NCAA Football 09

Posted March 25, 2009 by (147)

The name of the game for the 09 rendition of EA’s NCAA series was "wide open gameplay". It turns out that this ended up being the gift and the curse of this game, which I’ll get to later. NCAA has always been the ‘little brother’ to EA’s well known Madden NFL series but this year the college game gained a lot of ground and closed the gap.

Graphics:

Simply put, awesome. There’s no point in this game where graphics come up as an issue. They are quite up to par for this gens capabilities and NCAA 09 takes full advantage of the 360′s power. The player models are amazing and the stadiums are represented well (although more details like field goal nets, chain gangs and bowl endzone art would’ve been nice.

Sound:

The commentary is great as expected. Lee Corso and the gang are always on top of things and provide accurate calls, intelligent input, as well as occasional humor. Not too much sound on the actual field though. I wanna hear the gridiron game!

Gameplay:

As I said earlier, the "wide open gameplay" feature that was introduced into this game is a double edged sword. Yes, the W.O.G. allows players to break into the open field and perform dazzling moves. And yes, it was a good idea to put it in NCAA 09…on paper. What the development team failed to realize though was the fact that the W.O.G. literally flaws the game and basically ruins it. Thanks to players being able to juke and break tackles quite easily, big plays happen…a lot. But that’s not the worst thing. SPEED is the MOST important stat in this game. The only stat that matters. I’s not even fair. Got a 99 speed WR with bricks for hands? No problem, he might win the Heisman anyway. Got a speedy 2nd string RB? Don’t let that speed go to waste, put him at TE! Power backs and possession wideouts get no love in 09, it’s all about speed speed and more speed.

Seriously, it’s sickening. It’s not such a problem vs the CPU (unless you get a kick out of ‘cheating’ a computer) But in online user vs user games speed dominates. It’s no longer a college football game, it’s the 100 yard dash. Still, the game manages to be fun. Plenty of playbooks to mix things up, the game runs smoothly and the animations are beautiful (although some seem too extreme and unneeded). Plain and simple, it’s a fun video game to play…I just wish it was an accurate display of collegiate football.

Features/modes:

The best thing I can say about NCAA Football 09? Online. Dynasty. Sure it’s the first year it’s been tried and has a few flaws and bugs (some have been patched at this point) but it’s one of the main reason gamers kept playing this baby for months. It’s a blast to take a weak team and build them up, or dominate with a powerhouse trying to win the National Championship every year all while competing with other gamers via Xbox Live. It’s a MAJOR step in the right direction for sports gaming, period. Still, I must say I’d like to see more FCS teams and less mascots doing their best Reggie Bush impersonations.

Bottom Line:

If you want a fun, wide open college football game with suave graphics this is your game. It has it’s flaws but once you learn to deal with them you see that this title is indeed what a video game should be…fun. The speed is frustrating and unfortunate, but NCAA 10 will most likely correct that issue along with a dozen others. This is a game that you have to play for what it is, an arcadey NCAA game. It you want a more realistic game try NCAA 06, atleast until 10 comes out this July (which the entire community is looking forward to, manly because they were finally heard by the guys who make the game).

Graphics: 8.9/10

Sound: 8/10

Gameplay: 7.5/10

Features/modes: 9/10

Overall (not an average): 8.4/10

-Written by: Nawd