A A A

Every Gamer Should Care About NCAA Football

NCAA 11 gets the love it deserves.

July 13, 2010
You won't like this if...

you hate sports.

NCAA Football 11
NCAA Football 11 Credit: EA

When EA Tiburon's NCAA Football 11 experience is hot, it's hot. I'm playing as the University of Southern California Trojans in the BCS National Championship versus the Alabama Crimson Tide. With only 23 seconds left in the game, USC is only up by four points with 'Bama just feet away from scoring a touchdown to take a very late game lead. The Crimson Tide has been deadly in the Red Zone for the entire game so I'm prepared to take the loss and gear up for next season. As the Tide's QB throws the ball into the end zone though, everything changes as I make a final push for a big play -- I take control of my corner and leap up and grab the ball for an interception. The rest is history as my corner runs to the opposite end zone and scores, sealing USC as champions of the world (for this season at least) and making me leap off of my couch in happiness.

If only that situation described every moment in the game, NCAA Football 11 would be close to pigskin perfection. But while it does so many things much better than even Madden has pulled off recently, EA's collegiate level football offering misses in a few key areas that affect the game as a whole.

 

Big Wins

Moving The Ball

Running the football in NCAA 11 is a thing of beauty. How a running-back jukes a potential tackler is almost true to life and getting past blockers and the offensive line makes past years incarnations' fits of stalling behind a left tackle while an unreachable crease materializes right in front of you the stuff of memory.

The passing game is equally patched up with the addition of sideline catches. While players seem to be a little 'sideline catch' happy, it does add to the realism of the game. Instead of simply being content with watching a pass fall inches away from them out of bounds or unintelligently running past the sideline to make a catch, receivers remain mindful of field boundaries. Players now make a point to drag their feet near sidelines so their catches count for forward progress.

NFL 2K5 had (digital Chris Berman, ESPN music, pans and wipes). While it's not quite at that level, NCAA Football 11 has taken a number of steps in the right direction. Sports games' presentations make up a large part of my enjoyment since much of the point of them, to me, is replicating watching the event on television.

While all the ESPN additions to the menus and front-end are nice to have, the real centerpiece of the package is the broadcast presentation. EA has made the faux broadcast look very close to what you'll see on a Saturday afternoon this fall. While I still prefer what EA Canada did to simulate both the ESPN and CBS broadcast experiences in NCAA Basketball 10, EA Tiburon has proven that they're ready to take college football's presentation to the next level.

 

Emotions Run Wild

Playing through Dynasty mode with the school of your choosing has its ups and downs -- taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride of games, injuries, and recruiting. Since everything that happens in Dynasty mode is your doing, choosing to play an injured wide-out, then watching him crash and burn when he gets more seriously injured, is as heartbreaking as successfully recruiting a five-star QB is exciting.

Rebuilding Opportunities

Frequent Injuries

While I appreciate the inclusion of injuries, as they add weight to play choices and further the realism of the game, NCAA Football 11 epitomizes the "too much of a good thing" saying. After what seemd like every other play, someone on either side of the ball will end up injured. While oftentimes the injury is nothing more than what Erin Andrews (NCAA Football 11's sideline reporter) describes as "elbow bursitis" or "bruised ribs" (conditions that only remove a player from a game for one or two drives down the field), season ending injuries are seemingly just as common. By the BCS Championship game, I was left with only three starters on offense -- one of which got injured in that game and would be "out for 11 weeks." If injuries were as prevalent in real-life NCAA, I don't think there would be much to watch on Saturday afternoons in the fall.

Attention to Detail

While NCAA Football 11 is one of the best looking football games I've seen, some of the things it doesn't do stand out drastically. While playing a game in the pouring rain, a football field is going to get very muddy. Not in NCAA Football 11 though, as the field doesn't deteriorate at all and every player on the field somehow keeps their uniforms spic and span. The rain effects look great, though!

 

On a completely separate note, I played through Dynasty mode as The University of Southern California, a team that's been banned from post-season play for the 2010 and 2011 seasons due to the breaking of the amateur athlete rules. I went into the Dynasty expecting that ban to come into play in the game as well, considering EA's apparent quest for realism with this game. Lo and behold though, I was not only able to play in a post-season bowl but I won the BCS National Championship with USC. As a fan of USC, I had no problem with this (other than questioning the realism) but for someone playing as another Pac-10 school, this could pose a problem. Since USC rates very high statistically, there's a good chance that, through simulation, they might come out on top of your team in the rankings, even though this could never happen in real life. Even a simple toggle for players to choose whether or not they care about this small detail would have made this a non-issue. While this does not affect how I feel about the game at all, I think it's worth noting.

The NCAA Football series had been teetering close to stagnation, but luckily EA Tiburon has stepped up their game and delivered a solid entry in the franchise. While it's certainly not a perfect game, NCAA Football 11 is a great template for EA's future football offerings to build upon.

Originally published on 1UP.

See More: Madden | EA | EA Sports | NCAA Football