Thats it!! I'm sticking with 2K5

[Graphik]

I hate to come out of the blue with this post but I cant help it. I've tried, lord knows I've tried to give EA a chance but I now deem NCAA 06 unplayable by my standards. And as for Madden, I will give it a shot but from the looks of it, I already know whats up.

Anyways, let me give you a run down on how I came to my conclusion.

Saturday, I played a game of NCAA and I ran into the same old problems I have with every EA game. The freaking comeback logic or rubberband AI or flat out cheating for laymans terms.

I swear to god I would love EAs games if it were'nt for the free-bees the cpu lets you have our gives the cpu. I was having a fabolous game at first: Game tied a 0 with 2:30 left to go in the half. I was loving every second of it until......

1. Cpu calls for a pass play. I blitzed one of my LBs and he reached the QB only to bounce off of him and the cpu QB still got off a effective 30 yard bomb. (Not much of a big deal. I've seen this happen before in EA football. Its cheap but its something you can live with)

2. Very next play, the cpu is throwing again. I got a nice Cover 2 playing to stop it. I had it stopped alright........QB lobs up the ball to his reciever heading for the corner of the endzone. My IMPACT corner was right there with him. He stepped in front, was in perfect position for the swat......HE SWATS.....BALL BOUNCES OFF HIS HAND....TO THE WRs HELMET.....BOBBLES IN THE WRs HANDS....OFF THE FSs HEAD...BACK INTO THE WRs HANDS.....Touchdown!!!
(Can someone tell me WTF just happened??!?! I had that play stopped. Open and Shut case goddamnit.)

So instead of having a masterfull stop along with excellent play calling on my behalf, they give them a cheap TD.

3. Whatever, I brush it off. Its my turn for some offense. They kick the ball off and to my suprise, the entire field is open for me to just sprint right to the endzone. I hate when EA lets me have one so I take another option. I ran out of bounds at or around the 50 cause I wanted to "fairly" come back into the game. Not have the CPU give me one. So as I resume play, I pick a run play to the strong side......as I hike the ball, I only have 1 defender to beat up the sideline. I press absolutely no bottons and the defender bounces off me while the Impact player slow-mo comes on. Once again, they give me a free TD. This time I took it. (Whatever happened to earning your points??)

4. Game tied 7-7. A lil over 1 minute left to play. CPU starts its drive. This time they picked a shot yardage passing play....but after he caught it, he breaks one tackle from a LB. I switch to the Saftey bringing up the rear, he breaks my tackle and now he's in a foot race with my other saftey. Well......I never caught the SOB. 14-7.

5. My turn again. On one particular passing play, I called a quick slant for my TE. He gets bumbed at the very same time I throw the ball.The ball is overthrown by a long shot because he was bumbed. And in a last ditch efford to catch the ball, he warps to the spot where the ball is gonna land. (I like to say warped but it was more like he went in FF and glided at least 10 yards to where the ball was gonna land) He droped the ball to say the least but it was odd seeing that Fast Foward looking animation.

6. Its 3rd down by now and the clock is winding down. I pick the "streaks" pass play and I hike. I hurl the ball up and its a nice 1 on 1 play to my WR. Of course he caught it and took it to the house for a quick 70 yard TD reception. Tie game again 14-14.

After that, I quit.

What started off as a nice defensive game turned into a nightmare for both defensive coordinators in less than 3 minutes. I play with Playmakers sliders with 7 minute quaters and all the fixings. Besides the fact that only 1 penalty was called that entire half, the CPU QB threw 4-11 which meant that out of 4 passes completed. 2 were for TDs. Long TDs might I add. If this is what EA calls college football, I hate to see what the pro game is gonna be like.

Speaking of the Pro game, I also gave Madden 05 a shot because I was in a football gaming mood. I also watched a game of 2K5 as well as NCAA to compare. But the results of that will come in just a second.

