NCAA Basketball 09 Impressions

[ehh]

I'm using the skybox cam now and love it, I think I'll stick with this for a while. It's basically a zoomed out version of the classic cam.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

there are no sig shots.

There are, you just can't edit them and the variety isn't all that great.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

There are, you just can't edit them and the variety isn't all that great.

I honestly didn't notice.

[cdj]

Quote: Originally Posted by dickdalewood

Click the "crash the off. boards" option before the game starts and you'll get plenty.

Those focus points you pick before the game do not directly alter gameplay. They simply indicate what you want the Coach Feedback pop-ups to stress to you throughout the game. No ratings, gameplay, etc. are altered by your selections. The producers stated this at the NCAA Basketball Community Event.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

I honestly didn't notice.

LOL, exactly! Not a strong area of the game, hehe.

I just simmed my first season, interesting results. Hansbrough won POY which is cool, UConn went 16-16, not cool. Minnesota beat Ohio State to win the National Championship, that's pretty bad.

The recruit rankings and number of 5-stars is definitely out of control, four teams signed five 5-star players. I also learned the hard way that the CPU will not sign any recruits for you if you sim everything, lol.

[dbrandon]

Quote: Originally Posted by oldman

Well, I have missed feelings about this game after spending a few hours playing it. Let me preface what I am going to say with I am coming from 2k, so I am going to be doing a lot of comparisons between the two. Menus: I haven't completely got the hang of the menus yet, so far, especially the menus in your dynasty, I am not a big fan. They are hard to bring up and the thing I hate the most about them is the fact that if you go into something, lets say Manage Rosters, once you exit it the game takes you all the way back to the Dynasty HQ instead of the menu that you were on. Dynasty mode: I haven't got to mess around with it a whole lot yet. It will be a lot more fun once you have authentic schedules. It seems to have pretty decent depth which is very important to me. Another thing I like is if your team sucks and you are playing another crappy team, their isn't going to be ESPN at your game! On CH2k8, it didn't matter how bad you were, your game was on TV. It is a nice change of pace. Gameplay: This has a lot of positives and negatives in my mind. A good word for it would be "clunky". Now I know that word means everything moves awkwardly, and the players do, but at the same time its like you can actually feel the weight of the players moving with every movement. I'm still undecided on this, I never noticed how fluid ALL of the players moved on 2k until this. I don't know which one is more realistic but both have their pluses and minuses. Shooting: Played Buffalo as Army on All Conference. I shot 55% throwing up crazy shots because I didn't have any idea what I was doing yet. Buffalo shot 72%!!! Now, part of that has to do with the fact that I am terrible at defense right now, but still, 72%! This was with default sliders so needless to say, some adjustments are needed. As far as human shooting goes, I didn't feel like you had a lot of control over the shot. I don't know if release point matters or not but it didn't feel like it. It felt like when you shot the ball, it was either going in or it wasn't regardless of what you did. Defense: I am very intrigued by the defense. First off, the players move a lot slower than 2k so that makes it a lot harded. Second, since you can't just hold down L2 and expect to stay in front of your man you have to actually figure out what you are doing. I am going to have to spend some more time messing with this but as of right now I am awful at! This though is probably the part of the game I am most excited about. Pick N Roll: I haven't come anywhere close to mastering or even using this half way decent. I will continue to add to this post as I play the game more.

LOL I got a warning for bring up 2K9 basketball.

[crques]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

LOL, exactly! Not a strong area of the game, hehe. I just simmed my first season, interesting results. Hansbrough won POY which is cool, UConn went 16-16, not cool. Minnesota beat Ohio State to win the National Championship, that's pretty bad. The recruit rankings and number of 5-stars is definitely out of control, four teams signed five 5-star players. I also learned the hard way that the CPU will not sign any recruits for you if you sim everything, lol.

Funny you mention that. Minnesota must be overrated on this game. A friend of mine simmed 2 seasons yesterday and Minnesota beat Michigan State for the championship in year 1, and in year 2 they beat Akron......yes I said Akron. He said that after Akron made the championship he went back to check their roster and apparently they landed landed 3 5-star recruits after the first season. Here's one of the craziest things I've ever seen in a dynasty on any game though.....in the first year UNC finished with only 15 wins and then made the Tournament with an at-large bid. If EA would work on recruiting and RPI ratings and Top 25 rankings, this game could potentially be great.

[countryboy]

has anyone seen a blocking call yet? I've seen nothing but charging calls when two players collide.