It’s the doldrums of summer. Baseball season is about half way over and your team is likely out of the pennant race. Madden is still over a month away. How can you possibly quench your thirst for competitive sport? Easy. Get off your ass and go get NCAA Football 11. EA has given us the best playing college football game of all time. This game shines. Deep single player and polished graphics make the college game stand on it’s own two feet.

The single biggest criticism that has faced NCAA football games, especially since EA took over completely, is that it is Madden’s little brother. Good enough to be good, but never enough to be great. Often last year’s Madden breakthrough’s are this year’s NCAA’s features. Not this year. The game has a full integration with ESPN. The online dynasty has to be a prequel of how Madden will work. Live weather conditions, on the field replays, and brand new animations make the game feel like it is an actual event. Mascots and music, it’s all there. You will notice how fluid the gameplay is immediately. Running backs hurdle downed defenders, players drag their toes on the sidelines, players force runners out of bounds with shoulder tackles; it’s these types of things that show just how far NCAA has come.

The removal of the mini-games was a real disappointment. Tug of War, Option Dash, and Bowling are all gone. This really pissed me off. Erin Andrews is in the game and it is impossible to miss her. If you played the Road to Glory mode last year, Erin is back doing the exact same thing. The exact same thing. Same voices, motions, etc. The crowds still look plain and you will see the same superfan over and over holding the same sign and foam finger, just with different colors. Again, a lot of the single player stuff has not changed outside of Online Dynasty, but it is not a deal breaker. It is just obvious they focused more on gameplay than mode development which is not a bad thing.

Does NCAA 11 play better than Madden 10? Yes, it does. By a lot. Haven’t played Madden 11 yet, so I can’t say how they will stack up, but anytime sports games improve on their core gameplay from year to year, it is a great thing. Too many times, the games are often seen as a roster update with some new gameplay tweak that will fail miserably (passing cone, blocker control, etc.). However, NCAA is a polished football game that has a trend setting online dynasty with the tightest football controls that have ever come out. Casual football fans will likely just scoop up Madden as they do every year. Hardcore football fans are going to have a game they can play on Saturdays and Sundays this year. If not, you are missing out.

[A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes.]