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[brooklyngooner]

I am a more-than-casual, less-than-fanatic football watcher. I generally prefer to watch college but also enjoy pro. I don't want to buy two football games, so I am wondering if someone can compare playability and features of NCAA Football and Madden for me?

Just for context: I enjoy franchise modes a great deal, building rosters, etc., sometimes more than playing the actual game itself. Since I am not a rabid supporter, I would weigh overall playability more heavilty than complete and utter realism.

Thanks all. Oh and I didn't mean to exclude ESPN from the discussion.

 

[Truelize]

Well gameplay wise, NCAA is pretty broken. There is an issue with dropped passes. Not just a couple a game either. It is not rare to have a WR drop a wide open pass. Like no one within 5 yards of him wideopen. I have actually had the ball react like it was dropped before it even got within 3 yards of the recievers hands (watched the replay) .It's not uncommon for the defenders arms to actually go through your player to deflect a pass. Occasionly when playing defense the ball will pass through the body of the defender and into the hands of the reciever. So in other words the gameplay has some freakin huge problems. Problems that keep you from playing realistic football.
The additions to the NCAA game like home field advantage, the match-up stick etc... are very cool. I wish Madden had the match-up stick. I got really used to using it playing NCAA. The Dynasty mode in NCAA is awesome. I had so much fun with it. I played through 4 seasons of NCAA before the gameplay turned me off. If the gamplay didn't have all the glitches it does then it would be the better game I think.
Madden on the other hand hasn't really shown me any huge problems. The defensive control is very nice. I seem to have more realistic scoring games with this years game. And the presentation is always nice.

Really between the two I think you would enjoy Madden over the long term.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

NCAA seems much better when you turn HFA off. But it still doesn't feel like an improvement over last year.

I'm a big franchise guy too and Madden is the easy choice over all other football games in that respect. It simply allows you the most options and things to do along with having much better AI (trade logic, etc.) than other games or even past years. The whole Tony Bruno media add on and NCAA style newspaper feature feel underdone, but the rest of the package is first rate. I like how potential starters get mad about bench time,etc.

 

[brooklyngooner]

Well gameplay wise, NCAA is pretty broken. There is an issue with dropped passes. Not just a couple a game either. It is not rare to have a WR drop a wide open pass. Like no one within 5 yards of him wideopen. I have actually had the ball react like it was dropped before it even got within 3 yards of the recievers hands (watched the replay) .It's not uncommon for the defenders arms to actually go through your player to deflect a pass. Occasionly when playing defense the ball will pass through the body of the defender and into the hands of the reciever. So in other words the gameplay has some freakin huge problems. Problems that keep you from playing realistic football.
The additions to the NCAA game like home field advantage, the match-up stick etc... are very cool. I wish Madden had the match-up stick. I got really used to using it playing NCAA. The Dynasty mode in NCAA is awesome. I had so much fun with it. I played through 4 seasons of NCAA before the gameplay turned me off. If the gamplay didn't have all the glitches it does then it would be the better game I think.
Madden on the other hand hasn't really shown me any huge problems. The defensive control is very nice. I seem to have more realistic scoring games with this years game. And the presentation is always nice.

Really between the two I think you would enjoy Madden over the long term.

I read about this dropped-pass issue. Is it really so bad that it interferes that much with your enjoyment? I have also read that players with very high speed ratings still get caught by slow defensive tackles -- have you encountered this as well?

 

[Future]

I haven't experienced the dropped passes bug, and I play NCAA almost every day. But SO many others have mentioned it that it has to be true on some level. I'm on normal difficulty since I'm playing a dynasty with other roomies, so maybe that's why?

 

[brooklyngooner]

I haven't experienced the dropped passes bug, and I play NCAA almost every day. But SO many others have mentioned it that it has to be true on some level. I'm on normal difficulty since I'm playing a dynasty with other roomies, so maybe that's why?

I've heard that if you don't gun it and use the "catch" button (whatever that is) it's a lot better -- if you haven't really experienced it though then that's a good sign.

 

[Cloudy]

I preferred NCAA cos I think the hit stick and defense in Madden was overdone...

 

[Meier]

I haven't experienced the dropped passes bug, and I play NCAA almost every day. But SO many others have mentioned it that it has to be true on some level. I'm on normal difficulty since I'm playing a dynasty with other roomies, so maybe that's why?

I dont even know how that's possible. It's completely evident from the first moment you pop the game in. Either way, I purchased both titles this year and NCAA's presentation is phenomenal.. it's tons better than Madden's. However, I find Madden's franchise mode more fulfilling since your players are with you for a long time rather than constantly shuffling guys. I sure wish they had added a Hall of Fame type thing to Madden too.. would really make for a nice feature.

Madden also lacks the slowdown of NCAA but on the flipside, I can't run for SHIT in it, whereas I can in NCAA even with the slowdown... so that's kind of a toss-up IMO.

 

[Future]

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I dont even know how that's possible. It's completely evident from the first moment you pop the game in
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Because of the threads here I almost didn't even play the game when my roomate bought it, but it's true....haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the 15+ games I've played so far. Most of my receivers catch it when they are open, but bullet passes are dropped more often...which is kind of to be expected.

Again I thought maybe it was because of the default difficulty, because I usually bump it up and I'm sure others here do too..but since it's a shared dynasty I haven't. Too many people talking about this for it not to be true.

 

[Ramirez]

The slowdown absolutely killed the Xbox version...I played a friend one day in the PS2 version and it was like night and day.

 

[brooklyngooner]

The slowdown absolutely killed the Xbox version...I played a friend one day in the PS2 version and it was like night and day.

You mean the Xbox version has slowdown, but not the PS2?

 

[Ramirez]

Yea,it was terrible,on a running play it felt like you were running in quick sand.EA really dropped the ball there...