On the Fence About NCAA Football 09

[lmpullen1979]

I have a question: are the people that are constantly bashing the game actually played the full final release of NCAA or just the demo? Because if you're bashing the demo without having played the actual game then you're obviously not being "objective". However, if you've played the game and still don't like it, then thank you for your opinion, we're all entitled to them.

I for one have played every NCAA title since Danny Wuerfal (SP) was on the cover. I've seen games that were tons of fun to play and games that were not so great. I've seen games where you could dominate the opponent by the option and the deep ball, and then I've seen it where you have to find your new "money" play.

People please remember that this is a video game, if you're looking for real football, then you should have practiced a little harder, lifted more weights, and had some more ability when you were in high school. This is a simulation game folks, it is impossible to please every single person, but the fact is EA constantly tries year in and year out to improve the game for the consumer. No, I'm not an "employee" of EA, but I do try to give a company that has success making football simulation games some credit. Sure, every now and then they put out a terrible product (NCAA 2008), but for the most part they try to improve on what the consumer has issues with.

In my opinion this game will have bugs, but like others have mentioned if you have fun playing the game, then why shouldn't you make the purchase? The simple answer is yes, you should because you love college football or you just need your football fix until August 12th.

[BigDofBA]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

BigDofA, I'm not saying Tecmo Bowl is better by any means, just using it as an example of an old favorite versus the games of today.

That makes sense.

With the technology used today glitches are going to be more prevalent then they were back in the early 90's. Couple that with the internet and people are going to notice a lot more things then they normally would.

When MLB the Show came out this year I stayed off the boards. I knew the boards would ruin the game for me. I absolutely love that game. I haven't had any problems with it what so ever. Message boards just cause me to look for things wrong with the game.

Again, some of these complaints are valid and I'm glad people speak out bc I think it helps the community get a better product. That being said, I can't just dwell on every little thing or I will never enjoy anything.

[Illcat]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

True, but there is a difference between glitches and game play limitations. The basic game play of Tecmo Bowl was ridiculous - have defenders that were 10x faster than your WR/RB and even FASTER if they were far behind you so they could always catch up, instead of defensive plays you tried to pick the O's play and if you guessed it right it was a jail break, etc. Could you imagine if you had to juke the same defender four times in NCAA 09 like you had to in Tecmo Bowl? I mean it's as far from realistic as you could get BUT the game did not have large glitches. Tecmo chose to create a crazy interpretation of the NFL and executed it as intended.

Yeah, I see what you mean but realism is what we need to let that go of to some extent. Sure, "EA Sports, its in the game!" Sounds great but it should be " EA Sports, It's a game, as real as we can get it to the actual thing." If I want 100% realism I'll dust off my cleates and go out there and suite up in a 30 and over league....lol To me this is just EA's interpretation of college football. IMO, its done very well with getting me and countless others immersed. And, from what I understand by most of the impressions, the gameplay seems to be pretty good.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31

I There's just something fundamentally "off" with the approach to the current gen sports titles. There's a very simple reason why I enjoyed the wii version of Madden 08, better then all of the next gen sports games. It's because its AI is based off of the old gen engine, which was superior and more complete.

This is another big thing. Perhaps with the booming online gaming industry the AI is less and less important to the EA. They might figure, "Well, most of our customers are going to be playing the game online vs another human so the the CPU AI isn't a top priority anymore."

The AI in nex-gen games is awful for the most part. The AI players often look confused, lost or drunk.

For everyone saying that the Internet is causing these problems, and we've had threads before on OS, I would hope no one is that weak minded that they base their opinion on a game on something they read on a message board and not on their own experiences. My opinions on games have nothing to do with others' opinions, if they did I would own a PS3 and The Show right now and would have never bought MLB2K7 or 8.

I loved NCAA '07 on regular Xbox, MVP '05 on Xbox and College Hoops 2K8 on 360, all of which had lengthy Bugs & Glitches threads on OS. I didn't let that ruin the enjoyment of the game to me and I honestly feel bad for anyone who does.

[sportyguyfl31]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

This is another big thing. Perhaps with the booming online gaming industry the AI is less and less important to the EA. They might figure, "Well, most of our customers are going to be playing the game online vs another human so the the CPU AI isn't a top priority anymore." The AI in nex-gen games is awful for the most part. The AI players often look confused, lost or drunk. For everyone saying that the Internet is causing these problems, and we've had threads before on OS, I would hope no one is that weak minded that they base their opinion on a game on something they read on a message board and not on their own experiences. My opinions on games have nothing to do with others' opinions, if they did I would own a PS3 and The Show right now and would have never bought MLB2K7 or 8. I can loved NCAA '07 on regular Xbox, MVP '05 on Xbox and College Hoops 2K8 on 360, all of which had lengthy Bugs & Glitches threads on OS. I didn't let that ruin the enjoyment of the game to me and I honestly feel bad for anyone who does.

MVP 05. Now that was a classic piece of work.

I have MLB 2k8, yet I cannot wait until I get my hands on MLB power pros 08.

That pretty much sums up how I feel about a lot of the next gen titles.

[SuperBowlNachos]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31

There's just something fundamentally "off" with the approach to the current gen sports titles. There's a very simple reason why I enjoyed the wii version of Madden 08, better then all of the next gen sports games.

This might sound dumb, but I think games just look to good. EA is trying to make it a graphics phenomenon and put more effort into how it looks then the gameplay.

I don't blame them, if someone is on the edge of buying most likely they will see if a game has sweet graphics then if the oline properly makes holes.

They are just to complex these days

[GatorFan1963]

To me there is only one reason why sports games have gone to crap...they are released EVERY year. Tecmo and Super Tecmo were released about 7 years apart. Now sports games are released every 12 months which makes it easier and easier to pick out flaws from one year to the next. When you have a 12 month release cycle, the new game feels basically the same as the previous year's version. Which leaves you with more and more time to nitpick every little thing.

So why won't they change it? Because it doesn't support the current marketing structure for sports video games.

[hail2thevictors]

Everyone here has good points. Just to add my trip down the football video game memory lane, Bill Walsh was my game! I was a Madden maniac in the beginning but when Bill Walsh came out, I haven't missed one purchase of NCAA football since then. And that was back in '93!