Hardcore 2K'ers opinions on NCAA 360?

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by Badboy49er

I dunno, i am having the most fun since 2K5 playing NCAA 07

Agreed.

This is the first game since 2k5 that has held my attention for more than a day or so.

[drae2]

Well after playing 07 on the X-Box over the weekend (don't have the 360 yet), I can say as a 2K head that I like this game a lot. Of course nothing presentation wise can compare to 2k, but 07 plays a nice game of football. I have to give the Devil..I mean EA there props.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by drae2

Well after playing 07 on the X-Box over the weekend (don't have the 360 yet), I can say as a 2K head that I like this game a lot. Of course nothing presentation wise can compare to 2k, but 07 plays a nice game of football. I have to give the Devil..I mean EA there props.

I love the 360 version as compared to the current gen version.

But you nailed it, you can't compare presentation. EA's not even in the same league with 2k when it comes to TV style presentation.

[Badboy49er]

Quote: Originally Posted by bkrich83

I love the 360 version as compared to the current gen version. But you nailed it, you can't compare presentation. EA's not even in the same league with 2k when it comes to TV style presentation.

Yeah i really hope EA can get the presentation down soon because it really is wayyyyy behind 2K5. But i will say NCAA 07 has given me hope that Madden 07 can be a good game this year

[grunt]

I hope the 2k football guys end at EA.

[HMcCoy]

Ran the dive play against the standard cover 2, 4-3 defense about 30 or so times to really check out the inside game (on Heisman). To be honest, the RB only got clogged up Mario-style a handful of times. A few more "get skinny" animations should do the trick.

Another thing I noticed is that they've implemented the auto-hurdle. Don't recall a Tiburon game doing that before but I could be wrong.

The line blocking is pretty good stuff. After running the play a few times I realized the key event was the right tackle getting a hat or at least a solid chip on the MLB. Sometimes he would get good position and stuff the guy, sometimes the MLB would just blow by him. A few times he was beaten but dove to bump the guy. There was a nice ammount of variety there. Besides the suction effect, the blocking has gotten alot better.

The tackling still sticks in my craw, and I suspoect it always will until the fix it, but the inside run game is really not bad. The additional weight the runners seem to carry feels good and guys seem to fall forward when they're supposed to.

next up, the deep ball...

[DIESEL]

I would definetely say this is the best football game since 2K5. It is fun and has solid gameplay. My biggest complaints would be the standard Mario-running and lack of gang tackling EA is notorious for.

There are so many beautiful animations in this game that these problem areas stand out more than ever. I know most casual gamers are not as anal as we are, but when a player spins out of a tackle, leaps over a fallen defender, and then gets stuck on one of his blockers and runs in place it sticks out like a sore thumb. I think I might cry if I ever see this fixed in an EA game.

I play single player and the game is fun and challenging and the sliders do appear to make a difference. As others have stated the presentation is nowhere close to 2k5. I'm hoping this game is the foundation for a turnaround in EA football. The core gameplay is there. Hopefully they can tweak it for the better next year. As a 2k5 fan I would recommend it to any 360 football junkie.

[therizing02]

I also like NCAA 07 (current gen). I'm also a recent convert to 2K5. I guess the main reason that I never played it was because I could not get used to the controls. Whatever, I recently bought the old XBOX and 2k5 for 1.99, downloaded the rosters and editors and won't trade it in for a 360 because I want to play 2k5 and I'm not looking back.

Anyways, presentation aside it's a decent game. I'm still working with sliders but I'm getting pretty close to where it's right. The one thing that I have noticed that I need to do this year as opposed to the last few is play at the Heisman Level. AA is just whack.

Some positives:

-Good atmosphere. Especially in the rival games. I like the bands.
-The tackling animations have improved. Big receivers drag small corners but it's not overdone.
-Better passing game. Improved ball physics. Yards after the catch are finally in the game. I was playing against Arizona State as Ohio State and sent my safety on a blitz. The same side receiver cought a 10 yard slant and turned it upfield and took it to the house for a 65 yard touchdown.
-Alot of dynasty features. I'm not really into all of them but they are there.
-I'm not seeing anything ridiculous as far as the deep ball. If you have 1on1 with a corner you have a chance (and you should) based on the ability of the players involved. I have yet to see anyone catch a ball between two or three defenders.
-Improved inside running game. There's still a little "Mario Running" but not as bad.
-Realistic Sim stats. This seems to have been fixed.
-The "juking" is more realistic now. You're not guaranteed to get away with just hitting the right and left trigger.
-I like the new kicking model. Yes I've missed kicks.
-Blocked kicks. It's not overdone. Up to this point I've blocked only 1 kick in about 10 games.

Some Negatives

-The graphics are pretty much still the same, but there are new animations
-No gang tackling. I still don't understand why this is such a big deal. Not a game killer for me.
-I've seen some bad playcalling AI. (Ex. Louisville not calling a timeout with 5 seconds left in the half against ND so they could kick a FG. Same game...UL goes into a shotgun on it's own 3yl with 1:15 to go and a 30-23 lead against ND. They tried a draw play, got nailed for a safety and I eventually won the game 33-30. I've also seen on several occasions the CPU still passing late in the 4th quarter with large leads. I don't understand why this is. There didn't seem to be any problems in NCAA 2004. This one really pisses me off. It's unacceptable.
-Presentation. Give me a break with this EA. It's now 2006. Get with it.
-Announcers. Same stuff different year.

Indifferent

-Momentum. I'm still not sure what to think of this. When I started playing on AA it seemed that if you got ahead or behind and gained or lost the momentum the game was pretty much over. I beat FLA at the Swamp with LSU 41-10 and was thrashed after a qurter by Arizona State as Ohio State 28-0. It just seems that it shifts to extremes. The good news is that on the Heisman level I've come back from 14 pt. deficits in games twice. It seems to be just right at heisman level.

In conclusion...it's not 2k5, but it's a fun, playable, and pretty realistic game of football.

I hope this helps.