franchise mode enjoy NCAA this year?

You answered you own question.

Madden isn't out yet and there's no way anyone could say with certainty which of the 2 is the better.
IMO it doesn't matter as Madden and NCAA NEVER should be graded vs each other as they are 2 totally diiferent types of FB games.

In any case no one can tell what YOU will like better, rent them both and decide.

[Scur2D2]

Re: NCAA or Madden

I have always been a Madden fanboy, and this year I am completely unmoved by the changes that they are bringing to madden. (gameflow is basically going to "ask coach" the entire game to choose your plays.. that doesnt seem like an improvement in any shape, way or form to me) I decided to get NCAA and see if I like it and then trade it in for Madden when it did come out.. After playing this game for a week, this game is not leaving my Xbox for a while, nevermind trading it in.

This year is the year of NCAA

[cmurr]

Re: NCAA or Madden

I always get both, but if you are going with one football game this year, I would go with NCAA. The dynasty mode in NCAA is the most fun game mode I have ever used in a video game.

[dalecooper]

Re: NCAA or Madden

Dynasty mode, particularly the recruiting aspect, is hugely fun for me. I have always liked the recruiting interface but they have ramped up the difficulty as well as the transparency (you can really tell how you're doing now and fine-tune your strategy). I enjoy recruiting as much as playing the games, honestly.

There are a few in-game issues that are still preventing me from loving the game unconditionally though. They're all much-discussed around here - man coverage is messed up and overpowered (but sliders help a lot), pass rush is awesome for the computer but awful for you, and running is sometimes so easy it's sickening. With endless slider adjusting some or all of this may be fixable - the jury's still out. But I'm really curious to see if Madden takes the quality of NCAA up a notch. So I guess for me, I'm buying both this year. First year in a long time, too.

[Segagendude]

Re: NCAA or Madden

NCAA has converted me, a Madden-only player. I'm skipping M11 and staying w/ NCAA 11.

So far, my recruiting is slowly coming along, as I have no clue what I'm doing, lol. Lots of "quick calls".

I have two players committed, and am working on a QB (Since Pryor's a senior) who HAD Penn State as his #1 choice, but now is thinking about my school, The Ohio State.

I'm still trying to figure out the ratings and whatnot, but he was in the top 5 in the nation, so I figured we need him.

Yes, this dynasty mode seems more in-depth than Madden's Franchise. So I'm happy!

[gamertom]

Re: NCAA or Madden

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/501300%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style>I always wind up getting both and have always been depressed by Madden. Last year NCAA blew madden away, even in the little things. I like to try stuff, and last year I tried the cpu vs cpu thing just to try it (I never seen the purpose for it until I tried it and it makes you feel like a GM as you have no say in the outcome). With that mode in NCAA you had career ending injuries, minor injuries, penalties, all the things you would find in a football game. With madden in cpu vs cpu you had an arcade game. No one got hurt at all. As sad as it may sound, watching a cpu vs cpu could be fun, but with Madden it was boring beyond belief.

While in the offseason with Madden some players would refuse to sign with your team, it still had very little excitement to it. With NCAA the offseason was great and this year they made the recruiting so much more fun. Sadly I will wind up getting Madden and being depressed AGAIN that I picked it up simply because the game will not have changed all that much nor will they have corrected anything important stuff much less small things like the injuries thing that I was talking about. So with that if you can only have one of the two games, stick with NCAA.

[elliottcarbone]

Re: NCAA or Madden

Save your money dude...Madden 11 will be miles ahead of college football. Look I have NCAA 11 and have been playing it now for a week and it is already starting to get stale. Now do not get me wrong I am still loving the difficulty in recruiting and trying to stay undefeated with Miami. But because of terrible commentary, stick figure fill ins for endzone crowds and a horrible BCS presentation at the end of the season. NCAA is keeping me from being hooked. Look EA would it kill you to do what Madden does every year and provide us with a great looking game and excellent commentary. Add in the fact that Madden this year will be adding crowds reacting to blow outs, such as home teams leaving early when there team is getting romped at home. Also the animations seem to be a lot more fluid in Madden. Now I know this years game has people on a Bob Marley high because of the addition of all-new authentic running mechanics. But truth is after you play 10 or 12 games and hear Brad Nessler sound like a robot and see the glitches hidden within the game U are completely turned off. Now I do love the fact of custom teams, sounds, playbooks and the online dynasty features. But overall I think this game should be no more than 39.99. Do not buy this game at full retail like I made the mistake and did. It is simple not worth it. EA knows Madden is there cash cow and that is why they let NCAA be sub par year in and out. Simple so Madden will make more money and keep people buying into the brand of EA. Look at what EA did with Fifa World Cup 2010, Fight Night, NHL 2010 and your telling me they can't do the same for College Football fans. Please EA record ALL NEW commentary for next years addition before we all pull a Kurt Cobain....

