Early Impressions

[ronnyballgame]

whipsmart, since you have played 40+, tell me what level you have been playing on for the best games, and you got to have sliders by now?

[Review]

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medlinke said:

Bottom Line: Awwww shucks...but...SLIDERS RULE!!!

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Yes, sliders do rule. The best sliders for NCAA football 2005 are probably gonna be the same ones that were the best last year. I'm talking AA level. MAX out everything for the CPU on O and D. MAX out both Pass Int Sliders, roughing the QB, holding and false start. Trust me. This is the way to go if you don't like Heisman.

[Anaxamander]

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whipsmart77 said:

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jake44np said:
So what would you have done to make it better, without changing the overall game?

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* Keep the line of sight stuff going...this year it seems like the D will instinctively break off assignments or blocks once the ball is past the LOS. Hate this.

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This is the part that worries me, because it seems like a step back to '03. If this is true, and it cripples the YAC possibilities like he says, that will indeed suck. BUT, I don't have the game yet, so I'll reserve judgment until then.

[Motown]

I Hijacked this...Enjoy!

Found some more impressions...

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I love it. First game I played you can tell there was a major physics upgrade to the game, everything from the deep ball flight, the tackling - just like, 800 subtle differences you pick up on right away.

'I' formations have weakside runs - praise god, you finally can't stack the strong side on those. Having a capable back in Lydell Ross (89 OVR) and a FB in Brandon Joe (96 OVR), I now can run with either, to either side of the field and expect considerable games or considerable failure.

Sweeps work! I've been all over this. When you pitch out, your blockers are 10x more aware of what's going on in the play. No more running around blocking no one, and no more instant loss when you accidentally picked the sweep play trying to run the off-tackle. The FB gets out and blocks, the WR's make fairly decent blocks - there's some serious opportunity here for yardage.

RB's take different paths on handoffs. This is minor, but you don't see a RB or FB take the same path on the same play every play. Sometimes it seems you take the ball really close to the QB, sometimes the QB extends his arm out further - just different ---- like that.

Play actions are harder to pick up. Instead of always handing off with your hand on a PA, the QB actually extends the ball out pulls it back - very difficult so far to pick that up. Also of note, I haven't faked a handoff to date that's gotten me hit before I could even get passing icons up.

QB scrambling is much more realistic. No more sending the everyone downfield and taking off, as the defense reacts a lot better. I've still had moderate success in doing so, however you must elude a tackler to do it this year as the DE will often peel off and take a competitive angle on you to limit your carry.

Draws work too! Now, I haven't whipped off a big one and I'm still playing whatever default difficulty is, but even on a play that appears to fool no one I'm still picking up a yard or 3 by falling forward at the line.

The bump and run defense so far is considerably weaker than last year. Last year you had to motion to get away from bnr coverage, this year it's more of a cover-the-flats better type of thing. I just played Cincinnati in week #1 of a dynasty, and even Cincinnati's WR's were burning me off the line on bumps.

It also appears that the DE loop isn't nearly as effective. A pet pieve of mine was watching a DE run down 10 yards and come up to sack me, but this year the T seals off his corner MUCH better.

Ran a game with Air Force against Army, and the flexbone was working to full effect. Even plays like the WR insides and FB handoffs from the flex were gaining yards. In fact, it seems many of the plays that sucked [censored] last year have came back in a fashionable appearance.

Texas State had a double option play from pro form, where you hand off to the weakside of the run, that RB runs and then has an outlet to pitch out to backfield partner for more yards - deadly play so far.

HFA is awesome, I think this feature will be a big hit.

Dustin Fox (91 OVR), still can't cover a WR to save his [censored]. This tells me EA did their homework.

Way too many unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. I often hit R2 in an attempt to strip the ball, and if it was a big play the guy who stuffs whatever was run will get up and do something that sometimes gets him penalized.

Lot of shoving after plays, the Texas State/Nicholls State I had 3 unsportsmanlike penalites for getting up and shoving the ball carrier. This slider will get an adjustment, I can feel it now.

[SemperVictoria]

Here’s my quick (and erratic) take on the game after playing it since Saturday afternoon, after forcing the FedEx employee to dig through the newly shipped goods to find my game.

I’ve been playing the Xbox version on stock AA.


