NCAA Football 09 (Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by Joe Roche on 06.27.2008
Madden is often seen as the cream of the football video game crop, but I'm here to tell you that NCAA Football 09 is looking to challange the Tinactin pitch man for gridiron supremecy with their newest offering in the series, and I've got just two words for you: Online Dynasty.
College football is often seen as the younger brother to the more polished, more action packed, and more physical professional game. The same sentiment runs through the minds of many sports video game fanatics who begin to froth at the mouth for the next installment of the Madden franchise sometime around the beginning of baseball season. However, for my money over the last few years the yearly college football offering from EA has spent much more time in my console then its professional counterpart. It was my appreciation for NCAA Football 08 that made me so anxious to get my hands on the playable demo for NCAA Football 09, and boy am I glad that I did.
Gameplay
EA Sports has basically perfected the football game play elements, so if you're looking for some major game play overhaul then you're going to be disappointed with NCAA Football 09. However, it's the minor game play alterations that really stand out in this offering. In the demo you're only allowed to play as either LSU or Ohio State at The Horseshoe. I decided that I couldn't in good conscience play as the Buckeyes so I took the Bayou Bengals on the road.
One of the main focuses of this years game is the full college experience which includes having the crowd affect the game – and boy do they ever in NCAA Football 09. You might not notice it at first, as you set up on offense as the road team, and the home team is going insane you hit the left trigger to activate the coach's view and notice above all your player's heads big grey question marks. The crowd is going nuts, and you're QB is having trouble focusing, those letters will come back after the snap but it's a nice little edition to the game that I enjoyed.
Back again this year, although improved in its ease of use is the ability to make numerous different line calls for every position imaginable before the snap. I was a huge fan of being able to audible out a ROLB Blitz after seeing the offense in their set, but this year it's even easier and the interface is much simpler to use.
Graphics and Sound
Graphics are a mixed bag in the NCAA Football franchise. You don't have corresponding real life players to model the athletes off of so all of your players do take on a bit of a generic feel. I will say that the player models look more refined, more polished and much more life like this season. I thought last year the players look a bit too squat and bulky, or thin and wiry. This year I actually thought that I had some athletes on the field which was a nice change of pace. The movement capture has been very well done as usual as the tackling graphics are really good and although I didn't see anything new or innovate in the tackling mechanics I see saw enough arm tackles and jersey pull downs to make me realize that this was obviously a college game.
One place that I thought EA really improved was the graphical quality concerning cheerleaders and mascots. For many years now the cheerleaders in the NCAA Football series have been completely devoid of emotion. This year they look much better, they add almost nothing to the game but they are a step up. The same goes for the mascots who look more like their real life counterparts, and less like cartoons. Unfortunately EA still doesn't know how to make a crowd that doesn't look like a Nazi rally with hundreds of thousands of people doing the exact same thing but I guess beggars can't be choosers.
Sound is one of the most important aspects of a football game, and EA delivers with crowd responses, and stadium noise which as any college football fan knows can change a game at the drop of a hat. The announcers as usual are unbearable, and I've only played through the demo once and I'm already sick of Lee Corso and company, so I'd have to throw that in the negative column for this game for like the fifth consecutive year.
Other Components
Of all the features on this years game there is one that has me more excited then any other, it's two simple words: ONLINE DYNASTY. I love the dynasty feature on NCAA Football 09 much more detailed, and in my opinion more fun then the franchise mode in Madden and just the idea of carrying on my dynasty online against my friends (or 411 cohorts) tickles me in parts that by law I'm not allowed to talk about within 100 feet of a school zone.
The 411
The game is NCAA Football 09 – by now you know what to expect, and this year doesn't look to disappoint. The announcers are going to bug the hell out of you, you'll every so often see Duke beat Florida 71-14 with no explanation, and unless you computer generate the names of your players for four years you will have to try to build up LOLB # 47 to be a Heisman candidate. With all of that said, this game always delivers in my opinion more fun then Madden, more improvements, and with the edition of Online Dynasty I think they're bringing the beat this year. The only thing that I can hope for is the Former Division 1-AA teams are brought back this season so that I can make a Dynasty with my alma mater the Minutemen of UMass, and outside of that I don't think I'll have many other complaints when this game drops on July 15th (conveniently my birthday).
Graphics are a mixed bag in the NCAA Football franchise. You don't have corresponding real life players to model the athletes off of so all of your players do take on a bit of a generic feel. I will say that the player models look more refined, more polished and much more life like this season. I thought last year the players look a bit too squat and bulky, or thin and wiry. This year I actually thought that I had some athletes on the field which was a nice change of pace. The movement capture has been very well done as usual as the tackling graphics are really good and although I didn't see anything new or innovate in the tackling mechanics I see saw enough arm tackles and jersey pull downs to make me realize that this was obviously a college game.
