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EA Sports NCAA Football 09 Review
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While Madden gets all the headlines, the NCAA Football series from EA Sports has developed quite a following of its own in the past few years. NCAA Football 09 is the latest in this series and promised to deliver the wide open gameplay that makes college football so exciting.
Each year, the developers of the NCAA Football series focus on different aspects of the game to improve. Along with wide open gameplay, the team's goal was to bring the college atmosphere to our living rooms. And in this they succeeded. Players will celebrate touchdowns with mascots, cheerleaders will do flips on the sidelines, cameramen are standing around ready to snap shots of your fantastic catch or ankle-breaking juke, and the stadium is alive with the sites and sounds of an authentic game.
NCAA Football 09 Review - Gameplay
EA Sports wasn't lying when they said they would deliver wide open gameplay to NCAA Football 09. Of course, they could have just as easily said they were bringing really dumb defense to NCAA Football 09 and they would have been just as correct. While this year's version does bring several aspects to open up the offensive side of things -- smoother spins and cuts and a nice selection of new play types in the playbooks -- one key aspect of the wide open gameplay is that -- at times -- the defensive players are downright dumb.
But one thing becomes apparent rather quickly. This game is gorgeous. Oh, I don't mean it has the same sizzling eye candy that can be found in some other titles, but as far as realistic looking gameplay is concerned, this version of NCAA Football is a dramatic leap over the previous year. Wide receivers will snag the ball out of the air, sometimes making fantastic leaps or dives for the ball. Meanwhile, the guys carrying the rock break out of spins early to do a juke, put their hand on the ground when they do an extreme cut in a new direction, and tiptoe the sidelines.
NCAA Football 09 Review - Features
- Wide Open Gameplay with new plays like the slip screen and the wide receiver mesh.
- Online Dynasty Mode so you can show your friends who is truly the best.
- Home Field Advantage so you can ice the kicker when he tries for that game-winning field goal in the last seconds of the game.
- Fluid Motion which allows you to break out of your spin move to juke the defender.
NCAA Football 09 Review - What's to Like
There is a bunch to like about NCAA Football 09, and online dynasty mode has to top the list. It's what dynasty mode fanatics have been screaming for since the franchise moved up to the next gen consoles. And, while it definitely has a few kinks in the system, it does deliver dynasty mode action with players all across the world. From recruiting -- where you will sometimes find yourself competing with one of your opponents for a 4 or 5 star recruit -- to actual games, you will do pretty much everything you would expect in an offline dynasty.
Snag the ball out of the air and then juke the defenderfor a quick TD.
Another big thing this year's version has going for it is momentum. You can really feel the game momentum shifting and see the effect it has on your players. It can also shift the tide of the game. This can be especially interesting when both offenses have momentum, which can lead to some really high scoring games, or when both defenses have momentum, which can end in a 7-3 squeaker. Momentum hasn't been this good since the 2006 version for the last gen consoles.
The new play types are a really good addition too. The slip screen is especially a nice touch. Screens have always been a little dicey in the NCAA Football series, especially when the computer was running a screen and often decided to chunk the ball to the wide receiver. This year, screens are set up nicely and you'll kick yourself when the computer pulls one off and you didn't properly defend against it. In fact, you might even think that screens are a little too good, though they have their risk (get a man over there and pick off that pass!) and you can easily spot them being set up (if you think it is a little too easy getting to the quarterback -- look out!).
Combine all this with the realistic animations, fluid control of the ball carriers, finishing touches of lively sidelines with cheerleaders, cameramen and mascots and nice little features like formation-specific audibles (which work very well!), and what you have is one of the best games of college football available.
NCAA Football 09 Review - What's Not to Like
Unfortunately, NCAA Football 09 is not all roses. There are plenty of bugs to go around, and a few pretty big ones like the roster bug that can cause games to freeze if you use custom rosters. While not all custom rosters are affected, this is a serious bug considering that one of the neat features in this year's version is the ability to share rosters online.
Should I juke or spin? Such tough decisions!
Electronic Arts isn't known for being exceptionally customer-friendly or issuing a lot of patches even when a game is glaringly broken (the original EA Sports Head Coach Football was one of the buggiest games ever and never received a substantial patch), but they have promised to release a patch for the roster bug and there are rumors of a second patch to fix other issues.
Among the other bugs in the game are broken sliders where the CPU sliders don't work and the human sliders effect both human and CPU, issues with punt and kick Return blocking, and broken coverage for the defense.
One of the most controversial bugs is the broken zone coverage for the defense, which is especially apparent on hook (yellow) zones. Instead of reacting to receivers and actually covering them, defenders will continually drift back and ignore anyone that is not within a few steps of them. This makes passing -- for human players and the CPU -- much easier. Some people have whispered that this "bug" was intentional to deliver on the promise of wide open gameplay.
NCAA Football 09 Review - Final Grade
Despite the rather irritating bugs, NCAA Football 09 is still a lot of fun. The breakaway engine allows for precise control over the ball carrier, and the finishing touches really help you get into the college game atmosphere.
And let's not forget that NCAA Football 09 is the only version that supports online dynasties. That alone is enough to make it one of the best versions in the series.
But it does have its flaws, so if you aren't an NCAA Football fanatic, you might wait a few weeks to find out if EA is going to patch some of those bugs before investing your money.
Final Grade: B.
Delivers on gameplay and atmosphere, but too many bugs push this game's grade down.
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