NCAA Football 09 Demo Available: Discuss Here

[Scott]

Is it up for PS3 yet?

[ThreeKing]

I assume the PS3 version is not out yet??

If not, it comes out around 5pm est. Is that correct?

[pdandy1994]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

I also have a 360.

Oh ok, just cause i saw the PSN thing, and not a XBL thing.

You know what im sayin

[o 99 PROBL3MS o]

My impressions from the demo:

The Good:

1. Atmosphere- the atmosphere in this game seems to be alot better than that of 07-08. The sidelines are somewhat crowded and the cheerleader cutscenes don't seem overdone (at least not yet). They also appear to have removed those annoying stadium pans from the past two games.

2. Playbooks- There are tons of new plays I've seen so far. This will make the game alot more refreshing because in past games (particularly online) after a few months I would practically know what someone was doing before the play was actually run.

3. Formation audibles- This was long needed and really helps in adjusting to what the defense shows you pre-snap. Now only if they could give the defense some formation audibles we would be in business.

4. New animations help keep plays and player interactions from feeling so "scripted".

5. No jetpacking- After labbing with my brother those annoying jetpack catches by the spectacular catch WR's which were scene in NCAA 08 appear to be gone.

6. 3-man contain glitch- The 3 man defensive lineman contain-to-crash glitch is now gone. This was so close to a game killer in NCAA 08 its not even funny (specifically for those active in online play seeing that the cpu doesn't do this.). Now when pinched and crashed, containing lineman become regular rushers.

7. Slide Protection- Now this is something next-gen has needed for a while. Me and my brother toyed around with this for a view minutes and the slide protection was able to virtually disable all nano blitzes. This is huge for those of us who like to run a pro-style offense from under the center and couldn't because of that ridiculous pressure coming from the A-gaps.

8. Punt returns-the punt game feels alot more natural and blockers dont seem to just flat out ignore as many blocks as in 08.

9. Goaline- Goaline offense no longer seems like the headache it was in 08 and I feel that gamers planning on running this for an entire game may be in for a rude awakening. The fact that EA has apparently taken the option out of the Goaline formation (particularly triple option) is huge!

10. Fullback Dive- Fullback dive is no longer a guaranteed 5 yards if this demo is any indication.

The Bad:

1. Commentary- the commentary in the demo was flat out wrong sometimes but I expected this with a demo. It should be much better in the final version (NCAA 08 demo didn't have commentary if i remember correctly).

2. Passing Accuracy- I was playing against OSU QB #17 (Todd Boeckman) on Varsity but felt like I was playing against Peyton Manning on All Madden. The CPU was just too accurate in the passing game. I'm nervous about seeing how this is affected when the game is played on All-American or Heisman modes. I know this was a big complaint coming out of community day.

3. Warping by defenders- There still appears to be some "warping" by defenders to intercept passes that appear as they should be completions. Not nearly as bad as 08 but I long the day when this is gone.

4. Pass Rush- The pass rush is not as big an issue as I feared but it is still a big issue. I couldn't really rely on my defensive linemen to get pressure alone but when I called a defense geared to get pressure on the QB, I was able to generate pressure 90% of the time so its not impossible to get pressure but if you aren't blitzing expect to give up some completions.

5. Ball physics- There are still some unreal ball physics for example, when a WR drops a pass the ball floats 8 yards horizontally to a defender and is intercepted. That just isn't good ball physics. Every blue moon that may happen but normally in football it doesn't.

Final Thoughts:

This game is far more enjoyable than the last, many of the "cheesers" as they have become known will have to find new ways to exploit the game seeing that most of the old exploits have been removed. Thanks EA. NCAA has made some nice improvements. Hopefully Madden can do the same!

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by farnzworth

downloading now. is the song feature in the demo?

NO

[tinman]

Quote: Originally Posted by rspencer86

Has anyone seen the CPU throw a deep pass yet? Just curious, as this was a big issue last year. Can't wait to get home from work and try this demo out.

Playing against LSU, the cpu went deep on the very first play of the game. It was so unexpected that for a second, I wasn't sure what was going on.

I checked out a mascot game to see if the difference in playbooks and the cpu went deep 6 times, (yes 6!) during the game. Maybe the playcalling is more arcadey during a mascott game, I don't know if this was the case last year, but during the mascot game, the cpu had more variety in it's playcalling than I have seen in this series in a long time.

[papernut]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThreeKing

I assume the PS3 version is not out yet?? If not, it comes out around 5pm est. Is that correct?

Correct. PSN Store updates usually show up between 3-6PM Est on Thursdays.

[ps2king]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThreeKing

I assume the PS3 version is not out yet?? If not, it comes out around 5pm est. Is that correct?

between 5/6 est as usual

[ODogg]

Am I the only one reading everyone's impressions and only reading the bad (cons) parts about the game? LOL, you guys here are making me a cynical old man.

[fishepa]

Man I hope the CPU attempts bombs in this game. That was one of my pet peeves of last year.