NCAA 10 vs NCAA 09 - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

NCAA 10 vs NCAA 09

Posted on July 24, 2009 at 03:04 PM.

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This year I feel as though I am clearly in the minority. After renting NCAA 10 for a week I like NCAA 09 better. I know many love NCAA 10 and I�m a little envious. So I thought I would just do a quick breakdown of my thoughts. Yes I�m anal and overly critical at times. Can�t help myself. So here�s my tale of the tape between NCAA 09 and 10. Again, just my personal opinion and I only had a week with NCAA 10.

Areas Where NCAA 10 is Better

q Better sliders. These work great and really let the user tweak the game well.
q Better cpu running game. Partially due to the sliders, the cpu can mount a very effective ground game. Probably the biggest improvement imo.
q CPU QB Play. They throw the deep ball far more than the rarity in 09. And the cpu QBs doesn�t toss the amount of interceptions, primarily the game killing red zone ones that 09 had.
q Over the shoulder catches. These are really well done and also make the fade route relevant.
q OL movement in the running game. They get a better push in 10 and the added movement makes it more fun to read the holes while running.
q Game plays better out of the box on default settings.

Areas Where NCAA 09 is Better

q Camera. This is definitely user preference but I really like the old camera in 09. The feel and look of the game are much better. I can see downfield easier and it�s easier to defend. I hate the constant panning around in 10. This is easily my biggest beef and something I simply could not adjust to. Some will consider the new camera and player lock as positives but I don�t like those angles.
q Graphics and sound. Another personal opinion and it may be related to the camera angle but I feel the players look better in 09. They also seem more detailed and have better colours. The band and crowd sounds seem better in 09 as well. Some of the crowd chants, particularly the defense chant, are embarrassingly bad in 10.
q Pass speeds. I really like the passing speeds in 09. Feels just right. In 10, some passes can be zipped in at lightning speeds off the back foot and the overall speed feels too fast. I feel useless trying to manually defend the pass in 10 because the passing speeds are too fast.
q There is no menu lag in 09. For some reason the clunky and laggy menu system of 08 reappears in 10 to annoy us.
q I think some of the strategy elements of 10 are overdone. Asking your defense to strip the ball should not result in vastly increased fumbles or facemask penalties. Yes there is risk/reward but some of the new stuff feels gimmicky or overdone.
q Injuries. This is a bit of a crapshoot. There may not have been enough in 09 but there are too many to the skill position guys in 10. Minor complaint although this may be a bigger issue on Heisman this year.

Overall there are a lot of areas where I see improvement in 10. But the damn camera just pisses me off. When I pop 09 back in, the game just seems more fun to me despite its flaws. Too bad the NCAA team didn�t consider user options and customization when creating 10. Give us more camera options, a true accelerated clock, more sliders like Madden (game speed, fatigue, injury, stamina) and you might have a truly great game next year. But for now my NCAA posting has dwindled and I have essentially moved on. I�m enjoying a Miami Hurricane dynasty in 09 right now and hope Madden 10 will be great on August 14th.

Comments

# 1 DJ @ Jul 27

Sounds like you made the right decision for you and that's all that matters in the end.

I wound up staying with 09, too, just I'm playing on the PS2. I did pick up 10 for the PSP as I wanted to see how the game was and for a portable title, it's very good.

# 2 rudyjuly2 @ Aug 6

Some things in 10 just seem rushed and unpolished. And when I read stuff like someone's DT having 6 INTs in 8 games due to the "hit a QB-pop up the ball for an easy pick" play, it just annoys me. Hopefully NCAA 11 will be more polished and refined.

# 3 rudyjuly2 @ Oct 13

I do think NCAA 10 did a better job with the cpu running to the weak side of the field. They are a little too predictable in '09.