Seems there are two kinds of sports gamers -- those who like to play all those leisure-time-sucking extra features (alternate modes, the away-from-competition stuff and other experiences), and those who care only about playing the sport itself.
Count me among the latter.
I'm no in-depth gamer by any stretch, but since the mid-'90s I have competed in video-game football tournaments with friends from across America. Some tournaments are in person, some online. (I've won only once, damnit.)
Since 1998 we always have played the latest version of NCAA Football -- EA Sports' long-running and hugely popular-in-America series. (Almost all Canadian football gamers seem to prefer EA Sports' Madden NFL series.)
NCAA Football's graphics, lifelike actions and strategic options have come a long, long way since the original PlayStation versions from the late '90s.
Starting in 2002, the next-gen PS2 incarnations of NCAA Football offered huge improvements, especially visually. But they also added more options with the exponential advancement in memory capacity.
For me, that's when EA Sports started to lose its way. Rather than focus the majority of its creative and developmental energy on the game playing itself, EA often seemed to be putting it into the extras. Such as Dynasty Mode, wherein you can actually compete against other players for high school recruits, and actually role-play a college football athlete through his career, on and off the field.
The first time I played a PS3 version of the game -- NCAA Football 09 -- was two years ago. I was surely impressed with the upgrades in the graphics, especially on my new HDTV, but downright shocked at the downgrade in human movements during game play compared to that year's sister PS2 version. For instance, PS3 players ran like those rooster-like Imperial Walkers in Star Wars -- herky-jerky and unnatural.
NCAA Football 11 corrects such past PS3 problems. And then some.
Graphics? Unbelievably lifelike. Specific team stadium entrances are now included. Every college team has a unique ritual of some kind. Now you can watch the Michigan Wolverines exit the tunnel and leap up and touch their famous GO BLUE banner. Or see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tap their PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY sign on the way out of their locker room. And so on.
Human movements? Back to natural looking -- with a greater array of lifelike game actions added, such as a receiver tightroping the sideline to stay in bounds while making a catch. Very cool.
More than ever before, playbooks are detailed and team specific. In real life, Notre Dame is expected to run a hurry-up offence under new head coach Brian Kelly, and EA's astute strategists incorporated that into Notre Dame on this game. These are the kinds of ridiculously specific details that those who play the game for the game REALLY like and appreciate being added on.
Not every change to NCAA Football 11 has been for the better. More than ever before, it feels like a long ad for ESPN, whose name is shown or announced almost continually between plays. And if you're going to have real-life sideline sweetie Erin Andrews as one of the voices, then how about showing her! Yes, even digitally.
Other small quibbles: I play as Michigan a lot, and their starting halfback #20 (real life: Michael Shaw) gets hurt at some point in almost every game; I sure miss the X button for added speed; Brad Nessler's play-by-play and Kirk Herbstreit's commentaries occasionally lag behind the play, especially in hurry-up mode; and maybe my biggest pet peeve -- hard long passes are still occasionally and inexplicably intercepted by linebackers who, in real life, would have to stand about 15 feet tall to ever intercept.
Never played a football video game before? No worries. NCAA Football 11 now defaults after every play to a suggested play from that team's very own offensive or defensive playbook. No need to surf through a stream of X's and O's and arrows if you're not football savvy.
My 18-year-old son Carson can slay dragons and Nazis with the best gamers out there, but had never played any team-sport video game when he tried this one. He doesn't know an out-cut from a sprint draw to an iso smash, but after half an hour he was hooked.
Bottom Line
If EA Sports continues with these kinds of game-playing improvements, perhaps someday they'll hit upon nirvana for many pigskin- heads like me: design your own plays.
*****
NCAA Football 11
EA Sports
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Rating: Everyone
Score: 4 out of 5
john.kryk@sunmedia.ca