Before I put Madden 05 in, I decided to watch a cpu vs cpu game in NCAA cause I was still tryna convince myslef to play this game again. Believe me when I say this. I actually love the gameplay of NCAA, the running game is superb. The passing game is nice(except for the recievers running they're route to slow) but for the most part, I love passing in that game. The special teams is the best ever in football video games and playing defense in this game is fun. I would love to continue playing this game but the damn freebies ruin it for me. Here's the results of all 3 games with the cpu playing against each other.


NCAA: Second freaking play of the game, the cpu scores on a 69 yard pass to the endzone. On the very next play from scrimmage, the cpu throws a INT that scores. Later in the second quater, the other team decides its time for them to score so they launch a deep ball that gets taken to the house for a TD. The enitre half I watched, there was no deep drives and no red zone opportunities. Only 4 and outs and Turnovers. I only watched a half before I gave up.

Madden 05Cheifs vs Eagles) What a coiencedence!! Second play of the game, the cpu scores a TD on a deep ball. The rest of the half was alright, with a few 6-8 play drives from each team with a few FGs from both. For a second there, the numbers were looking great, then all of sudden, Priest Holmes breaks 6 straight tackles to force his way to the endzone. The play did'nt look believable at all. First, he was stuck Mario running tryna go up the gut. He somehow broke free and ran to the outside where he proceeded to break tackle after tackle after tackle until he was free. What a bunch of BS.


NFL 2K5: (Chiefs vs Eagles) First drive of the game, the Eagles put together a brilliant 11 play drive that got them all the way to the 6 yard line. The Chiefs stopped them and it was 3rd down. McNabb then throws a INT in the endzone to kill the drive. The Chiefs also put together a nice drive. Going 8 plays but got stuck somewhere on the Eagles 30. They kick a FG to take the lead. After that, the game went back in forth, punt after punt until the Eagles created another drive with 2 minutes or so left to go in the half. 6 plays in, McNabb finds Owens slanting up the middle for a nice TD catch into traffic. I was speechless at this point. End of half score, 7-3.


************

There is only 1 thing that seprates these 3 games. And thats the BIG PLAY. Why is the cpu in EAs games incapable of putting together a decent drive and actually working for a TD. In the games I;ve watched as well as played, the Big Play is the thing that seems to drive the gameplay. I cant remember a game I've played without one.

And yes, I'm aware of the fact that any of these things could happen in real life but my point is'nt about real life football. Its about what I want out of my football game. I want defensive struggles and long, thought out drives where you have to earn every single yard. In EAs games, all I have to do is wait for the Big Play and try to counter with my own Big Play which works more than I'd like it to.

Instead of long drives and defensive stops, EA gives you short drives and BIG PLAYS. A First Down in EA games means you got 3 more opportunities to get a big play while a First Down in 2K5 means you got 3 more opportunities to get another First Down. A 50 yard gain in EA football feels more like a 17 yard gain in ESPN. Its hard to explain but it does'nt feel like a game of inches in EA football.

With all that said, I'm sticking with 2K5 this year. I dont care if I get flamed for this post, I gave NCAA a fiar shot. And I will give Madden a fiar shot. But if you think that since this is the last year of Madden on the current consoles, they will go out with a bang. I would like for you to pick up Madden 2000 for PS1 and see for yourselfs what to expect. I'm willing to bet that much has'nt changed.



PS. Its a damn shame that a game that came out last year will still be better or equal(in some aspects) than a game that has a full year of development over it.


*Equips flame resistent jacket and kidnaps little girl for hostage bait*

[Brandwin]

WOW..Im loving NCAA and I can name of ton of gameplay problems 2K5 has that would not allow me to keep playing, plus I played it a ton and no new features.

Plus to me, 2K5's franchise is unplayable. I loved the game, but its time to move on. To bad EA bought the NFL liscense, but I think ill enjoy Madden.

[Graphik]

Quote: Originally Posted by DookieMowf

WOW..Im loving NCAA and I can name of ton of gameplay problems 2K5 has that would not allow me to keep playing, plus I played it a ton and no new features. Plus to me, 2K5's franchise is unplayable. I loved the game, but its time to move on. To bad EA bought the NFL liscense, but I think ill enjoy Madden.