Graphics/Animations:

+Overall physics of the animations are much improved.
+ Player models have subtle changes that look very good.
+ Tackle animations are much improved, and look awesome. It seems they’ve added quite a few new tackle animations, and got rid of, or at least severely toned down most of the corny ones (shotgun in the back, etc.)
+ Running animations are MUCH improved and look great.
- Grass (Xbox) and generic crowd look the same

Gameplay:

+ Passing seems to be a bit more difficult, as QB will throw some wild ones every now and then. You WILL be punished for throwing off your back foot.
+ D is better at tracking down the QB if he scrambles out of the pocket.
+ Run blocking seems to be improved, as blockers will actually get out and block the man they’re SUPPOSE to block.
+ Human controlled secondary reacts much better than last year.
- Still have the problem with dropped passes over the middle.

Home Field Advantage:

+ I thought this would be fluff at best, however it’s pretty cool. Especially when playing friends, as they definitely have problems audibling at the line.



So far, I’d definitely say this is an improvement over last year’s game (which I loved). There are no titanic changes, but many little things that add up. And IMO this game, without a doubt, surpasses last years.

[HipsterSudz]

good posts. i like to hear different, well-wriiten, posts regarding games. link to review?

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whipsmart77 said:

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jake44np said:
So what would you have done to make it better, without changing the overall game?

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I dunno maybe implement a few of the following

* REAL run blocking. Yea, it's looking better but the guys stuck in "permahugs" have to go.

* Gang tackling

* Better implementation of ratings overall. These guys all play too vanilla this year. Agility? With the new turn on skis program that's out the window.

* Keep the line of sight stuff going...this year it seems like the D will instinctively break off assignments or blocks once the ball is past the LOS. Hate this.

* HFA is fine I guess

* Matchup stick be something that you can utilize 3x per game...ration em over a few key moments.

* Timeout coaching is a cool concept but I've noticed nothing beneficial from it.

* Amp up the player models/stadiums to Madden quality.

* Add new commentary...pretty bad this year in terms of being stuff we've heard since 03.

* Make a CPU AI that actually runs, or passes, the ball with ANY success whatsoever. The AI of the CPU on O is atrocious on AA.

That would be a start anyways. EA has a year...ready, set, go. Next year will be "FREESTYLE PASSING" or something that lets you use the Right Analog to pump fake...and everytime you use it, it'll F the DB up like crazy and the producers will be all "We reward user control at EA and the pump fake is a quintessential part of the passing game in the college landscape."

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[Motown]

All these impressions are Courtesy of Helli@ MM

More impressions

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The game has been re-tooled to be oriented much more toward the defense than before. At this point, I've played four full games, and I can say with certainty, this isn't your father's zone defense. It's really hard to find a hole, you have to game plan for plays that you have a hard time breaking down, and you have to be able to put those practice studies to use once there's a blitz in your face. It's difficult to put yards on the board, I tell ya that.


Anyway, I've played four games now, total. zones are going to give me problems for awhile, I can already tell. I've seen some plant and skate type cornerback turns where they catch up magically to the receiver that had a 5-yard cushion and then jump like randy moss to bat the ball away.... I can tell people are going to be complaining about this. I know it frustrates me a bit. The game is not without its frustrations.

You have to be precise and quick w/ the passing game in order to make it work, but it's a pretty gratifying feeling when you find the open man. Make sure you manual catch, because if you don't, it seems to be dropped a higher percentage of the time.

The stadiums are more detailed than before, and look fantastic. I was particularly impressed with USC's stadium, it looks so much better than it used to. (remember when the whole end zone fan section had like three rows? hehehe) The crowds react very realistically to situations.

Overall having seen the HFA system close up for a few games I really like it. I mean, REALLY, really like it. And if you beat a team on the road online, it's worth more. If you beat that team with a lesser ranked team, it's worth even more still. Very cool.

Online has some cool new features. Voice chat works great. YOu can see scores of games in "real life" and there are many more types of data available on the opponents you might face.... I'm really happy with the additions they made, hopefully everything will hold up once everybody has the game and gets online at the same time.

[Motown]

more...
A couple more impressions....

EA has made significant strides at lessening the suction effect of blocking. You can tell it's still the same "system" in a way, but when a defensive lineman is being blocked (taking ratings into consideration of course) he has a lot more directional perogative now when he's being blocked. I mean a real blocker can't actually stop a guy from moving the way he wants to move unless he's driving him to the ground, and in this game it's like that. your defensive linemen will see a QB scrambling left and even though they're getting blocked, they begin to move that way and eventually disengage. MUCH better than before.

Another thing I like is when playing linebacker... or safety or something. the CPU no longer looks for YOU to block rather than just blocking as if everything was equal. I actually sidestepped a block and made a big hit in the backfield with Ahmad Brooks, which is something I could seemingly never do before, if i sidestepped one block, another guy would just let go of his block to get me... I was THE target - now I'm just another guy on the field, or so it seems.