Game Review: Ncaa 2009

Darren Mcfadden is the newest cover boy

Although my love for college football is bordering on obsession I went into the store weary of the newest installment of the ever popular NCAA series. With last years release being nothing more than a port from the old gen models, and no competition to spur EA into immediate improvements I must admit I thought this game would follow last years trend. However this years version exceeds almost every expectation I had.

The game play is a lot more responsive in this years version with a heavy lean in focus on the running game. Moving the joystick left to right not only moves your player in that direction but if done quickly enough causes player to cut quickly to either avoid direct bone jarring hits or even being touched all together. This quick cut like motion is also helpful to set up defenders to one side while quickly turning back to the hole you originally intended on.

The control system allows for a much improves offensive attack

As some of you may know strange bugs have bothered this title for a long time and most of these have been rectified in the newer version. Teleporting DT’s still do occur but at a very minimal rate, and players moving 7 feet in an instant to intercept your passes has also been toned down making Heisman mode less of an  epileptic seizure waiting to happen. Also, unlike last years version face masking penalties have been reintroduced into the game so when your players neck is being yanked like a rag doll expect to move up 15 yards.

Now for the biggest advance in this series from last year to this: Recruiting. Beyond the horrid graphics, the odd player movements, and the lack of college football passion that was lacking in 2008; the recruiting was the worst part of the game often taking 10-15 minutes in between each actual game you played. This could equate to 2 hours and 30 minutes just to play 2 games. EA’s upgrade? Quick calling recruits which enables you to choose how long you want to talk to each recruit and the computer will automatically try to find the interests of the recruit and pump up what he likes the most. This feature alone saves you 10 minutes of headache so you can get to what you actually  want to do in the first place; play football.

On the graphical front, it is a night and day turnaround for the staff at EA. Grass no longer looks like green carpet, and for the first time ever in a NCAA game, there are 3d fans! It may not seem like much but it adds a different level to the atmosphere of the stadium and gives the game a real authentic college experience.

Difference between field in 2008 (top) and Ncaa 2009 (bottom)

The stadiums continue to improve as each new release comes out and this year is no different making it hard to decipher whether what your staring at during pregame is actually  a video game or not. Another unique and unexpected touch was the addition of alternate uniforms for most teams. This ranges from old school uniforms for certain teams to uniforms worn in special situations like the Seminoles’ unconquered black uni’s or the lucky green of the Irish.

Notre Dames Green Uniforms

Last and  the only aspect of the game that fell short of my expectations was the sound. It seems every year Corso and Herbstreit use the same tired lines seen in previous versions. EA would do well to figure out how to get both guys back into the sound studio with a new script because it really wears thin on your nerves after awhile when you have heard that your player runs a non win aided 40 since 2007. It also seems to lack what 2007 grasped so well; in that crowd noise mixed with the vibrating controller seems to be missing. Those aspects that 2007 had captured the feel of 80,000 college fans screaming their guts out during a crucial situation, and without it the game dulls down during moments when you should be at the edge of your seat. The lone bright spot for the sound aspect is that EA is releasing sound packs that can be downloaded to your xbox 360 or ps3 that have the unique game day sounds for each team including game day rituals or songs played by each team. Despite this pleasent addition the overall sound of the game fails for me big time.

Game play: 9

Other than the rare teleports that keep plaguing the series the game play is much improved in every aspect.

Graphics: 9

As displayed by the pictures above the players look more like college players than your bulked up pros of 2008, and the uniforms and fields have made a huge jump in improvement.

Sound: 6

The only failure of the game but it was enough of a nuisance to bring the games rating down a little. I would rather listen to Meat Loaf than have Herbstreit tell me my player may be the “fastest player in college football” one more time.

Overall: 8

Overall this game is a must get for the college football enthusiast and we can all put that 2008 nightmare behind us. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have your ipod handy to take care of the announcing situation.