NCAA 2005 COACH MODE impressions…
I picked up my copy of 2005 at GameStop today, and since I knew I had to be in the office all day, I decided to pop it in their Xbox and give it a try. I played two games of 5 minute quarters, default sliders, Varsity difficulty. ISU at Iowa for the first game and Iowa at ND for the second game. I was Iowa in both. Also, I simmed a season of dynasty mode and went through a couple of weeks of recruiting.
The GOOD:
Atmosphere is amazing… crowd is so much more involved, and the HFA is pretty cool. The game is just so much tighter… I don’t really know how to describe it. The movements, QB throws… everything just seems more realistic. Xbox ‘slowdown’ was almost non-existent for me in two games. I used the classic, overhead and sideline cameras. I did notice a little slowdown in between plays and on option plays, but otherwise, it didn’t impact the gameplay or game flow. Commentary was deeper and more ‘in tune’ with the on the field action. The passing game seemed very ‘streakish’… all of the QBs had streaks of completions, and then streaks of poor throws and dropped passes. On varsity, the cpu was pretty strong… better than in years past. I’m not so sure that we won’t be playing Varsity more than AA in COACH MODE. The cpu definitely stuck with the running game. No problems there from what I can see. The passing game is definitely improved, as the QB runs all over the place when feeling heat, and is willing to take off once in a while.
The detail in the dynasty mode is awesome. Recruiting is much more difficult, and it takes a lot longer to simulate each week.
The NOT-SO-GOOD:
When trying to get realistic results, our goal over the full season (with teams that aren’t strong / weak in any department) is 7 yards per pass attempt / 54% completion percentage, 4 yards per rush, and 5.5 yards per play. In the past, in order to get these numbers, the completion % had to be around 45%, as too many of the routes are deeper than in real life. There simply are not enough short passes thrown. Iowa is stronger running the ball and on defense this year, so I know the yards per pass should be 6-6.5 and the yards per rush will be 4.5-5. The defense will hold most teams well under the average of 5.5 yards per play. So, I take that into consideration when evaluating slider settings.
After playing a couple of games, there are a couple of noticeable issues that haven’t been fixed from previous editions of NCAA Football: First, the running game on the default sliders is pretty weak. There is going to be some slider adjustments to fix this. It seems that the DTs and DEs were blowing through the line quite often. Over two games, the average was around 2 yards per rush. Second, the pass completion % is still going to have to be around 45% to get that 7 yards per pass attempt. If we go for 55%, the teams are going to average 8+ yards per pass attempt. So, it seems that similar slider adjustments will have to be made to last year, but maybe not quite as dramatic… we’ll see.
I did see a couple of balls ‘tipped’ like it was a super-ball… don’t like this at all. Won’t factor too much into the game, but it’s way overdone.
FINAL THOUGHT:
I never finished the Iowa-ISU game and I won at ND 21-6 on the settings mentioned. The ND game was 7-6 Iowa until late in the 4th quarter when ND went for it on fourth down two series in a row. Otherwise, it was a very tight game on the Varsity difficulty.
Overall, I just love the atmosphere… the crowd is so much more into the game flow. Just amazing. The gameplay is tighter and feels more realistic. The game does play slower, and I like the feel of the running and passing games.
I can’t see anyone giving this title less than 9/10 – I say 9.5. Of course, this is only after a couple of games on the store’s system. Maybe – and I hope not – I will see the slowdown on my Xbox. I will post later this evening.
Kevin
www.innovexgolf.com
07-13-2004, 01:49 PM
