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NCAA Football 09 Hands-On Preview: Part one: Pasta Padre

07:53 AM - April 25, 2008 by Steve_OS

Pasta Padre has posted part one of his hands-on impressions of NCAA Football 09.

Quote:


	"At first it took a little while to get acclimated to the player weight, momentum, and foot planting. Movement looks and feels much more natural but at first felt a little heavy. After a few minutes playing though it really began to feel like it was just right. User control is big especially in the running game or in the run after the catch. Elusiveness and acceleration attributes are huge. You can really see the burst and taking bad angles as a defender is punished severely."

Game: NCAA Football 09Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSP / Wii / Xbox 360Votes for game: 95 - View All

NCAA Football 09 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 callmetaternuts @ 04/25/08 08:26 AM

Sounds like it COULD be good, still some issues that have been known for a year or so. Optimistic, but who knows if they fix them

# 2 muggins @ 04/25/08 08:31 AM

Quote:


	There were a high % of interceptions returned for touchdowns. This seemed to be due to the speed/acceleration and taking bad angles that are impossible to recover from. Off the top of my head I�d say on average 1-2 every game. This got to be a little frustrating that they were occurring so often and there was little recourse to preventing them being taken the distance.

C'mon EA

# 3 N51_rob @ 04/25/08 08:46 AM

Both of the reviews that I have seen from this event in New York have mentioned the interceptions. That is disappointing. I know that there is still some time in the development cycle but I really hope that this is looked at again and something is done. But on the other side haven't heard much if anything about fumbles. Still being cautiously optimistic.

# 4 therizing02 @ 04/25/08 08:53 AM

Thanks for the impressions Pasta.

From a visual standpoint everything sounds good. From a gameplay perspective I'd have to say I'm a little irritated to hear about the lack of incompletions, pick sixes, and the fact that the CPU does not throw deep. The optimist will say that QB Acc and INT Sliders will help, but let's just hope they work this year.

As far the CPU not throwing the ball deep, hopefully there's still time to fix it because this is unacceptable.

Did anyone else get the impression that this sounds more like an arcade game? Big plays, pick 6, high completion percentage, a lot of points in 5 minute quarters....

# 5 Jistic @ 04/25/08 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therizing02


	From a visual standpoint everything sounds good. From a gameplay perspective I'd have to say I'm a little irritated to hear about the lack of incompletions, pick sixes, and the fact that the CPU does not throw deep. The optimist will say that QB Acc and INT Sliders will help, but let's just hope they work this year.

Which has been going on for years. They'll never change this frickin' engine. I'm tired of the the EA pick 6 fiasco and lack of CPU deep passing game.

# 6 SteelerSpartan @ 04/25/08 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therizing02


	Thanks for the impressions Pasta. From a visual standpoint everything sounds good. From a gameplay perspective I'd have to say I'm a little irritated to hear about the lack of incompletions, pick sixes, and the fact that the CPU does not throw deep. The optimist will say that QB Acc and INT Sliders will help, but let's just hope they work this year. As far the CPU not throwing the ball deep, hopefully there's still time to fix it because this is unacceptable. Did anyone else get the impression that this sounds more like an arcade game?

Yep...These impressions just further my concerns that EA is too obsessed with "WOW" moments for the "casual 5 min" player. And its affecting their game design.

As others have mentioned though, lets hope they've improved the slider functionality....but Im not too optimistic at this point given their track record

# 7 noplace @ 04/25/08 09:04 AM

As long as sliders can actually fix the ints I'm ok.

Somethings I'm happy to see:

"Offensive line slide protection is in and seemed to work pretty well. Options are to hit to the left or right for those sides or the left trigger and press up for �aggressive� or down for �pinch�.

"Gang tackling is better than last year, probably more on par with Madden 08�s. I didn�t notice nearly as much �bouncing off� players as the second or third defender in would assist in the tackle."

I'm starting to think EA just cant get the interaction correct with there dev team...

# 8 RoyalBoyle78 @ 04/25/08 09:47 AM

It's good to see the PS3 version is running good, thats all I was worried about.