I like NCAA more than you know. Its just unplayable due to the cheapness. Despite all of 2K5s problems, I find it more challeging as well as more enjoyable. I would love to continue my Boston College dynasty. The in season recruting along with semi-perfect stats and infractions had me loving dynasty mode. To bad the in game ruins it all for me. I've decided, since I got the time, to manually fix the ratings in 2K5 because that games potential is what drives me.

[gooberstabone]

Here's the reason why EA's games play the way they do.

[Graphik]

Quote: Originally Posted by gooberstabone

Here's the reason why EA's games play the way they do.

Oh yea, I read that article from Shawn some time ago and I thoroughly agree. Its just sad that EA is the only company we have to work with for quite some time.

[gopadres]

I'm with you, Graphik. I played NCAA for a week and half before giving up on it. I loved certain things about it, too: recruiting, atmosphere, and dynasty mode to name a few. I really wanted to enjoy it, but I found myself angry and frustrated more than I was having fun. I'd frequently ask myself: "How did that just happen?!!" When the CPU decides that a certain outcome will happen, there's nothing you can do; that programming sucks! Because of what you mentioned, and the dropped passes, I'm done. Also, the game didn't hold my attention like '03 and '04.

Many people have said that playing on Heisman the CPU cheats like crazy. If that's the case, there's evidence that the game is purposely made that way, and sliders don't do jack. It's just not as obvious on the other difficulty settings.

So I am also playing 2k5 with updated roster edits. Playing the CPU is fair, the graphics are still amazing, and gameplay is very solid.

[rudyjuly2]

I'm having a lot of fun with NCAA. In many ways 2K5 took a step backwards compared to 2K4. I loved 2K4 but things like OL catching defensive backs after INTs, broken fatigue, screwed up screen passes and HORRIBLE cpu QB play in 2K5 when they were fine in 2K4 left me baffled.

You may have liked 2K5 being 7-3 at the half but that's all you get when the CPU plays each other. Good luck seeing a game where both teams would score at least 20 since the CPU offenses stink (specifically the passing game). The fact the QBs in NCAA are dangerous both scrambling and passing is something I really, really missed after 2K5 ruined that aspect of the game. I took the Bengals against the Jets with human coverage at 0 and the CPU sliders maxed out and Pennington threw 5 picks by half time (7 minute quarters). Its that garbage that really tainted the overall game imo. Sliders, fatigue, etc., etc. the CPU QBs just sucked.

[Graphik]

My point is I'd rather have a defensive game than a offensive-fest that EAs games provide. I know the CPU QBs are a problem but I'd rather live with that than big play after big play determining the game outcome.

Besides, I'm looking to slightly fix the QBs in 2K5. So far, it looks like there is a rememdy. Although not correcting the issue, it makes them play better. There is no remedy for the big plays in EAs football games. They live and die by the big play. No amount of slider configurations and roster edits will eliminate that problem.

In fact, NCAA this year does everything right. QBs who scramble, scramble. RBs can have great games. The DBs are'nt superman nor are they ******** like in 2K5. The OL-DL play is much improved. (I actually had fun playing as a DL in NCAA, most fun I had in years with EA football) And last but not least, diffrent teams play to their stregnths which was my favorite gameplay aspect. But all of that is thrown out the window when you see 89 yard, 2 play drives, back to back kick-off returns and Impact players playing like Gale Sayers.

I had no problem with droped balls and deep passes like many others do, I just have a problem when those dropped balls and deep passes are so well timed that you know some unknown force other than yourself is controlling the issue. And those unknown forces are what depicts the outcome of the game. Not you, not your play calling and not you joystick jockeying skills.

Which brings me to why I favor 2K5 despite its flaws. At least I'm in total control of my game. Whenever I let the cpu get one on me, be that a INT, a TD or a 3 and out, I can clearly see what I did wrong. Whether it be my play calling, my lack of reading the defense or offense or my mistimed botton presses. I know that I am at fault for my teams mistaks. And at the very same time, when I put together a great drive, I know it was me calling the shots and not some unknown force who makes my WR drop the ball 3 times straight or my QB to overthrow the ball at the most inoppurtune times.