NCAA Football 09

"Better than 08, but still flawed."

Well, NCAA Football 09 is finally here, and I decided to write my first review. There were some flaws, but nothing too major. Still, it was enough to leave me thinking 'What if?'

Graphics: 9.5/10
The graphics of NCAA Football 09 (heretofore referred to as 09) are remarkable. The jerseys, stadiums, weather, skylines, everything was perfect, except one thing. The grass. For a little while, I thought that 09 was played on a new type of turf that looked like green carpet, but then when I created my own stadium and put in natural grass, I realized that the grass was just out of wack. Still, despite one of, in my opinion, the easiest things to create being totally horrible, the graphics are phenomenal.

Gameplay: 6/10
Well, the gameplay was good, but was flawed in multiple areas. First off, defense/coverage teams. When I first started playing 09, my players on both coverage teams and on defense would stumble as soon as I switched to the nearest player to the ball. I didn't know why, and I couldn't seem to figure it out. As you can probably guess, I was highly frustrated in a short amount of time. I finally found the solution, though. I realized that if you have a super-sensitive controller to the L3 button, which I do, then you will stumble if you try to press the analog stick too hard. It took about half a season in Dynasty mode to figure this out. So, if you have been having trouble with that, try my solution. It really helped me and made my gaming experience that much better.

Second, receiving. EA Sports made it incredibly hard to run successful routes in 09. Some of my favorite plays from 08, such as, Wheel Out, Quick Slants, PA Read, were made into plays that had absolutely no use whatsoever in 09. EA Sports made it too tough to run post routes, corner routes, fades and vertical routes. However, I did find a few routes that are nigh unstoppable. Any type of crossing route, out route or flare/flat route will end up a success 95% of the time. Why such a huge discrepancy between some of the routes? I'm not sure, but I know it didn't make me want to pass a whole lot.

Third, and last, defensive coverage. Two things here. First, man-to-man coverage is pretty much useless in this game unless it is on a vertical/fade route or a comeback route. Otherwise, you are burnt way too easily, even if you are considered a Cover corner. Secondly, pass interference. Annually, the Triangle button has been jump/swat/intercept in the NCAA Football series. This year was no different, however, sometimes it doesn't do what it is supposed to do. Literally dozens of times when I was step for step downfield with a receiver, I would press Triangle to go up and swat it away, and it would tackle the receiver instead. I would get a pass interference penalty and the offense would gain almost instant momentum. Again, you can probably guess how frustrated I got. I could not, however, find the solution to this, so I will keep looking. It is very angering though. Very angering.

Game Modes: 7/10
Campus Legend makes its return for the second straight year and is just as good as it was last year. However, that's it. It's just as good as last year. I couldn't find one thing that was improved over last year. Not one thing. It's basically the same exact mode transplanted from last year to this year with out change. Not what I would call great fun.

Dynasty Mode, however, was a pleasant surprise. We are all used to Dynasty mode, seeing as it is in almost every single sports game every made (also known as Franchise mode). But, there were many changes made to Dynasty mode. First off, recruiting. I feel it so vastly changed that it gets its own paragraph.

--Recruiting: 10/10
Recruiting starts off before your first season even begins. 09 gives you the opportunity to create your own recruit and place him in any year in high school you like. You can give him fantastic stats and then place him in a state that you will have to go chase him. Once you get into the season, you are allowed to place up to 35 recruits on your recruiting board. Then, you are allowed to make 10 hours worth of phone calls to the recruits. To do this, there is two options, Quick Call and Call Prospect. I'm not going to give away the whole thing, but finally having a way to contact recruits is awesome. Then, as the season progresses and recruits are starting to find their way to their Top 3-10 schools, they will tell you that they are ready to visit your school on a home game day excursion. You are able to select 3 activities for them to do there. You can tailor their schedule to what they have told you is most important to them through phone calls. Overall, in my opinion, the perfect system of recruiting.

Also in Dynasty Mode is ESPNEWS Headlines, National Spotlight and other news that help you stay in touch with everything else out in NCAA Football without having to search through multiple screens like previous versions of the game. Dynasty Mode almost makes up for Campus Legend's lackluster appearance, but not quite.

One last game mode is Mini-Games. 5 Mini-Games give you the opportunity to have a fun little competition between you and a friend or you and the computer. I will list three of them and give a brief description and my opinion.

Horse - Well, just like the game Horse in basketball, you have to match or better your opponent's play. If you set the play by gaining 15 yards then the computer gains only 12 yards, the computer gets an H and so on. Of course, you both run the same play. Overall, it's fun, probably the most fun mini-game. I have spent plenty of time playing it on all levels.

Bowling - In Bowling, you are given the ball at the 10 yard line and given two tries to get it in to the endzone or get as many yards as you can. If you get it in the first try, it's a strike. If you get it in the second time, a spare. Turnovers, sacks, yard losses are all considered gutter balls. You are given 10 frames to do this to see if you can rack up a perfect score. Personally, my best is 247, but I haven't tried that often. The concept is good, but the game makes it so hard to score from that yardage that it takes a lot to get a good score. It is alright.

Special Teams Challenge - Not fun at all. Unless you like only returning and punting. Which I do not. The rundown is that you kickoff and try to get field position. After being tackled, you immediately have to punt/kick a field goal. If you punt, they have the opportunity to return it. If you score, or they score whether on a field goal, touchdown or safety, then the game is over. Very tedious, and the advantage is heavily in favor of the team that receives the opening kickoff. I do not like this game. Not fun in my opinion.

NCAA Football 09 is a good game. It does offer some new things in it which would be enough for someone to go out and buy it. Overall it's a good game, just not great.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/08

Game Release: NCAA Football 09 (US, 07/15/08)