Crap! ESPN football has ruined NCAA 2003...

[Herd90XB]

Has anyone heard if Sega/ESPN is looking at bringing back an NCAA Football game? I tried playing NCAA 2004 the other day and quit after a quarter.

[jordan0386]

their not gonna bring it back...the reason sega is only making five games now is because of resources...they dont have the budget to make a leap of sports games...think...why havent we seen a boxing game all these years...you know VC can pull it off...if the ESPN series were to sell like its EA counterparts...they'd make more games...this most likely will never happen...but until then...enjoy

[ATrillionaire]

Man, I miss Virtua Tennis....and Tennis 2k2 was awesome, I was really looking forward for a new iteration, hopefully they'll be able to bring it back.

[XBox_Roughneck]

Quote:

---

QuickSilverK said:

Quote:

---

XBox_Roughneck said:
for me.(EA)

I can no longer tolerate the provided camera angles, nor do I like the control scheme (especially how the offense/defense button sets are different).

The atmosphere is still pretty good, but ESPN/SEGA must come out with a college football title that uses the same code as ESPN Pro.

Now that I've started following the Virginia Tech Hokies, I want to enjoy them on my XBox.

---

Did it ruin NCAA 2004 also?

---

I purchased 2003 for $15 about 2 months ago. I see no reason to upgrade to 2004 until it too goes down in price.

[Fetter21]

Quote:

---

XBox_Roughneck said:

Quote:

---

QuickSilverK said:

Quote:

---

XBox_Roughneck said:
for me.(EA)

I can no longer tolerate the provided camera angles, nor do I like the control scheme (especially how the offense/defense button sets are different).

The atmosphere is still pretty good, but ESPN/SEGA must come out with a college football title that uses the same code as ESPN Pro.

Now that I've started following the Virginia Tech Hokies, I want to enjoy them on my XBox.

---

Did it ruin NCAA 2004 also?

---

I purchased 2003 for $15 about 2 months ago. I see no reason to upgrade to 2004 until it too goes down in price.

---

04 will let you use the same D controls as ESPN NFL, well other than the left and right triggers for INTs, that was a huge improvement to NCAA IMO anyway.

[Cardot]

When I first went back to NCAA, it was a tough transition. In addition to the defensive controls issue, I had to get uses to the EA pass happy play calling after Sega's ground minded offense. It also felt like my players were gliding over the field after the herky jerky feeling from Sega.

It took about 4 games, but I finally got back into the NCAA groove. Oddly enough, I didn't have any problem jumping back to Sega. I am getting the NCAA itch again.....I am very curious how it will go this time around.

[Anaxamander]

I played a season of my UGA dynasty when NCAA came out, then got Madden and played half a season with the Falcons, got ESPN and played the whole season with the Falcons, and now I've gone back to play year 2 of my UGA dynasty. It was really, really weird going back to NCAA. The graphics looked pretty bad in comparison, but I got used to them. I kept hitting the wrong button to tuck the ball and throwing it away on accident. The running game felt atrocious, but it was great to hear Corso & co. again, and the bottom line is, as I have discovered, I like college football more than the NFL. As much as I love NCAA 2004, I wish I had an ESPN College Football.

[maskedmarvel]

I agree wholeheartedly. After playing ESPN, NCAA just seemed very sluggish and unresponsive to me. Especially the running game, in particular between the tackles. I think I'm just not a fan of the Madden engine "momentum" system.

Random thought on that: I'm not so sure that EA's long-vaunted "physics-based momentum" has anything to do with actual physics, i.e. calculations based on mass and acceleration. To the contrary, I suspect the pause/lag in control has more to do with the on-screen character executing a complicated transitional animation ... which is why most people feel the player movment in EA games is "smoother."

The reason I say this is that after playing Fever 2004, I noticed that the "momentum" system in that game is very hit and miss. Some moves seem to happen instantaneously after you press a button, others seem to happen in slow motion. I think this has to do with drawn out transition animations vs. moves without transition animations.

Anyway, back to NCAA vis a vis ESPN: ESPN also made me realize that the strafe move in NCAA is way too effective and borderline silly. What I mean is that linebackers in NCAA can side shuffle faster than running backs can, well, run. I don't think that's very true to life.

In ESPN, most backs will beat you to the corner if you try to sidestep with your linebacker all the way across the field. Instead, you need to square up at the last possible moment. If you have the opportunity. To me, that seems more realistic.

One thing I wish ESPN would steal from NCAA is the wide variety of ball trajectories and speeds on passes. NCAA does this really, really well. whereas I feel like the passes in ESPN don't vary as much -- you've got a floaty lob and a bullet, and that's about it. I dunno, there's just something not quite right there.

If VC is planning to make an ESPN college football game and is reading this, I would implore them to try and add a lot more ball trajectory and speed variations to their college game, especially to simulate the wide variation in throwing ability you see in college QB's.

Also, a college-modified ESPN engine should take into account that college receivers tend to get a bit more separation from their defenders.

Well, that was a bit off topic, but anway, what do you all think? I'd love to see ESPN college football next year, even though Sega's previous efforts have had major AI and gameplay flaws.