NCAA Basketball 10 Initial Impressions - ehh's Blog

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ehh's Blog

NCAA Basketball 10 Initial Impressions Stuck

Posted on November 19, 2009 at 03:35 PM.

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I picked up NCAA Basketball '10 yesterday, like many others, with limited expectations. I just sold off Live after enough frustrating things caused me to give up on the game but had some hope for NCAA '10 because I thought it would correct some of the complaints I had with Live after playing the demo.

Let's get the negatives out of the way, some larger issues from Live 10 that are in NCAA '10:

Minimal fast breaks though the CPU will push the ball a lot if they're up tempo.
Spotty/average animations
Players step out of bounds sometimes (although it's much improved in NCAA thanks to the Boundary Forcefield Slider still being present)
CPU never kicks the ball out after an offensive rebound
CPU does not pass the ball out of the post enough
Like Live pre-patch there needs to be more fouls though sliders may be able to fix this, more testing is needed.

Some larger issues from NCAA '09 that are still in NCAA '10

No CPU name indicator under the ball handler
Dynasty is largely unchanged, recruiting changes still need to be evaluated. Sim logic is improved, maybe too strict (not enough upsets).
At times there will be a whistle and you have no idea what happened, the commentator won't mention anything and there won't be an overlay. This happens far less frequently than it did in 09 though.
The CPU's guards dominate the offense and they don't feature their star players enough. This seems improved to a certain degree but is not perfect. You shouldn't see stars taking less than 10 FGA. In two games against "stars" Luke Harangody had 19 FGA and Greg Monroe had 13.
You cannot edit jump shot animations for each player.
Rosters are still a mess. Guys missing and poor ratings.
Still cannot edit a player's class/year.

Issues that are in Live 10 that are NOT in NCAA 10.

The CPU's offense doesn't do questionable/out of character things. No three pointers from big men who never shoot past 12' IRL, no fadeaway three's early in the shot clock, no 'one quick pass and shot' nonsense.
Contested shots are much better in NCAA '10. They go in far less and the CPU recognizes when they are contested and don't shoot them as often.
The contact in the paint is much less frequent than in NBA Live. It's pretty good, you'll get it every now and then but a majority of the time if you have space or a lane to the hoop you'll get your shot off instead of being sucked into contact (on Varsity at least). This applies to the user and the CPU.
Players step out of bounds far less, since I upped the boundary forcefield slider to 100 I've seen one player set out of bounds in four games.
Defensive rotations are better than Live post-patch, similar to Live pre-patch. Less skating, less speedy recovery (on Varsity at least).

Obviously there are more issues with the game but those are some of the more discussed ones on the OS boards.

Moving on, the game does a lot of things right. Starting with the biggie obviously, the presentation. They hit it out of the park, way, way out of the park. It's not just an overlay here and there, there is a lot of great stuff that you'll see. Starting with the CBS or ESPN intro, you get pretty pumped up right from the start of the broadcast.

Highlight packages for players having a big game, complete with the ESPN/CBS swipe that says the players name.
Highlight packages for your motion offense, points in the paint or three point shooting. Again, shows your team name, the type of highlight package you'll see and then 3-4 clips.
After a time out we get 'commercial break' commentary and highlights, plus the score overlay. Nessler, etc will say, "And stay right there, we'll be back after this with more college basketball on ESPN."
When the shot clock is winding down a box will pop up on the screen that shows it, just like in a real-life broadcast
Overlays for scoring droughts (Team A is scoreless the last 2:03)
Overlays for team fouls, rebounding, blocks, assists, etc.
If you're ranked it will say it on the score overlay the entire game just like IRL.

Moving on to the game play, the game made some huge strides and really has a different, more college feel than Live 10.

There is a very noticeable difference in players this year. Not just guards compared to bigs, but good, quick guards compared to slower, average guards. You'll notice a difference using Sherron Collins compared to a mid or low major point guard. Most SF's can't easily get by defenders with the dribble because their R-stick moves are slow and don't work well. Big men trying to drive into the paint will get stripped. This is something Live 10 did pretty well IMO and I'm not surprised that it's carried over to NCAA.
Unlike in NBA Live, you cannot iso and pick-n-roll the entire game and expect to have success. The motion offense (more on this later) and set plays are beautiful, just like in Live, and will help you tremendously if you run them frequently.
I have seen two illegal screens called.
Controls from NCAA 09 are vastly improved.
Freestyle passing is more responsive and more accurate than Live.
Game tempo still works well. With UConn I played Notre Dame and won 85-77, then played Georgetown (half court tempo) and won 54-52.
Zones work very well. No crazy turnovers/steals/interceptions like in 09.
Drive, draw and dish game is still beautiful, and even a little better than 09.

Some little things that could go a long way...

On the fly subs are really improved. It's much quicker and more response, shows fatigue and number of fouls each player has. Big, big improvement. You can also smoothly use on the fly subs while the CPU is shooting free throws, something that's a disaster in Live.
When you pause the game you get a game reset on the screen, showing time, score, time outs left, team fouls and a few stats. All this information was no where to be found in 09.
Roster editing is much quicker and more responsive. You can fly through all the accessories, faces, etc - it is instant. No more 2-3 second hitch when you change sneakers or a face.
A lot of new accessories. Arm sleeves, black socks, knee braces/pads, jumper knee straps, more sweatband types (above elbow, on elbow, forearm, wrist) and all the dope sneakers from Live 10. Helps with individualizing players and making them more true to their real life counterpart.
The arch on jump shots is fixed from 09, no more "only rainbows go in".
Ball physics are improved from 09.
Subs are shown checking into the game at the scorer's table.
Net animations are much improved.

NCAA 10 is putting in a valiant effort after being left for dead by many people before it was even released. However, Live had a similar overwhelmingly positive initial reaction but that died pretty quickly and the patch arguably did more harm than good. Time will tell with NCAA '10, we'll see how everyone feels 6-8 weeks from now and if the initial shine has worn off or if the game is still impressing people. The game play is extremely solid so far (out of the box for gameplay sliders) and the presentation is out of this world.

Ultimately the dynasty mode will make or break this game for most people, is it good enough for people to invest two or three months with NCAA '10? Obviously it's no where near 2K8's legendary legacy mode but if it's serviceable then NCAA '10 might be a surprising title that satisfies a lot of gamers. If you're on the fence then rent or wait it out to see how everyone feels in a month, the depth and replay value will be the key with NCAA '10 in the end.