NCAA Football 11: Demo

As you boot up the demo of NCAA 11, after seeing a nice little introduction video, you're met with a choice of a few set-up games to play, giving you more choices than the normal demo which would usually have just two teams. I had to go with the OSU game, so I selected it and headed off to face the Miami Hurricanes.

Before the kick-off, I see a shot of what looks like the ESPN Gameday studio which then cuts to The Horseshoe where the fans are screaming and ready to see the players take the field. The camera then cuts to the tunnel, where you dozens of cleats walking across, and you hear the beautiful “click-clack” against the concrete. As the camera moves up, there's a shot of Terrelle Pryor and the gang with arms locked before finally storming onto the field with the Ohio State fight song blaring. EA promised a revamped presentation, and it looks like they delivered.

Now the real action begins, and I can test out the gameplay. It definitely borrows some mechanics that were added to last year's additions to Madden, but NCAA 11 improves those and makes them its own. For example, gang tackle pile-ups are here, but they feel a lot more natural, where in Madden 10 they were a little forced. A new feature that EA has brought to the table is a new momentum based “locomotion” engine. Now you can forget about holding down the right shoulder button every time you run with the ball or chase down a player while on defense, because the new system will take care of this for you. I love the thought of this, but my finger still instinctively went for R2 every time my player took off. As a long time player it'll take some adjusting.

 

They say this every year, but NCAA Football 11 really delivers in being a big step over its predecessors. The gameplay feels extremely smooth all-around and the animations are very realistic. I didn't notice any real glitches or exploits. This feels like the football sim we've been waiting for on this generation of consoles. Actually, there was one bug I found in the demo, because during one play, a Miami receiver caught a pass and he was clearly a good five feet out of bounds, but the game granted The U a completed pass anyway and they got a fresh set of downs. I felt a little cheated, but I'm confident that a huge glitch like this wouldn't make it into the game, and if it did, there would be a patch right away.

At least my game wasn't affected, putting a 21-0 beatdown on Miami (on the Varsity difficulty) and I unlocked some exclusive uniforms for the full game. The demo only allows for 2 minute quarters, so it's safe to say I'll be heading back to get another taste of the gameplay. However, from the sort sample I have already gotten, I can assure you that the gameplay is substantially better than it has ever been since its transition to the HD consoles.

 

A demo is only a small portion of what the full game will offer, as a sports game isn't anything without deep game modes to enjoy the gameplay in. We won't know for ourselves exactly what they're like until July 13, but the details so far sound like another step in the right direction for the series. The Online Dynasty sounds better than last year, so we just have to hope for lag free play. For those of us who are still playing football games on PS2 with updated rosters, maybe this will be the game that finally convinces us to make the complete switch to the new generation of gaming.

Logan Smithson, NoobFeed