• Posted July 14th, 2008 at 23:36 EDT by
• 9,365 views
• 9 Comments

Review Score

NCAA Football 09

PSU Review Score

7.5

Avg. user review score:

6.7

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Summary

NCAA 2009 is a step above its previous installment and shows EA Sports is dedicated to improving the brand name they’ve created.

We like

• Online Dynasty is fantastic
• Custom Stadium Sounds system is innovative
• Atmosphere is dead on

We dislike

• Shimmy can toy with the AI
• Broken defensive zones
• Player vs. player experience

See PSU's review on Metacritic & GameRankings

(continued from previous page) ...to read in terms of power and accuracy. This adds an entirely new challenge to the kicking game, but can also be turned off in the options menu should you prefer.

As for the QB Composure Quiz, this little game pops up every time you throw an interception. After throwing the INT, a screen pops up offering you the choice of three different defensive assignments to choose from. If you choose correctly as to which defense your opponent was running, your QB’s composure will increase a bit and he won’t become rattled, however, if you pick incorrectly, his composure drops and you may see an increase in errant throws and perhaps another pick on your next trip out. This feature, like Ice the Kicker, can also be turned off inside the options menu.

This brings us to the meat of the title - the actual gameplay. While there can be many criticisms for the past installments of the NCAA series, 2009 leaves a lot less desired in comparison to those before it. While the new pivot-foot technology allows for more realistic and authentic cuts up field, it also created a rather responsive “shimmy” maneuver that unfortunately will cause the AI in the game to act somewhat ridiculous. An example of this: I ran a dive play out of an I-Form offense and when I got to the second level of defenders, I gave a shimmy and instead of attacking me and making the tackle, they ran beside me up the field for 10 yards until I pulled away for six. This can also be used when running near the sidelines to create a bit more room between you and the defender.

Problems such as the one above hinder the overall experience and create a problem for the user to fully enjoy the game. Another issue that the gameplay seems to throw up is the fact that yellow defensive zones seem to be completely useless. Your AI defender will never cover his yellow zone appropriately, almost forcing you to take control of a LB every play. This also takes away from the great game that NCAA 2009 had shown signs of potential to be. On a positive note, when playing against the computer, both you and the computer will be able to establish a realistic pass rush. This is a huge upside and it helps make the game more “tolerable” in terms of enjoyment. However, it doesn't get much better than that, as the offense is truly lopsided in comparison to the defense. I understand the concern for wide-open gameplay, but when you have the ability to run a slip screen play and you hot route your WR's on the screen side of the field to streaks, you pretty much create an unstoppable play that the computer AI has no answer for.

As far as the nagging problems regarding the CPU throwing 11 interceptions a game for touchdowns, that has been toned down significantly and made into a better representation of the college play style. The defensive AI, outside of the shimmy problem, is also a lot better than in past years and isn’t as easy to fool. In the end though, the fact that the yellow zones are broken and make going over the middle almost unstoppable, NCAA 2009 seems to have taken a couple of steps forward and then a few steps back since my time with it in New York.

Player vs Player:

Sadly, this is where the game cripples and removes itself from possibly contending for Sports Game of the Year. NCAA 2009 is always best when played amongst competitive people in order to spread that competitive growth, however NCAA 2009 fails almost instantly in this department. Although this may sound harsh, it is from my experience that this game took a serious decline in respectability in comparison to the enjoyment I had playing it months ago in New York City.

One of the first issues is that the pass rush in human-oriented games is almost non-existent and lacks any realistic feel. On top of this, with the yellow defensive zones broken, it allows for both users to just take advantage of the middle of the field repeatedly. Indeed, while these may sound like only minor discrepancies, the fact ... (continued on next page)