[Scur2D2]

Re: NCAA or Madden

Save your money dude...Madden 11 will be miles ahead of college football. Look I have NCAA 11 and have been playing it now for a week and it is already starting to get stale. Now do not get me wrong I am still loving the difficulty in recruiting and trying to stay undefeated with Miami. But because of terrible commentary, stick figure fill ins for endzone crowds and a horrible BCS presentation at the end of the season. NCAA is keeping me from being hooked. Look EA would it kill you to do what Madden does every year and provide us with a great looking game and excellent commentary. Add in the fact that Madden this year will be adding crowds reacting to blow outs, such as home teams leaving early when there team is getting romped at home. Also the animations seem to be a lot more fluid in Madden. Now I know this years game has people on a Bob Marley high because of the addition of all-new authentic running mechanics. But truth is after you play 10 or 12 games and hear Brad Nessler sound like a robot and see the glitches hidden within the game U are completely turned off. Now I do love the fact of custom teams, sounds, playbooks and the online dynasty features. But overall I think this game should be no more than 39.99. Do not buy this game at full retail like I made the mistake and did. It is simple not worth it. EA knows Madden is there cash cow and that is why they let NCAA be sub par year in and out. Simple so Madden will make more money and keep people buying into the brand of EA. Look at what EA did with Fifa World Cup 2010, Fight Night, NHL 2010 and your telling me they can't do the same for College Football fans. Please EA record ALL NEW commentary for next years addition before we all pull a Kurt Cobain....

all the things you mentioned are such minor annoynces.. and not the huge game killers that you portray them to be. This year's Madden has done nothing in terms of making the gameplay better. Crowds leaving? Thats really your reason for buying a game?

[adembroski]

Re: NCAA or Madden

To begin with; if you're a franchise guy, go NCAA. Dynasty is pretty solid and the changes to recruiting are definitely a step forward. If you're a game play guy, I'd probably stick with Madden as I'm thinking it'll be more polished and the presentation will be tighter.

I have always been a Madden fanboy, and this year I am completely unmoved by the changes that they are bringing to madden. (gameflow is basically going to "ask coach" the entire game to choose your plays.. that doesnt seem like an improvement in any shape, way or form to me) I decided to get NCAA and see if I like it and then trade it in for Madden when it did come out.. After playing this game for a week, this game is not leaving my Xbox for a while, nevermind trading it in.

This year is the year of NCAA

I wanted to address the gameflow comments. The "Gameflow is ask Madden on steroids" attitude is pretty prevalent and I think it needs comment.

The goal of every NFL coach is to be unpredictable. However, unpredictable does not mean random. Ask Madden is random. Random isn't "unpredictable" so much as "chaotic". Unpredictability comes with a plan, and that's what Gameflow is; a plan.

I'm not trying to change your mind here, just add another perspective for the benefit of undecided readers. For the record, all of the gameplay changes in NCAA are also in Madden (locomotion, assignment ai, etc.). Madden is usually tuned to be a bit more sim, and it's usually a bit more polished. Based on history, I expect Madden to be a superior on-the-field game. Being a franchise/dynasty freak, I'll get more mileage out of NCAA this year I expect, but pure gameplay people should give a lot of thought to Madden (especially considering the length of NCAA games is really wearing on me right now! Having played with gameflow, I'm missing it badly.)

[Chrisksaint]

Re: NCAA or Madden

From everything I've read read it seems that Madden 12 will finally be the Madden that makes changes to franchise/superstar. Ive always bought madden told myself I wouldn't get it this year but then Drew Brees is on the cover so yeah i'm getting it and i've never really imported draft classes so gonna mess around with that.

I actually kinda like the gameflow/gameplan things they added I'll prolly have a franchise with a team where all I call are plays from the gameflow.

[Scur2D2]

Re: NCAA or Madden

I mean I will get both.. I just wont be trading NCAA in as I planned.
Gameflow just seems like a gimmick that they will take out as they did with QB Vision back in 06.
NCAA could use a little more polish on field.. it has that college, amateur feel as opposed to Maddens professional smoothness.. I wonder if that is on purpose..

[ODogg]

Re: NCAA or Madden

elliottcarbone - NCAA does have crowds leaving early when there is a blowout. I should know, I'm Ohio State and just had two blowouts and probably a quarter of the seats were filled by the 4th quarter.