NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

[DickDalewood]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

The game easily deserves the 8.5 it was given.

As for this thread and it's "contributers"... wow has the OS community gone downhill...

[Ian_Cummings]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

An 8.5?

A roster bug.
Broken pass rush - confirmed by Ian (EA).
Broken punt/kick return - confirmed by Ian (EA).
Unrealistic QB TD/INT ratios.
Unrealistic QB completion %'s - confirmed by Ian (EA).
Lack of CPU deep ball.
Lack of penalties.

The game is fun, sure. But with all those flaws in the game, how is that an 8.5? Especially when the majority of the problems EA has openly admitted to being problems in the game.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I'm trying to be realistic. An explanation would be fantastic.

Thought I'd clarify...I never "confirmed" that these are bugs. The thread just says we have people looking into them right now. The last thing we wanted was utter silence when people get the game...we wanted to investigate any complaints and see if we need to fix any of them. What that means is we need to do a lot of testing first - we don't want to make quick drastic fixes based on a very small sample set...we could easily go in the wrong direction and throw off the whole fun of the game.

[scamden311]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

How could a game where the cpu never throws the ball over 20 yards get a decent review?

Its like playing a basketball game where the cpu doesnt take 3 point shots, and saying its not that big of a deal.

Its insane to me that people can ovelook such a massive problem with gameplay, especially on a site like this where most people consider themselves to be "sim-gamers".

Its absolutely astounding to me what passes as acceptable in these reviews.

I complained about the high review score given to NCAA last year when compared to All Pro Football.

People immediately called me an EA basher, and a 2k fanboy etc. Which is hilarious considering I have probably spent a small fortune on EA products over the years, but I digress.

Well it turned out that I was right last year. After about a month 50% of the people on this board had either traded in NCAA or just shelved it due to all the GAMEPLAY problems.

To me, a game is 80% gameplay, and 20% everything else. No matter how many features or polish you add, it cannot make up for HUGE problems in gameplay over time.

Once the luster wears off, the gameplay is what counts, and i fear that this years gameplay issues( Qbs never throwing long, Return game, DL interaction, etc) are too big to simply work around.

[callmetaternuts]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

Thought I'd clarify...I never "confirmed" that these are bugs. The thread just says we have people looking into them right now. The last thing we wanted was utter silence when people get the game...we wanted to investigate any complaints and see if we need to fix any of them. What that means is we need to do a lot of testing first - we don't want to make quick drastic fixes based on a very small sample set...we could easily go in the wrong direction and throw off the whole fun of the game.

Dont mind some of these posters, they justlike to throw out random accussations and hope they stick. I think low to mid 8's is fair and IF we get a patch, it could be in the high 8's low 9's range, but right now its a fun game, with some issues (but arent most games?)

[scamden311]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

To anyone on the fence about buying this game who is going to use this, or any other early review to influence their decision on whether or not to buy, I implore you to go back and read the "NCAA 2008 review thread".

Its almost indentical in the way some defended the game and attacked anyone who questioned the OS review or brought up any concerns about the gameplay in relation to the score it was given.

Just remember that much of what people like me said about the game was eventually proven right, and i have a sneaking suspicion that this years game could be in the same boat when all is said and done.

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...iew-360-a.html

[scamden311]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

I think this thread should be stickied because im sure lots of people will be looking for it in the coming days.

[distauma]

Even if there are these issues with the game, the real ones really being the QB not throwing deep, robo qb, and the D-line having trouble penetrating, from what I gather (since I haven't tried it yet outside of the demo) the game play is fun.

Isn't that worth any value? If you are having fun playing the game and enjoying yourself, then why shouldn't the game earn a decent score. An 8.5 to me says that the game is good but lost some value due to some issues that do not hinder the enjoyment of the game but can be annoying.

[metallicatz]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

I have a 360, but these are the sports games I play: Madden '06, NCAA 2005, ESPN NFL 2k5, ESPN NHL 2k5, MVP Baseball 2005. All for last-gen Xbox. These games still haven't been topped by the new stuff, and I probably paid a grand total of like 13 bucks for all those games.
Like a previous poster mentioned, the only next-gen game that has been impressive has been NHL '08, but even that pales in comparison to ESPN NHL 2k5.

Please, there's no comparison. NHL 08 is hands down the best hockey game ever made. Nothing in the last gen video game hockey compares to the AI or gameplay in NHL 08.

[metallicatz]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

And gee what a surprise, all the usual suspects are present and accounted for in lamenting a positive review score for NCAA (or any EA game for that matter) and over-blowing some minor bugs in a weak attempt to portray them as "game breakers". LOL. Such hatred for a software company. It's really sad.

There's never been a video game released in the history of gaming that didn't have its share of bugs.......even the games like GTA4 that were in development for years on end. Relax and gain some perspective. It's a video game, nothing more.

[bkrich83]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

The game easily deserves the 8.5 it was given.

As for this thread and it's "contributers"... wow has the OS community gone downhill...

The funniest parts are the guys who don't even have the game yet who are complaining about the score, and the guys who year after year try to push the exact same agenda. Again, who obviously haven't played the game either, but obviously tried to pull some impressions from others.

Same thing every year.

[Rocky]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

OK, forget APF2K8.

NBA2K8 got a 8. CH2K8 got a 7. The Show '08 got a 9.

It''s pretty safe to say that this game is NOWHERE near the representations of their sport than those games are mentioned. The score is very peculiar given all the issues.

[aholbert32]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

If you are insinuating that OS is somehow "in bed" with EA you are wrong.

I'm not saying this has anything to do with the review but this site is majority owned by an EA employee. OS will face accusations like those anytime it gives an extra positive review to an EA game.

[yamabushi]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

4 - The job of a reviewer is not to read the forums and factor that into his review. It is to look at the game from a blank slate, weigh what you see and grade the game based on that.

I am willing to bet many of you did not do that and no doubt started this game at a 2 and went from there.

Not saying anything about this review, But I would think (hope?) to get a completely unbiased critical review of any product, The reviewer should start at 0 (a true blank slate) and go from there.

[bkrich83]

Re: NCAA Football 09 (360) Review

And gee what a surprise, all the usual suspects are present and accounted for in lamenting a positive review score for NCAA (or any EA game for that matter) and over-blowing some minor bugs in a weak attempt to portray them as "game breakers". LOL. Such hatred for a software company. It's really sad.
.

We're still missing a few of the "regulars" but I am sure it's only a matter of time.

I don't know why people get so tied up in to a score, instead of just reading the review. I have no problem with an 8.5, the game is fun, and I am easily getting 8.5 points worth of enjoyment out of it.

[hail2thevictors]

I agree! I still have yet to play a football game that was perfect and the issues that the game did have weren't enough to keep me from buying it, or taking it back after I bought it. Bottom line, the game was still fun to play overall even if there were unrealistic gameplay issues at times.