NCAA Football 10 Demo Now Available, Post Your Impressions Here

[Boucher]

WOW! The controls are so sluggish! There is no pressure to be found and the ps3 graphics look weird

[NavigatorD83]

Do the NCAA team just refuse to believe that the play clock has been changed to 40 seconds?

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by Koolie G

--Overall I think this is gonna be a solid game. There are some issues with the pass rush, but the bottom line is this game is gonna be fun. The game is not perfect, it probably will not be as good as Madden, but it will be a solid game. I think people are so caught up in the improvements with Madden, that they just automatically are downgrading NCAA. I'm no NCAA apologist, I just know that I'm gonna really enjoy Online Dynasty with the groups of guys that I played with last year. I played 09 from July to March, which is probably the longest I've ever played NCAA, so I more than got $60 worth of entertainment out of it, and I expect the same for 10. I also expect to buy Madden this year, whereas I've not like it at all, and not purchased it for the last 2 years.

This is my first post on this thread, and I played the demo yesterday. I quoted an excerpt from this post because I agreed with almost all of it.

NCAA '09 had a ton of flaws, but it also introduced two HUGE features (online dynasty and roster sharing) that really added to the experience. And looking back on that, we're still playing an online league that's been running with 7-12 guys since August 2008...that's insane! Also, if you look back on all the crazy issues NCAA '09 had (roster crashing, online dynasties disappearing, zero punt coverage), those issues WERE patched and fixed to the point where they became a distant memory!

So I think it's only fair to evaluate NCAA 10 compared to that experience (with '09) and ask how it improves the experience...

I thought the demo was somewhere around a "good" (between average and excellent). It's tough to evalute it through the lens of the dynamic camera b/c it makes everything feel like Madden 09, even if the actual product is stll very much NCAA 09.

But I noticed several things immediately in the animations and gameplay that could make a significant difference. The "misfires" on throws are HUGE, and something that even the PS2 versions didn't properly deliver on. Thing is, we can only play with Tebow and Bradford...the true test will be seeing how much more accurate those guys are than some FBS scrub or a lesser QB.

This is still very much an animation-to-animation game. All of EA's products have suffered from that to some degree, but I think we're getting to the point where developers are realizing the limitations of that approach. Games like NHL 09/10 are far less "pre-canned" than they were in the past, and it should continue to improve. In NCAA '10, the clunkiness of animations one into the other is a complaint of mine, but it's not terrible. And it helps that some of the animations are damn cool (like the over the shoulder catches). I remember the first time I threw a long bomb in NCAA 2004 and the guy looked back for it, I thought that was so cool. Kinda sad that we're getting excited about it again here in NCAA 10, but it is what it is.

I'm probably a first day buyer anyway, but this demo probably has me more encouraged about that fact than I was 2 days ago.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by boucher

WOW! The controls are so sluggish! There is no pressure to be found and the ps3 graphics look weird

You're definitely not the only one to bring this up, but I'm not seeing it...at least not compared to '09. I mean, the responsiveness of controls on all sports games since the HD era began is down compared to PS2 titles, IMO, but that's basically just because they're focusing on more complicated animations, which take time to execute.

I know what you're talking about, but I didn't see anything that would cause MORE of a problem than we had before.

[Strummer101er]

The good:

* Player lock is absolutely AWESOME. The camera angles and perspective really bring something new to the series. This is NCAA 10's secret weapon feature.

* Incomplete passes and D-line swats. I threw three in row on one drive. D-line has been in my face to break up a lot of passes too.

* Blitzes. Good risk and reward. D-line still doesn't generate enough pressure on its own, but blitzes definitely bring heat and wreak chaos. I've been able to get sacks, QB knockdowns, fumbles, INTs off big blitzes -- and I've also given up a lot of big gains.

* Mixing and matching uniforms. Long overdue but perfect.

* Catching animations -- especially over-the-shoulder grabs -- are fluid and beautiful.

* Pass pressure. The D-line isn't getting much pressure on its own, which will hopefully be fixed in the final game or patched, but taking control of blitzers or controlling the DL yourself works. I've seen more QB knockdowns in the demo than I saw in all my time playing NCAA 09.

* Gameplanning is simple, straightforward and effective. Well done.

* Pursuit angles are greatly improved.

* DB/WR interaction. DBs definitely screw up your timing, which can lead to sacks and incompletion.

The bad:

* Player control seems sluggish and unresponsive on both sides of the ball. I miss left stick jukes and NCAA 09's breakaway animation engine. Players just don't respond quickly enough when I try to juke or rip out of a block.

* The game doesn't feel as explosive as 09. I don't think I'm gonna have the same jaw-dropping highlight-reel plays this year.

* AI ground game is not a threat. Hopefully this can be cured with sliders.

* New gameplay camera is disorienting and too zoomed out, especially when passing downfield. I hope there's a classic camera in the finished game.

