News Post

Madden NFL 09 vs. NCAA Football 09: Battle Royal

03:25 PM - August 27, 2008 by RaychelSnr

The question on many gamers minds who haven't picked up NCAA Football 09 or Madden NFL 09 is which game is actually better. Will McCombs is taking this natural sibling rivalry and raising it a notch today in order to determine which game is better and worth your hard-earned $60: Madden NFL 09 or NCAA Football 09.

Quote:


	"From July 15 to the present, I have had a rather difficult time prying myself away from my Xbox 360 in the few hours of free time I have during the work week. Between NCAA�s breakaway gameplay to Cris Collinsworth�s analysis of my dubious passing blunders, I have become a full fledged junkie for EA Sports' formidable tag-team of football sims."

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 Da Birthday Boy @ 08/27/08 04:30 PM

NCAA's gameplay was a joke, if you like scoring every play then it's obviously for you. Madden is better in all categories, it shouldn't even be talked about..

# 2 asu666 @ 08/27/08 04:35 PM

The NCAA team needs to get all of the Bowl Division team's stadiums in the game next year. There's nothing that kills the atmosphere of a game more than playing in the generic stadium. I'd like to see the crowd size change with performance too and defense come back in as a meaningful part of the game. It would be nice to have a setting that eliminates turbo use too. Players should run at their maxium speed when the analog stick is pressed all the way in one direction.

Madden needs its Owner Mode back. I'd like to see interactive sidelines like All Pro 2K8 where you can run into the real players standing there or if you break one down the sideline some of them step forward and cheer you on. I was excoted about the stadium exterior shots until I relized that they were just pieced together with the stadium in the middle, a shot of downtown in the background, and the same cars always in the foreground. Anyone who has been to the Cardinals stadium knows that it is out in the middle of no where to keep the sink away from the population centers in Phoenix. If you've never been there and just played Madden you might get the impression it is right downtown.

People keep talking about the running game improvements for both games too and I still think that being able to put the runner right in behind a blocker and have an anmation where the runner puts his hand on the blocker's back and can smoothly break either way like in the 2K series is still better than where Madden and NCAA are right now.

Having said all of that, I think Madden is the better of the two games this year. I can see that the gameplay is starting to catch up to NFL 2K5 in a few areas and maybe even improve upon it in others. It's still sad that we are four games into this generation and I still play ESPN NFL 2K5 more than Madden or NCAA. I guess there's always next year. I believe that Peter Moore will make some postive contributions over at EA Sports. Maybe Madden 09 is the first step to something better.

# 3 Spanky @ 08/27/08 04:45 PM

Right now, my vote also goes to NCAA, thanks in large part to the second patch. That could change after Madden's second patch and some more time with that game, but right, I'm having more fun with NCAA.

NCAA just plays a tighter, more realistic game, with less issues like 20 for 22 CPU passing and no cpu run game. The atmosphere is much better in NCAA (there is zero atmosphere in Madden, you can't even hear the crowd). Graphically, NCAA gets the edge because there seems to be more close-up scenes. Madden's close-up scenes look good, too, but there isn't enough of them.

# 4 BlackRome @ 08/27/08 05:12 PM

bigjake62505 : Madden is flat and boring.

I couldn't have said it better.

I feel like I'm wasting my life watching the clock tick.

# 5 mercalnd @ 08/27/08 05:34 PM

Wow. I can't believe that the author said Madden had no major glitch, How about franchise mode freezing in year 2 or 3 every time for many users, making the mode prety much useless?

# 6 ab2c4 @ 08/27/08 06:01 PM

My vote goes to Madden this year for the first time ever. Both games have their share of problems, but Madden is the winner because it has less gameplay killing problems than NCAA. It's sad really. This is the first time ever that I have already sold NCAA and am going back to 06 on the ps2 and 08 on the 360.

# 7 sbmnky @ 08/27/08 06:18 PM

This is the first year in quite a while I have decided not to purchase either game. After reading this article along with other threads and comments throughout the boards, I'm confident in my decision.

