NCAA Football 09

Over the years EA Sports has toyed with various aspects of presenting the college football game on consoles. While some of the changes have been quite welcomed, others have received a blasé reception. Of course, elements have been removed, reinserted, removed – all in the effort to make a package that felt well-rounded and presented a sense of the game.

It’s a new year, with next-gen consoles waiting for the latest iterations and true to form, EA Sports has trotted out the ’09 version of the game. The developer/publisher had two big goals in mind when developing the title: 1. Really deliver a unique college football experience through gameplay and atmosphere; 2. Offer a much deeper and richer online experience by bringing the Dynasty mode online.

Let’s go straight to what’s new in the title …

• There are new formation audibles that allow the controlled team to switch up the play without switching up formations. This is geared to allow the new play to be disguised at the line of scrimmage

• There is a new “bluff play art” tied to multiplayer. Gamers can show more play screens even after selecting a formation and play to disguise what play is actually called in the multiplayer setting.

• Interactive timeouts allow you to slow the pace but also to give instructions to the team, You might tell a particular group of players, like the offensive line, what you want and the effort in that direction will be renewed.

• Ice the kicker takes the timeout called just before a field goal attempt to rattle the opposing kicker and increase chances for a miss.

• The Quarterback Quiz is a rolling, in-game feature that rewards players for recognizing defensive alignments. For example, if you throw an interception, the game will ask you what defensive formation the opposition was in. You are given a couple of choices to pick from. Picking incorrectly means your overall QB stats take a hit, but if you pick correctly, you could elevate your QB to Heisman candidate status.

• And customized stadium sounds allows players to use their personal audio collection to create up to 50 customized sounds to trigger at various points in the game. This is part of an improved home field advantage experience that is geared to allow players to transform their home fields into one of the toughest places to play in the nation.

When you enter the game, you are – just as in years past – greeted with customizing the load screens and general UI with your favorite college team’s colors and images. There is the dynasty mode, quick games, practice modes, mini games (five total with two new ones added – Horse and the Special Teams Challenge), the “Coke Zero Mascot Mash-up” game and the Campus Legend mode. In the latter, which supplants the ability to create a school and insert it into a conference, you create a player, customize the look (you don’t get to spend hours redesigning the face; this concentrates on the fundamentals like his size and overall stats), and then guide him through four years of college. You can attend daily practice, classes and do have free-time options, but this has been streamlined a bit, and you can cruise through the intervening week to the game.

However, it should be noted that some of the schedules do not truly reflect what will be happening in the upcoming season. In the upcoming season Boise State (the nearby school) kicks off the season playing Idaho State. Well, that was not the opponent in this game. In fact, the Broncos were playing another team nicknamed the Broncos (not the ISU Bengals). It is, or was, an in-state rivalry. The rest of the schedule did manage to line up, but this was a bit of a faux pas.

And speaking of which, a couple of other stumbles occurred during the game. At one point, the QB for the player-controlled game stepped up to take the snap. Generally speaking, in a given play, there are lines under the QB’s feet to show which direction he is to move after receiving the ball. In many cases, those markers were scrambled lines that were constantly flashing in just about every direction possible. It was, initially, discounted as confusion generated by the opposing team’s crowd, but in that case rather than the graphical headache, it should have been absent from the display. But, to sort of support the notion that maybe it was not an affect and really a glitch, post-game stats (at times) were hard to pinpoint. Using the thumbstick to scroll through the offensive or defensive categories turned into a rapidly scrolling nightmare that was hard to stop, let alone find the category being looked for.

The game also still lacks a sense of speed. When you have a fast ballcarrier break into the open field, yes, he can pull away from defenders, but it is a constant speed. The defenders just seem to get slower. Football can be a fast game at times, with some players generating speed that is remarkable. That sense is missing in this game.

What is not missing, though, is the feeling that players are getting pounded out there. On more than one occasion, a great hit was rewarded with a grimace. The dev team really did a solid job of game animations, and the controller seems to translate all that quickly and effectively.

The online dynasty mode promises to be the cornerstone of this release. It will span 60 years with up to 12 players competing simultaneously. The dynasty challenge is by invitation only with a lobby setting known as the Dynasty Headquarters. And players can convert their teams to offline dynasties or take an offline dynasty online at almost any time. New recruiting strategies come into play with a QuickCall feature that allows you to instantaneously get recruit information and offer a scholarship. You can even do a quick search for players to fill specific needs.

The game also has a host of smaller features that bring entertainment value to the game. Coop mode is back with up to four players being able to play, though this is offline only. Missed field goals can now be returned; there has been improvement to the passing mechanics with a better lead system that will enable receivers to run under that long, floating pass easier.

The game’s sound is solid with Lee Corso (you either like him or don’t) back to offer advice on plays to call. The game’s announcing is, like in years past, a bit hit and miss at times. The musical score is solid and the crowd noise can add to the atmosphere.

But this is a game that is all about football, college style. Despite a few missteps here and there, what EA has delivered is a solid game. The graphics are good, the controls are semi-intuitive, and audio is solid and the total package offers replay in several key areas. The flaws in the game can be patched out, leaving a very nice game. Don’t expect strong innovation, though. The game is good, but the changes from previous years are incremental, not sweeping. While it seems that, in the era of Blu-Ray technology, more college football goodness could be packed into the PS3 disk, EA has focused efforts on a few key areas. The result is a game that is fun and entertaining, but not innovative and totally fresh. Don’t misinterpret that as meaning this is not an entertaining game; it is that, but as the franchise moves forward it would be nice to see EA Sports really bring more into the stadiums.

Gameplay: 7.5
The game seems to clip along at a steady framerate, but the tempo is not on par with the real game. And there are moments when on-screen graphics glitch and post-game stats are hard to get to.

Graphics: 8.0
The players seem to need to take certain angles at times, so the movement may involve a 90-degree turn before cutting back upfield. It looks awkward. The hits, though, are well done and the physics of the game seem to be solid.

Sound: 8.0
Corso can still be irritating at times, but generally the audio is well done.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 7.8
The changes are good, but not sweeping. This is a game that is tweaked as the years go by, not rebuilt from the ground up. What has been changed is good.

Multiplayer: 8.5
Online Dynasty is a very good thing. The offline coop can also be fun.

Overall: 8.0
The online gameplay is the key to the fun in this game. Sure, you can enjoy the single-player experience and yes, some online players can be jerks, but generally speaking the multiplayer aspects have received the most attention this year with tweaks to other areas. If you have played an NCAA title in the past, you will notice the small changes and the increase to the fun. This year’s iteration feels a little more streamlined and designed to get you into the gaming experience faster. With solid graphics and audio, NCAA Football 09 has its share of thrilling moments, as well as a few letdowns.