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NCAA Football 09 Postmortem

10:59 AM - January 13, 2009 by RaychelSnr

It is the perfect time to revisit EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 and discuss the game in postmortem fashion. NCAA 09 did a lot of things right both on and off the field. I wanted to focus specifically on what 09 brought to the table this season, and how these features held up over the course of the 2008 college season. I know there are many of you out there still playing the game -- and many who will not agree with what I have to say -- but as of this week, I feel it is important to at least "officially" end our NCAA Football 09 discussion, and begin our NCAA Football 10 discussions.

Plus, it is always fun to take a look back at a title nearly seven months after release because, at this point, most people can speak more calmly about a title that is not so fresh in their minds. Is the honeymoon officially over? How did NCAA 09 withstand the test of time?

Read More - NCAA Football 09 Postmortem

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

# 81 bangpow @ 01/15/09 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhombic21


	NCAA '08 (and NCAA '09) needed MASSIVE changes to core areas of gameplay. From offensive/defensive line interactions, to QB accuracy, to receiver/DB interactions, to special teams, to basic AI playcalling and strategy. I just don't think tweaking at the margins, no matter what you do, is going to get it done. I mean, if they didn't make the tweaks that they had, everybody would still be complaining about the nanos, the blitzes, and the CPU INT fest (the only reason it doesn't happen as much this year is because the QB isn't under pressure as much, if you could generate pressure on this game like you could last year, you'd have the same INT problems). NCAA '08 basically had all the AI problems that '09 does, PLUS the ridiculous option issues, the 3 man line issues, and the inability to pick up blitzes effectively from under center.

Again, all issues when playing a person. I only play dynasty mode.

# 82 rhombic21 @ 01/15/09 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangpow


	Again, all issues when playing a person. I only play dynasty mode.

And in dynasty mode, you need MASSIVE changes to the AI. Both in terms of it's ability to adapt via playcalling/strategy and in it's ability to manage it's own roster/recruit. As I've discussed before, the fundamental problem with this game is that many of the underlying gameplay issues render head to head play problematic, while the limited AI makes offline play against the computer uninteresting. I ran a dynasty on NCAA '08 on Heisman mode with Alabama, and put up absurd offensive statistics. The computer never adjusts to what you're doing. It has no capability to understand why you keep passing/running with ease, and to make the necessary strategy adjustments, the same way that a human opponent would. It has no ability to understand why I'm shutting it down on defense, and how to adjust. It has no capability to understand that certain plays never work, have never worked, and will never work, and to avoid them rather than call them 5 times a game. Basically the only thing that the computer can do to make the game interesting is to cheat.

# 83 bangpow @ 01/15/09 06:09 PM

it still plays better than 09, rhombic.

# 84 Hammerhunker @ 01/15/09 08:21 PM

Bottomline for me was that I had to end up playing the PS2 version to have a football experience this season. Laying down $60 bucks for the next gen version and having it go to waste is unacceptable.

The next gen need more than tweaks. The only thing it has going for itself is how it looks, but the second the movement starts, it all goes down hill from there.

I was very sad and disappointed with the next gen version. At least I had the old gen version.

# 85 JAYMO76 @ 01/15/09 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	Bangpow, the cpu INT problems in NCAA '08 were just too much to bear. I personally felt NCAA '09 was a lot better. The wide open gameplay still didn't feature any deep passes so I don't even think the gameplay was that wide open. For my skill level, the sliders made the game very good and not wide open. My biggest problem was the terrible cpu running game.

I will take the wide open gameplay of 09. Never again do I want to play intercept fest 08 again. What a terrible game!!!

# 86 Bumble14 @ 01/16/09 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bama83


	"Wide Open Gameplay" translates into arcady finger twitch fests and cheesy gameplay geared towards appeasing "gamers" rather than "sports guys". Say what you will about the scores this year, a good defense remedies this situation almost every time. Bama held Florida down for the most part (24 pts until a late garbage time score), Florida held Oklahoma down (14 points), so on and so forth. Great defenses stifle great offenses almost every time. The problem is - there are a lot of poor defenses out there. Please put defense BACK in the game. That doesn't mean interceptions or leaping linebackers. It means corners that cover and make wiser decisions. Breaking the pass up or jarring the ball loose. Linebackers that read the offense and make plays based on that rather than some preprogrammed AI script. A defensive front that gets pressure on the QB and forces him to throw the ball early or in the dirt or to a receiver that is covered so it's easily broken up. Make getting outside the tackles and throwing the ball away when there is pressure something that actually is a good move. Make the defense have a big advantage in fourth down situations. These are rare and when people online go for it in ridiculous situations, they should be punished. OR make punting in punt situations a mandatory selection.