I must admit I really want to play a good game of football, but after reading all the glitches, freezes, etc I don't want to feel as though I'm wasting my time.

Perhaps when the patches are complete for both games I'll look into purchasing one or both. But for now I'll continue to be on the outside looking in.

# 8 asu666 @ 08/27/08 06:41 PM

Next year is Madden's fifth and NCAA's forth on current generation hardware. I think people are rightly getting a little tweaked that EA still has not been able to flesh out the feature set in each game to meet the prior generation's feature set. Not having all of the stadiums in NCAA and no Owener mode in Madden are my two biggest compliants in the arena of features, but little things like play conduct in NCAA to bigger issues like a lack of ESPN integration (or some kind of more dynamic reply, commentary, and statistical breakdown graphical overlays with more frequency) during games and overall lack of atmosphere are nagging problems too.

Another huge issue is that games development have been too focused on the 5 minute quarter crowd. That's the only reason I can think of that defense is under appreciated and the CPU QBs run to the line and snap the ball while the play clock has only run for a few seconds. This makes playing a game of official 15 minute quarters with realistic stats almost impossible. Tiburon should concentrate more on the pace of the game in the real world and let the 5 minute quarter audience hit the A button to hurry to the line. The 40 second play clock in NCAA and the additional time at the line the CPU QB will have to make adjustments (letting the player make defensive adjustments) will be welcome changes.

# 9 TCF @ 08/27/08 06:47 PM

mmmmmm i will take ncaa over madden and nfl hc over both

# 10 rckabillyRaider @ 08/27/08 08:40 PM

after the 2nd patch, NCAA by far is better, IMO. Madden couldnt keep my interest for more than a few days. Its collecting dust now. Hopefully the 2nd patch and DLC for Madden make it better also.

# 11 ChicagoSparty @ 08/27/08 09:03 PM

NFL Head Coach 09.

# 12 deebo2246 @ 08/27/08 10:01 PM

I must add that NFL HC is the way to go this year, but Madden and NCAA are improving in the right direction????

# 13 XCalmLikeABombX @ 08/27/08 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith121212


	Is this is a joke article? How does NCAA win against Madden in the gameplay department? How does NCAA FB '09 win in anything compared to Madden outside of atmosphere?

First question, have you played NCAA 09 with Patch #2. It without a doubt has better gameplay at this point than Madden 09.

Small list:
CPU has a running game.
The players do not catch passes out of bounds, and run out of bounds in wide open field.
No ROBO QB where the qb is hitting 95% completion ratio and are second string.
No freezing at all.
No WR online cheese glitch.
Not only has cpu sliders, (which Madden does not) they actually work.

Just a few reasons why NCAA is superior right now. It will be interesting when Madden finally gets patch 02. There is a lot to correct. I do hope the Madden patch does fix a lot of the glitches/problems. I recently returned my Madden09 and switched it for NCAA09 after hearing about how well the second patch did for NCAA.

# 14 rckabillyRaider @ 08/28/08 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XCalmLikeABombX


	First question, have you played NCAA 09 with Patch #2. It without a doubt has better gameplay at this point than Madden 09. Small list: CPU has a running game. The players do not catch passes out of bounds, and run out of bounds in wide open field. No ROBO QB where the qb is hitting 95% completion ratio and are second string. No freezing at all. No WR online cheese glitch. Not only has cpu sliders, (which Madden does not) they actually work. Just a few reasons why NCAA is superior right now. It will be interesting when Madden finally gets patch 02. There is a lot to correct. I do hope the Madden patch does fix a lot of the glitches/problems. I recently returned my Madden09 and switched it for NCAA09 after hearing about how well the second patch did for NCAA.

+100000

# 15 noplace @ 08/28/08 10:32 AM

NCAA....Madden is a snore fest! Although I think the gameplay on Madden does somethings a little better, its really not enough to put over the top or make a big difference. The only thing I like in Madden over NCAA are the pre-snap movements seem more fluid & the weather effects. Other than that Madden is a bore beyond belief! I cant play it with out yawning thru the entire game....

