Final NCAA Thoughts before Madden?

[tgreen06]

Quote: Originally Posted by SoMiss2000

you act like online gaming has always been around. sure back in the day you could play with your friends when they came over, but didn't they ever leave?

True. But I never trusted playing a legit game against the A.I dating back to ten yard fight; comeback code and all. Online play is the ultimate wits against an opponent. It's a shame that EA can't implement everything possible in the realm of real football to offset the cheesin used online.

1) Offensive line pass blocking schemes (protect middle/pinch) is the counter to peeps using a 46 to bum rush the middle and only give u 2 seconds to throw the ball unless u use shotgun. Madden has it.

[Cebby]

Quote: Originally Posted by tgreen06

Online play is the ultimate wits against 2 opponents.

If by wits you mean finding whatever code EA, Take2, or any other developer messed up on and continuously exploiting that, then yes, it's a game of wits.

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by tgreen06

All these positive comments can't be based on the online experience? Huh? With no offensive line schemes, it's a blitz feast up the middle. Leaving 2 seconds to throw to the flats. Passing formations under center r almost non-existence. I never understood the love of playing football games against the computer.

Seems like you kind of answered your own question there about not understanding playing against the CPU...

The CPU wont take advantage of every little glitch it can find.

And, man, is it fun to build a team to your own style and try to win a NC.

[whosgotcha]

Yes, usually there is a world of difference between online/human vs human and dynasty/franchise. If you get a good opponent to play against then you can have a good human vs human experience otherwise it can be unpleasant. I enjoy both although franchise/dynasty allows me to have more control over the sim issue. I have not played a game online and so I have not had a bad experience. The dynasty mode allows me to indulge my fantasies and in this area NCAA is superb. I did notice in the one game I played against my friend he did blitz up the middle constantly but I countered by throwing to my backfield. This proved to be succesful against this type of play.

[Steeler99]

Quote: Originally Posted by mudtiger

I do it because I love dynasty mode and I'm a stat freak. I love improving a weak team over time and being responsible for the overall direction a team takes. I never understood the love of playing online. Win or lose the game means nothing, it doesn't get you any closer to a championship, injuries don't carry over, you have to deal with people that don't understand the first thing about football, and the game never quite feels the same online as it does offline. But different strokes.

WELL said!

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by tgreen06

With the release of Madden just 10 days away. Here are my final thoughts with this game. 1) After just playing an online game against possibly a 10 year old. Anytime you can just run a stupid 46 and have no concept of offense and lead 10-3 after 3qrt, the game is garbage. It's great when u try to hot route against the 46 defense only to have "star" players that can't hear the audible and hot route. -------------------------------- Conclusion: Other than the increased fps to 60, and some polished graphics, this is the same garbage as '06, and '07. -------------------------------- Final grade = C-

While I am somewhat sympathetic to some of your gripes, some of these game "complaints" (yours in this post, but more so from others in general) are really just complaints about the type of online experience that is common to all games - unless you play with like-minded players.

Go play COD3 or Halo2 with a bunch of people you don't know and see how long it takes to find a game full of team-killing foul-mouthed idiots. Or try Gears or Rainbow 6 or GRAW2 or Battlestations : Midway or just about any other online-enabled game. Sports games are notoriously the worst (well maybe tied with FPS games).

The problem is that if you actually care about your online rank or what your meaningless W/L record says, then you must either play with these fools (and most of their unrealistic crap is easily beaten; although boring as hell, and usually results in them quitting after their pet plays are locked down or repeatedly torched) or choose not to play the game at all.

So, yes, if rank and win % are important to you as a measure of self-esteem or actual measure of "skill", then by all means avoid the game online. However, if you choose to ignore those things (either by playing through it or simply quitting the game when you find you are matched against a clown) or just find like-minded players online, then NCAA 2008 is a vastly better game than 2007.

I would disagree on a "C-" grade for many reasons - Campus Legend and Dynasty Modes offline are actually quite fun. So are the mini-games for that matter. The CPU gameplay is no where near as annoying as the random online idiots and the online play (with the right people and a solid connection) is top notch.

I don't know if I could give it an "A", but a solid "B+" is in order IMO that is...

[nymets3000]

My only online experience this year:
Miami(me) vs. WV
Me- "Hey, what's up"
little 12 year old- "**** you you little bitch"

He's on offense first. First play, out of shotgun 5 WR no RB he cheeses it up and runs with no intention of passing. I figure maybe he just wants to throw me off first play and he won't do it all day. Second play, same thing. Third play, I corner back blitz him and I put White out for the game. He then fixes his depth chart to have Steve Slaton as his quarterback.

When play resumed, I quit immediately. He obviously had no intention of playing a real football game and I didn't want to waste my time.

[DaveDQ]

Quote: Originally Posted by nymets3000

My only online experience this year: Miami(me) vs. WV Me- "Hey, what's up" little 12 year old- "*earmuffs* you you little bitch" He's on offense first. First play, out of shotgun 5 WR no RB he cheeses it up and runs with no intention of passing. I figure maybe he just wants to throw me off first play and he won't do it all day. Second play, same thing. Third play, I corner back blitz him and I put White out for the game. He then fixes his depth chart to have Steve Slaton as his quarterback. When play resumed, I quit immediately. He obviously had no intention of playing a real football game and I didn't want to waste my time.

I'm reading the gripes about online play and I have to ask, why not just keep your online matches to your friends list? No matter what game, when you step into those online lobbies, you are bound to run into the same type of circumstance you mentioned.

There's probably 10 people that posted in this very thread that you could put on your friends list and get good online games from doing so.