NCAA Football 11 Review

One word can sum up EA Sport’s NCAA Football 11, that word is wow, just wow. After several years developing on the College Football Series on the next/current gen systems, EA Sports have finally got the full deck of cards for the annual football video game release. From game gameplay, rosters, sounds, and even the animations, every aspect of the process has been completely redefined by EA. The new features which include the new Locomotion engine, Online Dynasty upgrades, and Triple A presentations for each school have NCAA Football 11 look like the Next Gen football title that all gamers dreamed about when the Xbox 360 was released back in 2005. For NCAA 2011, EA came up with the slogan “120 ways to win”. Where in some years, different sports titles use this type of propaganda to fuel their “Hype Machines”, EA brings the truth with its hype as the Locomotion Engine shines with the all new offensive playbooks added to this year’s game. In past years, gamers came to hate the games where you would run into “that guy” running the No Huddle offence the whole game. (Especially when they run the same play over and over) This year EA has streamlined the offensive and defensive playbooks to give gamers access to their team’s full playbooks on the fly to prevent getting caught in a blitz defense when the player is going deep every play.
The Locomotion Engine also makes the players on the field react more like their real life counterparts. No longer does the fastest recruit equal to the most used/dangerous player on the field. This year, high acceleration and awareness ratings play just as big of part in recruiting the right players as looking for someone with 99 speed rating in the previous year’s games. EA stepped up their game this year by using an all-new 50-yard motion capture studio to make the players move and react more realistic to the feel of current college football players today. A huge overhaul of how you will recruit players in the dynasty mode this year. You can no longer pump endless amount of time into one guy. Gone are the days of watching a smiley face for a few minutes to discern how well you’re doing. You actually have to use strategy and have set priorities if you want to be effective. The priorities had better be to take care of your team’s needs first and pipeline states associated to your school second. You now have the ability to not only set the AI difficulty for the dynasty, but you can also set the difficulty of recruiting for the online and offline dynasties. This means that the other schools that are trying to get the 5-Star running back that you have your heart set on, will now come after the recruit with full force just like a human controlled dynasty team would.
By doing this, it makes the stacked teams of long running dynasties more of a challenge to each player. The greatest new feature that EA Sports have added to the online dynasty mode is the all new Dynasty Wire. The game automatically uploads pictures to the web and any video highlights you’ve created after the game. It takes a little longer to sync back to the dynasty server but it’s not agonizing wait. It will be a great addition for leagues and communities of the dedicated NCAA players. Have you ever wanted to be a Sports Journalist? Now you can with the new ability in the Dynasty Wire mode, wannabe ESPN anchors can now write-up their own summery of how a game played out. Was it a tough loss after you starting QB got hurt, or was your friend Jeff running a “Cheese” Quarters defense and you want to call him a bum, you now have the ability to shape your Dynasty Experience the way you want. The part of all the Dynasty Wire features is that you can do it all from your XBOX 360 or your PC. That’s right; you can control every aspect of your Online Dynasty other than playing the actual game from your home or work PC. NCAA Football 11 has the best looking graphics and presentation features of any football game ever made, bar none.
The new Locomotion Engine makes all the uniforms, mascots, and college atmosphere of each campus become so real, that you can almost smell the Cows on the plains of Auburn University. Teams such as Clemson enter the stadium just like the “real” Tigers team by running down to the field after each player touches “Howard’s Rock”. Teams also feature the new equipment that are worn by each college and are team specific on what brand they use, so now you will see the University of Alabama wear the Nike uniforms and Auburn University wear Under Armour equipment. The locomotion engine’s fluidity and realism transfer to the animations you see out of the ball carrier and the defenders tackling him as well. Instead of seeing a player pop in and out of specific right analog moves like in NCAA 10, such as a running back jumping hard left or right on a juke, movements in NCAA 11 are more precise. A player will gather his body, plant his feet, shift his weight, and then start accelerating again. It’s not all just a pretty-looking sequence, either. You can combo moves a lot better than in NCAA 10, and you don’t even have to use the right analog special moves to reap the benefits of the new engine. The new engine does have a few minor flaws such as random 1-2 second’s freezing that will at times stop in mid-play even after installing the game to the hard drive.
This can be frustrating and often result a busted run play or incomplete pass. For years I have waited for EA Sports to create a NCAA football game that stood up to the quality available in it's flagship Madden NFL franchise, finally they have done it. There are enough improvements in NCAA 11 to make it a worthwhile purchase for any college football fan, especially those who wear their college colors even during the off-season. Many of the new enhancements to the deep dynasty mode will keep sim-lovers happy for months on end; having the ability to make changes from your computer is a bonus for the whole franchise. I can't imagine EA Sports improving much more come next year but as long as they continue to improve the series like they did with the 2011 iteration it will turn out to be the football game to beat on Xbox 360, setting a bar high above all other versions. The amount of detail that went into making sure the collegiate teams were accurately represented must have taken a team of developers outnumbering the entire development staff from last year. Graphics aside the gameplay changes are what really pushed NCAA Football 11 ahead of it's predecessor; it feels every bit as strong as the Madden franchise and will make those sports fans looking for the ultimate college experience jump for joy. Online or offline the virtual action is up in your face and fast-paced, creating one fantastic college football memory after another; don't be afraid to pick this up just in time for the 2011 NCAA football season to begin.

Tweet