# 9 Craigsca @ 04/25/08 09:54 AM

Like others have said, the fact they haven't fixed the overblown amount of interceptions is awful. The other thing that disappoints me is the fact he says the only way to stop an offense is via a turnover.

Anything over 5 min. quarters will lead to unrealistically HIGH scores?! I can only imagine what the statistics look like if we can only play 5 min quarters.

So, how far have we really come in football console gaming over the years? It sounds more and more like eye candy and arcade football. Bleech.

# 10 fistofrage @ 04/25/08 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jistic


	Which has been going on for years. They'll never change this frickin' engine. I'm tired of the the EA pick 6 fiasco and lack of CPU deep passing game.

Exactly, I can't see myself spending $60 to be frustrated. If I wanted to burn my money away and be frustrated, I'd go play a championship golf course from the tips.

# 11 eaglesfan27 @ 04/25/08 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fistofrage


	Exactly, I can't see myself spending $60 to be frustrated. If I wanted to burn my money away and be frustrated, I'd go play a championship golf course from the tips.

Agreed. It's frustrating because Gamespot's article has me excited for the online features, but they are almost meaningless if the core gameplay is still broken. Last year, the interceptions killed this game for me, and it sounds like that will happen again. I'll rent this game, but I have a feeling I'm going to be disappointed again.

# 12 aukevin @ 04/25/08 11:09 AM

Link to the preview isn't working for me

# 13 SteelerSpartan @ 04/25/08 11:17 AM

"There was a gap in communication and I have found out that hands-on reports of NCAA 09 are to be embargoed until May 2.

At that time, the Utopia hands-on report will be re-posted, along with updated thoughts from last night's event and interviews.".....cdj

Im sure the same happened with pasta

hmmm....

# 14 Dame @ 04/25/08 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stewaat


	You know what sucks? Here's what some guys think is a fun game: Kickoff Score Score Score INT TD Fumble Score Punts are "lame" in a video game I guess. A lot of people don't want strategy to be a part of the game. They want a fun game where they can be handed success.

The funny thing this is the type of game i like to play when there are a bunch of friends over and we are drinking and the loser gets off the sticks.

But i like a more sim style when i'm playing someone online or in my dynasty

# 15 Solidice @ 04/25/08 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stewaat


	You know what sucks? Here's what some guys think is a fun game: Kickoff Score Score Score INT TD Fumble Score Punts are "lame" in a video game I guess. A lot of people don't want strategy to be a part of the game. They want a fun game where they can be handed success.

yea, punts were rare in '08. i dont remember ever punting more than 2-3 times in a game at most. most of the time its 0-1 punts a game.

# 16 KG @ 04/25/08 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Solidice


	yea, punts were rare in '08. i dont remember ever punting more than 2-3 times in a game at most. most of the time its 0-1 punts a game.

yeah I would remember that my punter wouldnt even qualify to be in the stats leader contention because he didnt have enough punts...mind you I was using offensive juggernaut SMU

# 17 therizing02 @ 04/25/08 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelerSpartan


	"There was a gap in communication and I have found out that hands-on reports of NCAA 09 are to be embargoed until May 2. At that time, the Utopia hands-on report will be re-posted, along with updated thoughts from last night's event and interviews.".....cdj Im sure the same happened with pasta hmmm....

great......

# 18 Scott @ 04/25/08 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by therizing02


	great......

EA must have saw how disappointed we were..

# 19 therizing02 @ 04/25/08 12:00 PM

The BIGGEST problem with the game last year= pick 6/ints.

Doesn't seem like it's fixed this year. I'm not a developer/producer, but fixing the way DB's react doesn't seem like something that can just be tweaked at the end of a development cycle. Yes, there is still time, but WTF have they been doing for the last 9 months? Adding mascot games?

Hopefully, and there really isn't any past precedence for me to be optimistic, the sliders will actually work.

# 20 Solidice @ 04/25/08 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kgx2thez


	yeah I would remember that my punter wouldnt even qualify to be in the stats leader contention because he didnt have enough punts...mind you I was using offensive juggernaut SMU

lol, yea, i guess i should have mentioned i was using Middle Tennessee State in my longest Dynasty. if i was using Texas Tech, low # punts would be realistic.

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