NCAA Basketball 09 Impressions

[Stumbleweed]

I got this on GameFly a few days ago and haven't touched 2K since... kinda crazy really, especially since I can care less about college ball. The gameplay feels really solid to me, and it's the only game I haven't adjusted AT ALL in terms of sliders.. I'm playing on default All-Conference and having great games. The shot %s are probably a little high overall for college, but the game is just really fun. Very surprised how much I'm enjoying this and how close and competitive the games are. I'm having fun with the Dynasty also -- I recognize that 2K8's dynasty mode was unbelieveably deep, but it was too much for a non-NCAA guy like me to handle, so I appreciate the simpler system in this game.

I love the way they tightened up everything form Live... if this is an indication of how Live plays post-patch, I'm gonna be a very happy man. And it makes me excited for Live 2010 as well, because they obviously refined a lot of things in a few months. The defense in particular feels great -- there is still some occasional jumping sideways and stuff like that from Live, but overall I feel like I can actually play defense in this game (better than 2K9 and Live 09).

I started a Dynasty and got hired by LSU. I'm still in non-conference play, but I won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tourney. I'm 6-1 on the season with my only loss coming to some boondock school that surprised me with a loss thanks to my late-game mistakes.. lost it 48-46. All of the games have had competitive stretches, but my superior team has managed to grind out the win in the end. I know I'll get handled if I end up playing Tennessee or some powerhouse like that, so these non-conference games are a good way to get used to everything and get to know my team.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Da_Czar

Countryboy if you like dynasty you owe it to yourself to pick this up used for 10-14 bucks and get a sim dynasty going on just to see what the big deal is. Its an AWESOME experience especially in comparison.

nah, sometimes not knowing what you're missing or have missed is best.

[skinfan31]

Quote: Originally Posted by K_rob11

After playing a handful of games over the weekend, I can honestly say that I can see why many people here have been praising this game and why many have been bashing it. But luckily for me, the good out weighs the bad. I'll preface by saying that I am a basketball junkie. I love playing, watching, and coaching it. No other game is in my console more than basketball games.....especially college basketball (and for the past few years especially 2k's College Hoops series). Once I usually get my hands on College Hoops, thats when I stop playing my football titles. Being on a little holiday budget this year, I had to trade in all of my games to get this title (NBA 2k9, Madden 09, and CH 2k8)....so I put alot of stock into this purchase....I was worried that it may not be worth it.... As many have already said, the floor spacing is great! It truly is. This opens the game up so much more and I definitly can see the difference after playing the hell out of CH 2k7 & 2k8. The player movement off the ball really stands out in this game and truly gives that college basketball feel. You see it with your players as well as the CPU players when they have the ball.....its pretty amazing. I love the post game. Dynamic post play was the main feature last year iirc.......I am glad to see it back in this year. ONce you master all the post moves, it adds even more depth to the gameplay. I love the tempo meter and it is not overdone at all. This is something I have ALWAYS done while playing CH....now it just really matters! Love the little things like the limited time you get in timeouts. I mentioned that I liked this in MM008....since you get a minute for full TOs and you have your 30 sec timeouts, you have to really plan ahead as to what you want to do during your timeouts. I just wish they gave you more options to do things during timeouts like: - giving us the ability to choose a play out of the playbook to run out of the timeout... - ability to call a press with press options (after next made basket, after dead ball, always, never, etc...) - set player to player defensive matchups/ pressure (right now, its just gives you position double team options/pressure) - choose a point of emphasis (like in CH 2k8) All this would be nice to have the option to do during timeouts....it would make timeout usage more important than it just being a way to rest some tired players.....but maybe next year The graphics are GREAT! Some of the best I have seen in a sports video game on my 360 outside of Fight Night. Some of the animations are a joy to watch.....but there just aren't enough of them. 2k, i think, has really spoiled us in this department. PLAYER NAMES DON'T APPEAR UNDER THE CPU PLAYER WHEN THEY HAVE THE BALL .....I HATE THAT. The quick sub menu (when you press up on the d-pad during gameplay) does not include situational lineups...and you also cannot view fatigue or player fouls ....it makes it very difficult to make subs during the game. The best time to do it is during freethrows when there is no action going on....the only problem is that YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE QUICK SUB MENU DURING FREE THROWS!! I love the ESPN College Basketball music to start the game...but i wish they did more of this type of stuff to enhance the presentation a bit. How about some ESPN graphical stat overlays? They can even have the score show like it does during an ESPN college basketball broadcast. I do like the fact that they pick out 2 key players to watch before the game (one from each team)....then after halftime they show the stats of those 2 players to see how they are stacking up against each other...nice touch there. Presentation is lacking, but the atmosphere is great. One of the games I played over the weekend was Davidson (me) at Oklahoma. I kept hearing "boomer-sooner" and some other chants from the student section...it was great! I jumped out to an early lead and eventually completely took to crowd out of the game. The Sooners made their run and the crowd got louder and louder and it really sounded phenomenal when the Sooners hit a 3 to take their first lead of the game with like just over 2 minutes left in the game......my players never recovered ....but the atmosphere was great in that game. The Dynasty mode does concern me a bit with the awful sim engine and the number of 5 star recruits that you seem to be able to get with ease (altough, the ratings seem to suggest that alot of these recruits should not merit a 5 star rating in the first place)......and coming from CH 2k8 where you had every single thing you could possibly want in a college basketball dynasty mode, NCAA 09 really looks bare. But I don't think it's terrible. Its not as bare-bones as Next Gen Madden 06,07....there is a little more than that....it just may seem that way coming from possibly the greatest dynasty mode of all time. But to me the beauty of the gameplay trumps all of this for me. Bottomline for me is that this game is fun, period. Once I realized how fun it is to play this game, I stopped "looking" for flaws and reasons why not to like this game.... and I stopped trying to compare it to CH 2k8. I am very happy with this purchase and I am sure the slider and roster gurus here on this fabulous site will make this game even better for me!