# 16 sportyguyfl31 @ 08/28/08 11:25 AM

Both games are flawed in entirely different ways.

On the field, NCAA is fundamentally broken.

There are a wide array of running plays that the cpu simply cannot execute without maximizing run block sliders and RB ability sliders.

CPU QB logic is horrid, and the defensive programming is hideous.

Spot on game day environment though, and online dynasty literally saves the game.

Madden on the field is better, online head to head play is "better"..but the atmosphere, and imersion factor is non existant, online leagues arent worth the time of day, and the franchise mode is a bore.

# 17 Tyrant8RDFL @ 08/28/08 02:48 PM

its a hard choice cause they both have thier pros and cons. I agree with alot of what is being said here. man if I had to make a choice. I would choose NCAA.

# 18 dkrause1971 @ 08/28/08 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XCalmLikeABombX


	First question, have you played NCAA 09 with Patch #2. It without a doubt has better gameplay at this point than Madden 09. Small list: CPU has a running game. The players do not catch passes out of bounds, and run out of bounds in wide open field. No ROBO QB where the qb is hitting 95% completion ratio and are second string. No freezing at all. No WR online cheese glitch. Not only has cpu sliders, (which Madden does not) they actually work. Just a few reasons why NCAA is superior right now. It will be interesting when Madden finally gets patch 02. There is a lot to correct. I do hope the Madden patch does fix a lot of the glitches/problems. I recently returned my Madden09 and switched it for NCAA09 after hearing about how well the second patch did for NCAA.

Using the dummy sliders on Madden- I would thrown out the roto QB and say- you actually have more sliders than NCAA. Its a pain to do the dummy sliders and its silly we have too but the QB is much more human with them. Typically low 60s.

The Run games are pretty similiar with the dummy sliders. If anything NCAA is worse because you get so many of the stupid QB runs.

Freezing and online glitches i don't know about so i cannot say.

I see players in both games catch balls and still see some odds catches and then running out of bounds on both so i cannot really back one or the other.

To the general points- i also didn't see how NCAA won the gameplay catergory but maybe its all due to the dummy slider thing.

NCAA clearly wins the presenation and replay values in my mind however. I play Madden more but i can see why some prefer NCAA. When i find a dynasty to play in- i might go that route myself.

# 19 XCalmLikeABombX @ 08/28/08 06:54 PM

I am confused about some of the responses about NCAA and Madden09.

NCAA w/patch 2 is getting a great response in the community, and I have seen very positive feedback about the patch. I am sure when Madden 09 gets the second patch, we will see some positive feedback as well. I am just confused about how people can compare madden's gameplay to NCAA's at this very moment and not see that Madden09 has some huge glitches that take away from the gameplay.

Again, another small additional list.

Madden 09
The AI in pressure situations is absolutely broken. When I had the game I had CPU teams down by less than a touchdown, and they were on my side of the field with less than a minute left and they would punt on 4th down. I had teams score, and be in a postion to win if they did an onside kick, and they would just kick it deep.

Once again, the CPU running game is just inept. The passing game is unreal with the robo qb. (I know there is a dummy slider to change this, but I am talking about the game head to head. The dummy slider still didn't take away the ball being thrown out of bounds 6-7 times a game. I mean way out of bounds by CPU. You just don't feel any intensity from the crowds in Madden09 either.

Just out of curosity, what do others think about NCAA after Patch 2? I am really enjoying it, and just feel like I have much more control over the actual gameplay than in Madden 09. Also, what things do you still see in NCAA that was not fixed in Patch 2?

# 20 XCalmLikeABombX @ 08/28/08 06:55 PM

In response to above post concerning the running games being about the same, with NCAA qbs running poorly. Was that before the second patch, because I am not seeing that all in the games I am playing in NCAA09?

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