NCAA Basketball '10 Demo Impressions - ehh's Blog

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NCAA Basketball '10 Demo Impressions

Posted on November 13, 2009 at 02:19 PM.

College basketball is my favorite sport so naturally I look forward to the college basketball game (still sad that it isn't games) more than any other release each year. NCAA '10's demo finally dropped last night for the PS3, here are my thoughts...

I played about ten games, first five on All-Conference (All-Star in Live) and then five on Varsity (Pro). After the first five games I was ready to delete the demo, same issues post-patch from Live were already annoying me on AC.

CPU's defensive rotations are way too fast on All-Conference and they block way too many shots in the paint, plus it's a little too hard to get past your man with the dribble (not an issue in Live). Nothing criminal, but things look so much better on varsity. Varsity is easily the way to go in terms of realism and an even balance between you and the CPU.

On Varsity the drive and kick game, defensive rotations and in general the entire feel of the game is so much better than All-Conference IMO. On default you just make too many shots and it's a little too easy to get past your man with the dribble but that can be adjusted in the retail with sliders.

One of my biggest beefs with Live is the amount of contact in the paint even when using Layup Solutions properly, NCAA '10 on Varsity does this sooooo much better than any setting in Live. There is some contact, but I've seen more clean layups in ten games of the demo than I've seen in about 25 post-patch Live games (full 48 minutes per game too). Thank the Lord! This facet of the game play alone will make me sell Live.

I also like the CPU's offense in this game more. As I expected, DNA seems to do more harm than good in Live. There's less wacky crap from the CPU in this game, though neither team pushed the ball all that much and both are supposed to be up tempo teams. That will probably be fixed via patch though. Again though, the only downside will probably be that teams don't go to their stars enough. Individualism is not going to be a bright spot of this game out of the box, we'll see what we can do with the roster editor. A big key will be is if we get the "shot likelihood" ratings that are in Live. If that is in this game then we should be okay, it'll just take a lot of work. However, the problem of the CPU not recognizing teammates and being a little too robotic still seems to be in there from NCAA '09.

The post game also seems cleaner, animations and feel seem better. The net animations are also more realistic though I'm kinda sad they didn't put in the crazy "super splash" swish that's in Live for those shooters with rainbow arcs on their shot.

Motion offense for the user is a pleasant surprise, I like the multiple options and guys cut with a purpose. I love OBCing to certain guys and making their cuts slightly different (aka better) so I can get them a bucket.

I was able to take three charges which is cool. There was only one questionable call from the ref in terms of an offensive foul which is nice.

FT's are crazy as UNC, I think I made 1/20.

There are still plenty of issues that perhaps I'll touch on later but besides that color me impressed. Looks like the trend will continue as far as the college version of basketball games being the superior.

In summary...

- Contact in lane is better than Live (less frequent)
- Defensive rotations are better than Live (post-patch at least)
- CPU's offense is better than Live

Comments

# 1 TreyIM2 @ Nov 13

I didn't do a comparison of the two games, in my mind, as much as you did but I definitely like the demo which I figured I would since I love Live 10. The freethrow deal just takes getting used to since the meter is sped up. I'm used to Live's slower meter but I started to knock em down more frequently the more I played the demo, since getting it d-loaded last night on the PS3.

I don't think I'll be picking this up, though, just because I'm not a big college ball fan of any sport (learning from the NCAA Football/Madden situations) plus, Live 10 has me sucked in...no homo. Ha.

# 2 stlstudios189 @ Nov 13

my demo still had not downloaded after 2 hours so I am going off you guys for now the demo sounds good, and I think I will be picking this up

# 3 rudyjuly2 @ Nov 14

Nice write-up ehh. I'm not into basketball much anymore and even less into the college game but I do remember having fun come tournament time trying to make a run. As a casual gamer, maybe I'll pick this up cheap close to March.