I agree with you 100% on this post. I really had fun with 09, but the defensive changes you note would make the game even better.

My fear is that better defense will equate to more interceptions, leaping linebackers, etc.

I'd love to see the offensive explosiveness of 09 meet the defensive pursuit, smarts of 04.

# 87 JAYMO76 @ 01/17/09 01:42 AM

I enjoy the game BUT..... I still can't get over all of the missing features:

formation subs
endzone art
FCS
CAS
Bowl atmosphere
all alternates
uniform editor
playbook creator
interactive coin toss
on field warm ups
coach on the field
heisman ceremony
OL/DL interaction
lack of a cpu running game
poor recruiting logic
pre game show
post game show
ESPN integration......

Fingers crossed for 2010...

# 88 Hammerhunker @ 01/17/09 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYMO76


	I enjoy the game BUT..... I still can't get over all of the missing features: formation subs endzone art FCS CAS Bowl atmosphere all alternates uniform editor playbook creator interactive coin toss on field warm ups coach on the field heisman ceremony OL/DL interaction lack of a cpu running game poor recruiting logic pre game show post game show ESPN integration......

multiple camera angles
improved running motion

Pardon the piggyback, but your list just about did it for me, with those two additions. If the gameplay was adjusted to where you could use sliders to take this game from arcade to sim, then have the ability to expand the playbook, and implement just a couple of features to enhance the presentation, this game would be sweet.

That is what makes me angry. We can see just what it would take to be great, but the makers either don't or choose not to, but still passes the game off on us at $60.

# 89 stoncold32 @ 01/17/09 02:48 PM

Wait, HOLD UP, why didnt I know the PS2 version has all this?!? They even have Corso putting on the mascot head. W-T-H?????? Oh,this really ticks me off now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWwJvxerco0

This is completely unacceptable to not have anything close to this in the next-gen version. I don't know how the A-squad next-gen team can live with the B-squad last-gen team being that much better than them.

Even the box cover athlete(Desean Jackson) turned out to be better than the next gen players.

# 90 TheTodd84 @ 01/17/09 03:07 PM

Guys, you can tear me apart on this one for mentioning a hypothetical game in my critique of this game, but there are just a few questions I have posed that I have yet to get a viable, strong response to.

First of all, why are canned animations and motion capture still in next-gen video games? Why? There is NO excuse for this. PS3 and 360 can handle a physics engine that re-creates real-life situations ON THE FLY, like Backbreaker would if it ever comes out. When I have posed this question previously, the only response is that it takes too much time to re-write the Physics engine and start from scratch in order to meet the release date. To me, that is probably top-3 lamest excuses I have ever heard. I am also getting a little sick of people saying that the physics engine utilized in that game are "rag-doll" and will "never work" in a football game. Well, are the canned animations working right now? No sir, they are not. People are skeptical about it because it is human nature to be skeptical about large-scale change. But, for the same reason we voted in Barack Obama, sweeping change is needed on the sports gaming front.

I know release dates are based on investors and what not, but tell the investors where to stick it and tell them you will release the game when it's ready to be shipped and a good game. If they don't like it, other people will invest in the game and the company when they see the public absolutely foraging to the stores to buy an amazing sports/football game.

Canned animations are a thing of the past, a thing for PS2 when the processor wasn't strong enough. There is no excuse for them on the next-gen systems. None. Get rid of them at any cost. Will sports games be 100x better without them? YES. Can sports games advance with canned animations and mo-cap? NO. End of Discussion.

I am not a businessperson so I don't know how you would go about finding the resources to do it, but I'm sure EA with their billions of dollars could figure it out. Just Sayin'.

to quote Stephen A Smith, I GUA-RAN-TEE YOU that if a company took the time to actually make a new physics engine, or i dunno BUY ONE THAT IS ALREADY OUT THERE, then many of the programming issues would go away immediately.

For 2010: Adjust the running animations for gods sake, PLEASE. They are awful.

Change the pursuit angles COMPLETELY. Players are WAY too quick to run behind the ball-carrier and try and chase him down.

How hard is it to make a realistic pocket? Also, 2K figured out how make blocking realistic, why can't EA? Those two things ALONE would make the game 20000000x better.

