Official NCAA Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

[feeq14]

Just finished my first game everything at default, no sliders no created or edited players, on default difficulty. 5 minute quarters

Neb over Bama 27-24 in ot.

Dont recall stats but I liked the way the CPU played me, they stuck to the run and ran well at that. They clearly ran their o through their RB running screens draws, swing passes, etc just to get the ball in his hands.

Kickoff return does seem too easy, I ran one back and stopped myelf from running another back.

Love how the physics work, seems like players with low tackle and bad angles are gonna miss allot of tackles.

Didnt pass much so hard to say how well it works, had one bad play where a TE was wide open, caught the ball and took an exagerated step in the wrong direction but Im pretty sure that was my misstep.

Pass rush seemed fine, Pass coverage seemed fine. Running game seems different, possibly more realistic have to give it a few tries.

Super sim seems to be fixed where plays take more than 5 seconds each so no more ridiculous stats becuase of a broken sim engine in super sim.

Best moment, I iced their kicker and he actually missed wide right on their OT field goal try even though he made one to get them into OT after being iced.

Dynasty seems unchanged thus far but I havent done much in recruiting yet.

Overall very satisfied. Didnt notice the plethora of complaints ive been reading about the last few days. Only issue seems to be the Kickoff/punt returns.

My biggest dissapointment is that there still seems to be an absence of the old school power running playbooks. No Maryland I, few Power I's, Still no wingback sweeps out of the Flexbone.

[elicoleman]

Random tidbit but I just got called for intentional grounding, a first for me in any football game.

That was pretty sweet.

[MattStewartJHS]

I just finished my first game. I had a lot of fun.

Settings
Difficulty: All American
Quarter Length: 5
Slider Adjustments: None
System: XBox 360

===

Opened up the game and without making any changes, jumped into an exhibition game. Toledo @ BGSU. This game is definitely different to me compared to the last few versions of NCAA Football, and much better in my opinion.

The sliders do need to be adjusted to improve defensive pass rush, offensive rushing and perhaps pass defense. But not too much, and they are not game killers at all.

I won the game 21-16.

I jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter, off a big play by Marques Parks and then a bigger run by Chris Bullock. Toledo countered with two Interceptions in the 2nd quarter, but could only muster 3 points out of it. They missed, just barely, a 56-yard field goal on the 2nd turnover. I like the feature that asks you to select which play the defense ran out of their set formation after you throw an INT, and you gain or lose composure points based on your answer. Nice touch.

I broke another long drive for my third touchdown late in the 2nd, and went into the locker room for halftime winning, BGSU 21, Toledo 3. The second half was a completely different story. While there are admittedly some glaring problems with the AI, it seemed as though Toledo was much tighter defensively against me in the second half, and it indeed felt like the AI had learned and adapted to my offensive play calling.

They were able to march down the field in the 3rd for a touchdown, but a failed two point conversion left them trailing 21-9 heading into the final frame. Suddenly I could do nothing on offense. With 3 minutes to go Toledo forced a 3-and-out. I blitzed on the proceeding play, and was able to get one of my few effective pass rushes and sack the Quarterback. So it's difficult, but not impossible. Unfortunately, on the next play they hit a WR screen and went 70 yards for a touchdown. My lead had been reduced from 21-3 to 21-16.

But there was just under two minutes left and all I had to do was run out the clock. I handed the ball off to Chris Bullock, but he fumbled it away right around the half-field mark. Now I was sweating it a little bit. Was I going to lose my first game? That'd be awful!

Toledo opened up their offense and started to slice and dice me. The pass defense needs a little work, but not too much. Most notable in this drive was the lack of defensive pass rush, something I could live with when I had an 18 point lead, but at this point in the game it felt like they had all day. The Rockets were able to get it down to about the 28 yard line, when they went from broke with 49 seconds remaining, and my DB picked the ball off at the 5 yard line, game over.

Highlights included from my EA Sports World account below. Great stuff.

===

EA SPORTS World: NCAA Football 09 Video

Nice little leap for a Touchdown.

EA SPORTS World: NCAA Football 09 Video

Fourth Quarter sack just before Toledo cuts the lead to 5.

EA SPORTS World: NCAA Football 09 Video

Game saving INT with 49 seconds to play



===

Verdict: Despite all the paranoia surrounding this game, I LOVE IT. It is a lot smoother then the last few versions, and plays a visually stunning and high quality game of college football. The extra features such as the EA Locker and the Sports World instant uploads are awesome additions that will allow games and game stories to be shared a lot easier. The gameplay is still the same old EA engine, sure, and will definitely need some tweaks with the sliders to get it right, but what is impressive about this year's game is how nothing is cheap. The defense, nor the offense, nor the special teams seems to be ridiculously lop sided. It's flat fun.

I hope you can get your hands on it and play it out over the next few days because it is enjoyable. It might not be perfect, but it is fun. That is what a game is supposed to be about, right?

