Is NCAA Football FINALLY 'back'?? IGN says "yes"...

[Spaceman Spiff]

IGN gives NCAA Football 11 an 8.5 out of 10, calling it imperfect, but the best iteration of the game on the current gen systems by far.

As someone who has been with the series since the Genesis days, and has owned the best (NCAA '06 on the Xbox) and the worst (NCAA '07 on the 360), I can't deny I'm excited.

It looks as though EA finally focused on adding in some new stuff that people actually want. The new lighting, animations, and locomotion all look great. I'm excited to hear about actual assignment blocking and better DB coverage. And the ability to recruit, manage, and update your dynasty from your PC or mobile phone looks excellent.

On the other hand, what killed last year's game for me was the atrocious bugs, like Robo QB (ugh) and woeful D-line pressure on the QB (double ugh). Quite simply, those two things destroyed the game more than any other "improvements" might have helped salvage it.

The problem with EA Sports games always seem to be their "loopholes" and cheating AI, and impossible to adjust sliders and difficulty.

If EA has finally tackled those things, as well as all the other good-looking additions, we might finally have a winner.

Anyone else excited, optimistic, or otherwise looking forward to seeing how this one pans out?

[Snakespy]

I think they did a great job with Madden '10...don't know much about NCAA but maybe in both games they are taking a step forward with NCAA a year behind. Thoughts?

[md1198p]

I think they did a great job with Madden '10...don't know much about NCAA but maybe in both games they are taking a step forward with NCAA a year behind. Thoughts?

I like Madden 10. I do hope they improve the pass coverage in the next one though. Zone defenses really suck. The DB's don't "pass off" the guys in their zone to the next zone quite right. Its too easy to complete passes underneath the safetys and linebackers up the middle. Other than that it was a huge improvment over the last few Maddens.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Ok, well, I bought the game last night.

I'm not going to launch into a full review yet. I've only played a couple of full games, and that's just not enough to form a solid opinion on everything.

But I will say, barring some major AI or technical bugs, this is BY FAR the best NCAA game of the current generation, possibly...ever.

True, many of the fixes are relatively minor, but they all come together very nicely. The graphics and animations are really leaps and bounds better than last year's. The control is simplified but works surprisingly well, provided you don't overpursue on defense or outrun your blockers on offense with the lack of a turbo button.
Presentation is simply worlds better. It does a lot to add to the immersion factor of the game. Yeah, it's no substitute for solid gameplay and AI, but damn, it DOES help a lot when those things are in place.

I LOVE the fact that CBs are now HUMAN, and the WRs are not dumb as doornails either. CBs just....get....beat on plays sometimes. No more trailing 3 yards behind a receiver with their backs to the ball, and then at the last possible second leaping 4 feet into the air to swat the descending ball with their pinkies, or better yet, grab a pick. If they're a few steps back, they just better hope the receiver has brick hands.
Speaking of WRs, the sideline awareness is miles better than any other version of the game. No more running full sprint out of bounds to catch a ball while not keeping both feet in.

Other little things like vastly improved blocking schemes (not so little, really), and the QB actually having to plant, wind-up and release those MASSIVE downfield bombs are such a great sight. It makes you wonder how you tolerated this BS in the previous games. No more running laterally and heaving an accurate 40 yd pass at a full sprint.

It's too early to bestow the crown upon this game yet. There could be some serious bugs and flaws that might take a few games to rear their ugly heads (Robo QB, total lack of DL pressure from last year, etc), but I haven't seen it yet, and remain cautiously optimistic.

As it stands, this is far and away the best NCAA experience of this gen, and I can actually NOT be embarrasssed for buying an EA Sports product on release day.