NCAA Football 09 Demo Available: Discuss Here

[AuburnAlumni]

Ok, 2 games in, 1 as LSU and 1 as Ohio State.

So far.....

The Good

1. Very nice, fluid gameplay. Animations are great and the speed of the game is very nice.

2. The running game is a thing of beauty. Both the Offensive and Defensive interactions are very very nice and the whole aspect of the game flows so well.

3. I'm seeing penalties! On a demo with 2 minute quarters, to see 2-3 penalties each game is a very good thing.

4. Lighting and player models are the best I've seen in the series yet.

The Bad

1. Ugh. The Jump the Snap feature is alive and well. I had LSU jump the snap on me 4 times in 6 plays. EA..please remove this horrid "feature" once and for all. No real college defenses jump the snap 4 times in an ENTIRE GAME much less a single drive.

2. As the community guys have stated....there is zero pass rush. None. It's pretty bad when both LSU and Ohio State's D lines..which are both ridiculously high rated...get pancaked and stood up play after play. If you don't bring any blitzes...and I'm talking sell out type blitzes...you won't get to the QB...period.

3. It seems pretty easy to throw. Again..these are supposedly two of the best defenses in the game and I was able to pick both of them apart for 5-15 yard gains or more through the air. The combination of little to no pass rush and the sense that at least one receiver is going to be WIDE OPEN on each pass play means if you are patient you literally could throw every down and not be stopped...at least in the demo.

4. In 2 games, I scored 3 Defensive touchdowns. 2 Pick Sixes and 1 Fumble recovery for a TD. In defense of this....all 3 seemed legit and both INTs the DBs didn't do any magical "eyes in the back of the head" routine...they legitimately looked for the ball and made good plays.


Summary: I like it. I'm hoping that the higher difficulty levels offer better defensive AI in pass coverage and pass rush. If not...that could be a big issue. The running game is perfect. If they can tinker with the pass rush and get it to be more balanced, this could be a VERY VERY VERY good game.

And for the love of god, get rid of the Jump the Snap feature. The only time the CPU ever got pressure on me passing was by jumping the snap.

[cowboysfan440]

game looks alot better than 08 for sure
one thing that happened to me though was at the end of the game lsu was drivin down the field and completed a pass but the wr took off backwards and ran out of bounds
only happened once but still might need to keep an eye out for it

[bad_philanthropy]

Just had wells grab a DB and violently throw him to the ground, sort of the reminded me of the time Greg Jones threw that UNC player into another players.

[AVONFTW]

The game froze on me in the 2nd qt right after i threw a td.

[nxt]

Sorry I haven't gone through all of these demo impressions yet, so I don't know if this question was asked and/or answered...but I have one question:

When playing on defense, do you have enough time to make adjustments? or is the CPU hiking the ball too soon.

[Anaxamander]

I just recovered an onside kick attempt and returned it for a touchdown. Dammit, I wish I had instant replay!

I'm really liking how you can control your guy after the touchdown. Instead of running to the mascot, try running back toward the field. That way you'll celebrate with your teammates in the picture.

[trick02]

I think the gameplay is really nice. I had some nice broken tackles on the way to a KR TD. I also had a onsides KR for touchdown good old varsity lol! Just run backwords for 10 yrds and burn it up field.

I had a really nice pick with the LSU 1st corner( Cant think of name or number) He went up to get it and when he came down it looked like his foot got stuck in the ground and he went down. He left the game with a sprained ankle. Really nice that you can see some of the injuries in this years game.

[AuburnAlumni]

Quote: Originally Posted by nxt

Sorry I haven't gone through all of these demo impressions yet, so I don't know if this question was asked and/or answered...but I have one question: When playing on defense, do you have enough time to make adjustments? or is the CPU hiking the ball too soon.

You've got time. It's not as bad as we thought it would be. Usually, you have about 2-3 seconds when the QB is actually under center.