Again with the tackling, 2K figured out a way to make it so that you would not see the same tackle twice in a game on the LAST-GEN, so why is this still an issue on the next-gen systems? Again, NO excuse.

Why are QB throwing animations so bad, and the ball physics just as bad? There is not realistic pass coverage at all, or ANY recovery speed by the Defense. Makes for a one-sided affair, which sucks.

Unfortunately, I bought NCAA 09, so I contributed to the problem. But there will a rental of 2010 first with no purchase. Sorry EA, but your product stinks. Bad Company was great and so was Dead Space. Madden and NCAA? Not so much.

# 91 JAYMO76 @ 01/17/09 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoncold32


	Wait, HOLD UP, why didnt I know the PS2 version has all this?!? They even have Corso putting on the mascot head. W-T-H?????? Oh,this really ticks me off now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWwJvxerco0 This is completely unacceptable to not have anything close to this in the next-gen version. I don't know how the A-squad next-gen team can live with the B-squad last-gen team being that much better than them. Even the box cover athlete(Desean Jackson) turned out to be better than the next gen players.

Oh man, I'm about to snap! I watched the above link. I hadn't seen a PS2 version since NCAA FOOTBALL 07. That is the game I want for next gen consoles. The Broadcast desk, the players walking on the field, warm-ups, the interactive coin toss complete with refs, refs on the field during action, FCS teams.... THIS IS THE GAME WE ALL WANT EA.... WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN?

I refuse to believe that it is toooooooooooooooooooo difficult and time consuming to recreate that introduction. I suspect that difficulty has nothing to do with it but rather it's a competition between development teams and the next gen team doesn't want to copy last gen.... AND THE BIG LOSERS..... YOU AND I!

# 92 Hammerhunker @ 01/17/09 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYMO76


	Oh man, I'm about to snap! I watched the above link. I hadn't seen a PS2 version since NCAA FOOTBALL 07. That is the game I want for next gen consoles. The Broadcast desk, the players walking on the field, warm-ups, the interactive coin toss complete with refs, refs on the field during action, FCS teams.... THIS IS THE GAME WE ALL WANT EA.... WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN? I refuse to believe that it is toooooooooooooooooooo difficult and time consuming to recreate that introduction. I suspect that difficulty has nothing to do with it but rather it's a competition between development teams and the next gen team doesn't want to copy last gen.... AND THE BIG LOSERS..... YOU AND I!

I tell you the game is great.

I was actually turned on to this game and Madden by a thread started by Countryboy. I was skeptical at first, but went ahead and bought the NCAA PS2 game and was blown away. You have that initial few seconds to get rid of the graphics but actually they are pretty sweet. Heck a lot better running motion and the speed of the game is just right, now lumbering cumbersome like the next gen. The QB's drop and throwing motion is more accurate. I have not even touched a slider and have had super games. Absolutely no complaints. I won't go into how the Madden is actually better imo, but that is for another thread.

I just hope the PS2 version is released next year as well as an insurance policy.

# 93 stoncold32 @ 01/17/09 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAYMO76


	Oh man, I'm about to snap! I watched the above link. I hadn't seen a PS2 version since NCAA FOOTBALL 07. That is the game I want for next gen consoles. The Broadcast desk, the players walking on the field, warm-ups, the interactive coin toss complete with refs, refs on the field during action, FCS teams.... THIS IS THE GAME WE ALL WANT EA.... WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN? I refuse to believe that it is toooooooooooooooooooo difficult and time consuming to recreate that introduction. I suspect that difficulty has nothing to do with it but rather it's a competition between development teams and the next gen team doesn't want to copy last gen.... AND THE BIG LOSERS..... YOU AND I!

You know what, you're probably right about that. I'll bet the next-gen team leaders have too much pride to want to "copy" the stuff from last gen. Too many times on this board I've seen the EA guys say, "(topic) isn't a main priority". Nothing that really matters to us seems to be a priority to them.

Heck, I'll take just the audio of that intro. I don't even need to see the Gameday desk and characters. They CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT, make me believe that they can't input that audio from the intro. That's just a flat-out lie.

# 94 JAYMO76 @ 01/18/09 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoncold32


	You know what, you're probably right about that. I'll bet the next-gen team leaders have too much pride to want to "copy" the stuff from last gen. Too many times on this board I've seen the EA guys say, "(topic) isn't a main priority". Nothing that really matters to us seems to be a priority to them. Heck, I'll take just the audio of that intro. I don't even need to see the Gameday desk and characters. They CANNOT, CANNOT, CANNOT, make me believe that they can't input that audio from the intro. That's just a flat-out lie.