This really was a great post. I've pretty much been against EA basketball titles the last couple of years. So when it was announced that CHOOPs wouldn't be back, of course you can imagine my disappointment. I decided to give the demo a try and to my surprise I found it to be a really good experience. It sounds like we both look for the same things in basketball games and your write up not only re-affirmed what I found playing the demo, but answered some questions that I had as well.

[green94]

Quick question to anyone with the game:

I know they mentioned that starting with smaller schools you'll see a lot more empty seats until you start building your program up.

Is this the case? Is dynamic attendance included? And if so, is the crowd noise any different from a smaller gym to say somewhere like the Carrier Dome? Thanks in advance.

[K_rob11]

Quote: Originally Posted by skinfan31

This really was a great post. I've pretty much been against EA basketball titles the last couple of years. So when it was announced that CHOOPs wouldn't be back, of course you can imagine my disappointment. I decided to give the demo a try and to my surprise I found it to be a really good experience. It sounds like we both look for the same things in basketball games and your write up not only re-affirmed what I found playing the demo, but answered some questions that I had as well.

Some other likes/dislikes I forgot to mention in that post......

- Playcalling! The playcalling system in NCAA 09 is great! It took me awhile to figure it out (never really figured it out in the demo) but now that I have, it is awsome. The variation you get off of each play is nice! Plus the ease and smoothness of the whole system is really good is very welcome.....its alot easier on the eyes than having the play diagram art show up all over the court while you are playing. This system makes it easier to remember who goes where on plays and what to look for...i should know all my teams plays by heart before the end of my first season!

-Passing Lanes. I like the fact that you can't just carelessly pass the ball. You must create a passing lane or the CPU will get a steal. I preach this to my team all the time and its just nice to see in a video game. I was able to skip pass at will in CH 2k8...not the case here.

- Is he tired? It took me a while to figure out that the green bar under each player is the fatigue. Glad its there, because you can't view your player's fatigue anywhere else unless you pause the game and go to the substitution screen....this is very annoying to me. On a positive side, it doesn't take forever for a player to regain his energy as it seemed it did in CH. Its easier to get a "quick" breather in this game.

- Defense - not much has been said about the defense. I am still trying to get used to it, but so far its a mixed bag for me. After getting over the initial awe of the CPU offensive ball movement, I began to realize my players would be out of position more than I would like them to be when I am playing zone. It seems that I am always having to control the next guy over from the ball (rather than play on ball) to keep him from trapping. I can't seem to figure out a way to make my players NOT trap in the corners or on the wing....or even at top at times when I am running a 2-3. I just want my guys to stay put and rotate correctly. But like I said, I am still trying to figure stuff out here.

Offensive Rebounds - still don't see enough. I have OFFENSIVE rebounding slider maxed out at 100 while Def rebounds at 10 for both the USER and CPU. Not really a game killer though.

This is not really an issue to me, but it's worth mentioning (again) that the player editing stinks. I'm glad I ran into this site a few years ago and I will take full advantage of the hard work (and trust me, it will be hard work) of these roster editing masters here at OS. I edited one team (Jacksonville Dolphins) and it took waaaay too long. I'm glad for the roster sharing and such dedicated people on this board.

Graphics - just wanted to say again how great this game looks. Love seeing the sweat fall off the players...the skin textures are almost perfect. The arenas look great! Even though Jacksonville Memorial Areana is a crappy GENERIC . I wish they had a stadium editor...or atleast give us the option to choose between different types of generic areans. Jacksonville's arena looks like a High School gym.

I really thought 2k had superior graphics, but now I see what people are talking about when they say 2k looks a bit cartoony. Good call Behindshadows on this one.

Ball/Rim Physics -

I still love this game though. The more I play, the more I get used to the feel of it, the more I enjoy it.

[Da_Czar]

Quote: Originally Posted by green94

Quick question to anyone with the game: I know they mentioned that starting with smaller schools you'll see a lot more empty seats until you start building your program up. Is this the case? Is dynamic attendance included? And if so, is the crowd noise any different from a smaller gym to say somewhere like the Carrier Dome? Thanks in advance.

dynamic attendance is in the game . i've played at ASU and had empty seats so its not just the small schools. Can't answer about the crowd though as I wasn't focusing on that so I have no idea.

[CS10029]

Actually picked this up today. Played one game and was not feeling to confident in the game. Gonna play a few more games then it might be ebay time.

Also, what camera are you guys playing on? I hate all of them a lot...

[Behindshadows]

Quote: Originally Posted by CS10029

Actually picked this up today. Played one game and was not feeling to confident in the game. Gonna play a few more games then it might be ebay time. Also, what camera are you guys playing on? I hate all of them a lot...

CLASSIC and Just adjust the zoom for your preference!