UG - NCAA 11 (Demo)

Now mind you, this is just a review of the demo. Yes, I know the full game is out and this demo was released awhile ago so you might be thinking it is retarded of me to review this demo, well I'm going to do it anyways so shut up. See I am cheap and I only want to buy either this game or Madden and the Madden demo isn't released until next week. So I thought I would check out this demo and then that demo and then choose.

The graphics looked pretty good in the game and the new lighting effects do help make the characters look more real. Overall, every aspect of the game feels improved from last year; however, that is what I expect. If it wasn't improved, why the hell would you release a new game. The tackling felt much better and the running game is improved. I think they give too much credit to quarterbacks though and rushing the quarterback is a little too easy. In some of the games I played, I was able to get to the quarterback about 75 percent of the time, but only ended up with a few sacks and even when I crushed the QB as he was throwing it, his throws were still excellent. This got a little tiresome after awhile. And just because it is improved, I don't think that should instantly give the game a higher ranking than the same game last year or make you think you have to buy it to replace last year's version if you are happy with it. These are the sort of improvements that always makes me think of the Chris Rock skit where he talks about the father that brags about taking care of his kids and Rock yells, you're supposed to take care of your kids, what do you want, a cookie. And that is my sentiment on this as well, I don't see bragging rights in making minor improvements during the one year of coding time.


While pretty much everything seemed at least slightly improved, there were two areas that I found to be really weak. The graphics used on the crowd still seem pathetic to me. They look like cardboard cutouts with as much depth as Paris Hilton. Also, in the games I played the crowd somehow magically is split exactly 50/50 between team colors so that all of one team's fans sit on one side while the other fans are all on the other. I really feel that the crowd is a complete after thought.

The next weak area is the stadium announcer (I am ignoring the commentators because I have zero doubt that those guys will always annoy the crap out of me by speaking without any context and constantly repeating a supposedly humorous line). The stadium announcer seems like he might have a slight mental retardation or is trying to read a script and has the reading capability of the 3rd grader from Billy Madison (tatatata..today junior). For example, at the end of one quarter the announcer states "At the end of the 1st quarter, we have (pause) Texas with (pause) 7 and (pause) Oklahoma (pause) with (pause) 0. I mean it really shouldn't be too hard to string together a sentence like that.

Overall, an improved game, but it still appears to get second hand treatment compared to Madden so I will wait to play that demo and see how it comes out.

(8/10) -> This score is what I could give most games in NCAAF history just because I enjoy college football and the game is enjoyable, but I am not saying that you should throw out your old game and buy the new one immediately.