In addition to my other issues, No formation subs in NCAA FOOTBALL 2010... I'm sorry but that for me is a deal breaker. How much longer will members of this community passively accept table scraps? Mediocrity is just not acceptable! For me, two of the top last gen features are: formation subs & customizable playbooks. How can these things still be missing?

What really makes me angry (if formation subs don't make it in) is that Madden has them. All we need is the Madden playcall screen and done... we have formation subs. NCAA and Madden are essentially the same template... just transfer the files over!!!!

EA, don't recreate the wheel... that philosophy only hurts gamers... you know.... those people who pay your salary...

# 95 RJTheDestroyer @ 01/27/09 10:57 PM

I agree with this review in every way pretty much. I feel it was an awesome game that kept me playing for awhile when I had the time. And to all the people about the speed...it's definitely one of the most important things in college football, but the good teams also have guys with good enough speed to keep your guys in check for the most part I found.

# 96 stoncold32 @ 01/27/09 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJTheDestroyer


	I agree with this review in every way pretty much. I feel it was an awesome game that kept me playing for awhile when I had the time. And to all the people about the speed...it's definitely one of the most important things in college football, but the good teams also have guys with good enough speed to keep your guys in check for the most part I found.

Let me just say that if you think this game is an "awesome game", as you put it, then theres no need for EA to change anything on it.

If you think this game is awesome, despite the fact that it's missing nearly 3/4 of the features which made the PS2 game so great, then the PS2 version in comparison must be the greatest recurring game ever for the past 7 years.

If you think the speed differential in this game is indicative of real life, you might want to watch college football more closely. I've never seen a 250lb TE outrun a DB who runs a 4.4 40.

# 97 whatcha @ 01/28/09 07:20 PM

Umm, wow. I skipped through the thread and read a lot, but not all of the posts. I think some folks take the game a bit too seriously. If you know that speed kills, don't abuse speed. Why would you intentionally recruit a 2-star A+ speed guy other than to abuse the game? Regardless of the game's programming, if you're doing that and then complaining about the fact it works, shame on you. I'm in my 7th season of a dynasty with 10 other folks. We've played on Heisman since the beginning. We've had user games that ended 12-9 with 7 FGs as all the scoring. We've had high scoring user games where the last team with the ball was probably going to win. But what we've never lost is the fact that it's a game, man. We enjoy playing this game with one another, competing for recruits, and talking trash. I gave this game an A when it came out. Would still give it an A today. But I don't expect the game to be real football because it can't be. So I don't measure it against that. I measure it as one of the best, if not the best, football game I've ever played on a console. That's what makes it an A. Heck, it's cold an icy outside today, so should I give mother nature an F?

# 98 whatcha @ 01/28/09 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoncold32


	Let me just say that if you think this game is an "awesome game", as you put it, then theres no need for EA to change anything on it. If you think this game is awesome, despite the fact that it's missing nearly 3/4 of the features which made the PS2 game so great, then the PS2 version in comparison must be the greatest recurring game ever for the past 7 years. If you think the speed differential in this game is indicative of real life, you might want to watch college football more closely. I've never seen a 250lb TE outrun a DB who runs a 4.4 40.

BTW, I'm a Michigan fan and stood in awe as I saw Jason Whitten outrun the entire Michigan secondary in a bowl game. Straight up the middle of the field, too.

# 99 stoncold32 @ 01/28/09 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatcha


	BTW, I'm a Michigan fan and stood in awe as I saw Jason Whitten outrun the entire Michigan secondary in a bowl game. Straight up the middle of the field, too.

I love how people like to bring up one incident and try to justify it occurring multiple times in this game.

If you can't see the offense is too fast on this game and the defense is too slow, then you haven't played it enough.

# 100 rudyjuly2 @ 01/29/09 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoncold32


	I love how people like to bring up one incident and try to justify it occurring multiple times in this game. If you can't see the offense is too fast on this game and the defense is too slow, then you haven't played it enough.

Honestly, the only speed gap I've seen is the RB vs. LB on pass routes. It can lead to too many cheap catches by RBs. I also think QBs are too slow. Overall I can't even remember seeing a slow TE outrun my secondary and I've played over 100 games easy (or me abusing the cpu either). I think the secondary speed is fine personally. I'm only talking offline. Are you seeing this online? Could be a difference in slider settings too.

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