==

Stats

Quote:

PASSING: Tyler Sheehan; BGSU - 11 for 17, 164 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT, 161.0 QB RAT Alex Petee; Toledo - 17 for 24, 216 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 165.5 QB RAT RUSHING: Chris Bullock; BGSU - 17 ATT, 42 yards, 2.4 AVG, 1 TD, 1 FUMBLE DaJuane Collins; Toledo - 15 ATT, 48 yards,3.2 AVG, 0 TD, 0 FUMBLE RECEIVING: Corey Partridge; BGSU - 4 Rec, 72 yards, 18.0 AVG, 1 TD, 31 LONG Marques Parks; BGSU - 4 Rec, 73 yards, 18.2 AVG, 1 TD, 36 LONG Tyrone Pronty; BGSU - 2 Rec, 12 yards, 6.0 AVG, 0 TD, 8 LONG Freddie Barnes; BGSU - 1 Rec, 7 yards, 7.0 AVG, 0 TD, 7 LONG Nick Moore; Toledo - 5 Rec, 43 yards, 8.6 AVG, 0 TD, 13 LONG DaJuane Collins; Toledo - 4 Rec, 32 yards, 8.0 AVG, 0 TD, 14 LONG Stephen Williams; Toledo - 2 Rec, 96 yards, 48.0 AVG, 1 TD, 72 LONG Tim Cortazzo; Toledo - 2 Rec, 12 yards, 6.0 AVG, 0 TD, 6 LONG Trumaine Smith; Toledo - 2 Rec, 14 yards, 7.0 AVG, 0 TD, 9 LONG Tim Burzine; Toledo - 1 Rec, 10 yards, 10.0 AVG, 0 TD, 10 LONG John Allen; Toledo - 1 Rec, 9 yards, 9.0 AVG, 1 TD, 9 LONG

[a4reak]

My final verdict: Ok I know im probably a random no body on this board but I thought I should weigh in. AT first I had the honey moon period where I noticed everything little detail then came the frustration period where issues like the cpu completing 80 percent of their passes, KO's and lack of D irked me. However after playing primarily versus my friends and online I have to say this game brings back shades of how much fun I had in 04. Not quite there b/c of the issues (a patch plz to make this an all time great) however human vs human this is a very immersive experience. The best thing about college sports is that there is so much talent, and different playbooks around the nation that I just love playing with different teams. I am 6-2 online so far (one loss due to my sister pulling the internet wire ). I have played w/ Miami, FSU, Texas Tech, Mizzou, Florida. Its just so fun running different systems and using different talent sets. The single player needs some slider work but I think we should see a good set real soon. So far I would suggest buy for college football fanatics like myself

[kcq71]

Played a game with the Gators vs the Vols in 0 degree weather with light snow.It had no effect on the game at all.Players running making cuts like snow was not even their.Still its a great game

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by Anaxamander

ODogg, what slider adjustments did you make on varsity, if any?

well i tried to make the cpu better but ended up winning 40-10 and 35-14 so i don't think varsity is workable at this point

[NoleFan]

Finished that game that initially posted about with a 10-6 win over Clemson. Harper tossed 4 interceptions and I tossed 2 with Weatherford. I can live with it since, for whatever reason, they gave us a 99 rating on defense.

Started a cpu vs. cpu game while getting ready for work and it was 10-10 in the 3rd when I shut it off. Can't wait to get off of work today to play more.

I've enjoyed playing thus far.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

If anyone has any questions as to whether or not you'll get beat using a cream puff team playing against a Top-10 team? You can. Big time!

Playing in my offline dynasty last night as Buffalo (I know, shudup!), I went into my game at #4 Missouri at a crisp 3-0 on the year, feeling pretty good about myself.

I get the ball first...get held 3 and out and have to punt. Mizzou drives right down field and scores, going up 7-0.

I answer right back with a nice TD drive featuring mostly my running game, it was 7-7. They score again, going up 14-7, I tie it up 14-all, again with my running game.

They take the lead 21-14, I get the ball back and on my first play of the drive, my starting HB gets hurt, out for 4 weeks. He had 70-something rushing yards at this point, midway through the 2nd quarter.

Well...that was it. Mizzou proceeded to kick my little *** up and down the field. Final score, Mizzou 63, Buffalo 14.

My *** still hurts...

[MattStewartJHS]

Quote: Originally Posted by TJdaSportsGuy

If anyone has any questions as to whether or not you'll get beat using a cream puff team playing against a Top-10 team? You can. Big time! Playing in my offline dynasty last night as Buffalo (I know, shudup!), I went into my game at #4 Missouri at a crisp 3-0 on the year, feeling pretty good about myself. I get the ball first...get held 3 and out and have to punt. Mizzou drives right down field and scores, going up 7-0. I answer right back with a nice TD drive featuring mostly my running game, it was 7-7. They score again, going up 14-7, I tie it up 14-all, again with my running game. They take the lead 21-14, I get the ball back and on my first play of the drive, my starting HB gets hurt, out for 4 weeks. He had 70-something rushing yards at this point, midway through the 2nd quarter. Well...that was it. Mizzou proceeded to kick my little *** up and down the field. Final score, Mizzou 63, Buffalo 14. My *** still hurts...

This is good. I also hope it works the other way too though. Too much in the last few years it seems that on the higher difficulties it's virtually impossible to pull an upset. Now I know that it should be hard, but not virtually impossible. This year there seems some potential for that to be otherwise.

[TJdaSportsGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by MattStewartJHS

This is good. I also hope it works the other way too though. Too much in the last few years it seems that on the higher difficulties it's virtually impossible to pull an upset. Now I know that it should be hard, but not virtually impossible. This year there seems some potential for that to be otherwise.

BTW - this was on default all-american, only slider adjustment I made was lowering INT's to 0 for both CPU and human.