* Tackling animations are beautiful but far too repetitive (I know we were warned that this was an issue with the demo). Finished game better have a lot more tackling animations.

The fugly:

* Atmosphere, TD celebrations and post-play celebrations suck. Blegh. Players have no excitement, energy or enthusiasm. It's like they're pumped full of horse tranquilizers. TDs feel anticlimactic. Teammates actually walk away from you instead of butting helmets or congratulating you or whatever.

[JAKEHB20]

Quote: Originally Posted by SilverChaosVII

Has anybody else experienced the glitch where you hike the ball. It goes flying back past the quarterback, the play is called dead and called an incomplete pass. I've played 3 total games and had it happen twice. Pretty crap

Yes I've played the demo once and it happened twice in my game. I was pumped when it happened and then threw up ???? when they ruled it incomplete. haha.
Hopefully this is fixed.
I like the bad snaps though.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Quote: Originally Posted by Drocks

Alright, even though everyone else has pretty much broken this thing down to bits and pieces, I thought I'd give my two cents from the perspective of someone who is probably more of a borderline casual/hardcore gamer who just wants a fun game to play: Gameplay This is something that means so many things to so many people. But in any event, here are some of my thougts: + The game is slowed a bit, there's really no denying it and I don't understand how people can say it hasn't. It's not a lot, but it is there, and to me, it is a plus. + The catching is very solid IMO. The fade route work to perfection for me, where I lobbed it up with Tebow, and the receiver went up (not rocket style, but very naturally) and pulled it down and got a foot down in the corner of the end zone. It looked incredibly sweet. Maybe this was possible in 09 in some way, but I never got it as smooth and tight looking as I did in this demo. + Pocket definitely forms, no doubt about it. A vast improvement there. + QBs misfire, I likes A LOT. I overshot an open dude once that could have been six and I was mad, but happy all at the same time lol. + CPU burnt me deep and it wasn't just one of those wide open looks, but it actually challeneged me deep one on one, and won. - Pass rush is struggling. It's more on my end though (of course lol) where I can't get as much pressure. The CPU got to me on many occassions though. - The running period needs to be addressed. Momentum and physics will help this game immensely. When a guy cuts, there has to be an animation to address that foot plant and push. Not just a simple change of direction of the usual running animation. CPU is more guilty of this cause they'll be twitchin sometimes and it's just not good. - Along with that, running animations need overhaul. Specifically for fast guys. That high knee thing is a trip lol. Ya'll need to take care of that EA! Presentation + Bands were a good addition, better camera angles on that part would be good though. + I love the new look of the score layout and stats banners. I would recommend keeping something similar for future iterations. - Pretty much same style commentary, this needs to be overhauled to freshen it up. - Just the overall presentation needs an upgrade. I want to see players entering from the tunnels. Instead of just a pic of a player profile, show the player warming up like back in the day. Post game, I'm not sure if that really it or not, but something's gotta happen after the game as far as players leaving the field, coaches shaking hands, etc. The replay thing is cool, but I needs more. Overall Impressions The game IMO, is not even close to nearly as bad as people are making it sound. There are issues like pass rush (my only real main beef) that need addressing in the future, as well as tweaking the running and stuff. I can understand why people call it NCAA 9.5 (which I hate, cause it's so stupid, but whatever lol), but the game definitely feels different than it looks. The way the game is played is not like 09, but it defintely looks similar. If that bothers you, then you will never be able to get into this game. If you are a real HARDCORE SIM guy, you will also have problems because of some of the issues I noted. Like I said, I'm more borderline so although I notice these things and they kind of bother me, they don't ruin my experience with the game because overall it is a fun game to play. BTW, this is on PS3 and I really didn't notice any graphical issues. The game looked and ran very smoothly. Not a bunch of jaggies at all for me, unless maybe my eyes just deceived me. And also, Uniform Mix-n-Match is the greatest thing EVER LOL. So yeah, those are just my thoughts on it. Those who loved 09 will defintely still like 10, and those who hated 09 beyond just the issues of pursuit angles and stuff like that will probably still hate 10 lol.

It's not that the game is bad, it's just not improved very much and some annoyances from last year are still lingering.

[dsciara21]

HAVENT PLAYED THE DEM O YET BUT IVE BEEN READING A FEW POSTS ON HERE AND SOME PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING HOW THE DEFENSE IS COVERING RECIEVERS TOO MUCH. THEY SAY THAT IT FEELS LIKE THEY ARE PLAYING 09 ALL OVER AGAIN. BUT THE SAME PEOLE COMPLAIN OF LACK OF COVERAGE LAST YEAR. SO I CANT WAIT TO SEE WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON WITH DEFENSE WHEN I GET HOME TO PLAY. LAST YEAR SHUTTING ANYONE OUT WAS A MAJOR ACOMPLISHMENT BECAUSE OF WIDE OPEN GAME PLAY. SO A BETTER DEFENSIVE SCHEME SOUNDS AWESOME TO ME.