NCAA 2005 is my football game this year, AGAIN.

[gobucks]

Could not agree more, but they must do 2 things for next year:

1). Tone down the DB's I mean they all play like Deon with unrealistic jumping and reaction times.

2). Mellow out the HFA the ratings sway way to drastically and stay there.

[davin]

Right now I am going back and forth between Madden and NCAA. In NCAA i can get the CPU to pass well and run well, and have a balanced game, but not too consistantly. In Madden I am confused about at halftime it claims that they have ran 20 times, and yet I do not remember more than 5... maybe my brain is gone.

I like NCAA a little more right now as I have a favorite team in it, plus if i have a team that is good for the conference I can get a bowlgame, and get prestige that way, and not have to worry about my Jr player holding out for a bigger contract.

[Jwally]

I like NCAA better than the pro games because it has a better atmosphere, recruiting, and a lot of teams. It's fun to come to a rockin stadium like the Swamp and get a TD drive to silence the crowd. I love the recruiting, and not having to deal with the money. And I also like how there are so many teams to choose from in NCAA. Nothing is better than taking a mediocre team like UC and trying to build them up.

[Hammerhunker]

Quote: Originally Posted by NoleFan

Now that I know the joys of coach mode it'll be battling Madden for my affections. It's winning right now though. There's just something special about watching college guys make decisions and move the ball down the field. I was bored when I tried coach mode in ESPN.

I am still waiting to receive my NCAA, so I am in the dark a little here, but NCAA has a coach mode like Madden where you can have total control before the snap(unlike ESPN where you have no control)? If so that would make me a happy little boy.

[JCribb]

The NCAA Football series has always been my favorite. I also own both this year's versions of Madden and ESPN, but there is no doubt that NCAA will get the majority of the playing time. I simply prefer the college game and atmosphere more. There is just something about booting up my XBox and hearing my school's fight song that gets me pumped-up.

[Starbase503]

I don't have NCAA 2005 nor do I plan to buy it. One thing EA needs to do is take a look at Microsoft's Office and Sony's Playstation philosophy of "backward compatibility." It seems a waste of time to create a dynasty, play out a season, lose a few starters to graduation (and some studs early to the NFL), recruit the blue chips, redshirt players, then buy the new version of the game which can't even load your old dynasty.

The one thing that draws me into this dynasty mode is the continuity that comes from playing season after season, watching some teams fade and others surprise. I moved from the PC version of NCAA '99 to the PS2 version of 2002 and would still be using that game if my son hadn't scratched the disk up. But each time I moved to a new version of the game, the history that I had established was upset (in some cases drastically). My last season with the '02 game, I saw Oregon, Nebraska and Oregon State finish 8, 9 and 10 respectively. Moving to the '04 game, none of these teams even cracked the top 30!

Last year, my Notre Dame Fighting Irish did not do what the real team did: it did not fold like a cheap tent in a high wind. In fact, thanks to Kansas State's loss in the Big 12 Championship, ND moved to #2 and got to play USC for the National Championship, which they won.

Still using NCAA 2004, the Irish come in at preseason #10. Realistic place for a defending National champ who lost a lot of starters to graduation. But if I were go with 2005, the Irish would be nowhere on the radar screen of top teams. For a #1 team to drop to #10 is very plausible. But #1 to #40+?!? No way. The lack of backward compatibility destroys the realistic flow of history it is supposed to create.

[yo136]

Quote: Originally Posted by Starbase503

One thing EA needs to do is take a look at Microsoft's Office and Sony's Playstation philosophy of "backward compatibility." It seems a waste of time to create a dynasty, play out a season, lose a few starters to graduation (and some studs early to the NFL), recruit the blue chips, redshirt players, then buy the new version of the game which can't even load your old dynasty.

That's a fantastic idea. I've been thinking about the same thing for a while. It would also be sweet to increase the number of max years in that case.

[JCribb]

Personally I prefer to play a new dynasty each year and play with the current rosters.