EA Sports has long been known for publishing the best selling football video game franchise in the world after two decades of Madden games released. Since 1998 EA has also released a NCAA Football title into their football game library. And in all that time they've never executed as well on a college game as they have with NCAA Football 09.
I consider myself a proud Madden veteran, but also a hardcore gridiron junkie who loves both professional and collegiate football. I take my football seriously, and for that matter I take my football video games seriously. When I sit down to play any football game, particularly from the publisher who currently monopolizes the entire football video game market, I expect to be thoroughly impressed.
Thankfully NCAA Football 09 delivers on so many levels my expectations weren't simply met, they were exceeded. Not only does this game meet the standards set by its NFL big brother, it crafts a niche all its own and paves the way in certain areas that Madden could learn from. From opening kick off to the final overtime drive, NCAA Football 09 is one of the best football experiences available.
For anyone who has picked up a copy of Madden 09, the core gameplay will be instantly familiar, if only slightly tweaked. The control scheme on both sides of the ball is identical save for a couple of minor functions. The difference you will feel is when carrying the football – the fluidity of your ball carrier's movements is surprisingly smooth and natural. Even after playing Madden 09, which also featured smooth animations, the freedom and fluidity in your ball carrier's motions is amazing. A new animation feature means players aren't “locked in” to certain animations, allowing you to quickly chain together a series of moves in a natural way; this is the same feature that Madden 09 touted, but for reasons I can't explain, it just feels better in NCAA Football 09.
The ability to take control of your lead blocker isn't as dominating a tactic in NCAA Football 09 as it is in Madden – it's still available and still mildly effective, but it's clear the emphasis is on ball carrier control.
At its core the passing game remains the same as in Madden, with minor tweaks in the A.I that are aimed more at representing an accurate college football simulation than actual core gameplay changes. You may notice that A.I controlled DBs are more inclined to take chances and jump routes, but also can't maintain cover as long as an NFL secondary would in a situation where the Quarterback is scrambling outside of the pocket.
The animation system for ball carriers is amazingly fluid
A welcome addition to the post-play routine after an interception is the Quarterback Quiz. Immediately after the turnover the player is shown three different defensive schemes along with three still photos that show the last play starting at the line of scrimmage, right after the snap, and in the middle of the play. The player has to correctly recognize which defense the opposition was using within the alloted quiz time. We found this feature to be ingeniously useful and realistic, as real college QBs would be subjected to something similar on the sidelines after a play resulting in the turnover. The Quarterback Quiz is reminiscent of the Madden 09's Back Track feature, but inherently different – and more effective – because instead of showing you what you did and having someone explain it to you, you're being forced to recognize defenses, recognize your mistakes, and learn. Back Track was interesting and well presented, but Quarterback Quiz is, appropriately, educational.
The passing game in NCAA Football 09 just works. There are only rare instances where it feels frustrating and in most cases dropped passes, interceptions, or deflected passes all feel real and consistent with real football scenarios. The running game is the highlight of the offense, but if you're playing with a team that likes to air it out, you'll have little to no complaints about the passing game.
NCAA Football 09 delivers soundly on the all important atmosphere factor, capturing the overwhelming aura of college football. Depending on which arena you're visiting, as the visiting team your squad can be seriously deterred by an overzealous and deafening home crowd. The home field advantage causes your team to see the wrong routes on a play, or forget the play entirely. At the line of scrimmage your controller will get a jolt of rumble feedback and trying to check your play will result in seeing a jumbled mess of jittery lines. Thankfully you can start to overcome this effect by running a series of successful plays in succession, causing your players to settle into their offensive.
This tactic can also be countered by calling a timeout and setting your strategy for the remainder of the drive to block out the crowd noise. You can use timeouts to set a number of strategies depending on whether you're on offense or defense, setting the focus and giving your players a slight boost for the remainder of that drive. It's a small feature, but it gives you a feeling of control in key moments.
You can also utilize a combination of the home field advantage and timeouts to effect your opponents, for instance, calling a timeout before an opponent attempts a field-goal to ice the kicker, a tactic being used more and more frequently by both college and NFL coaches.
In addition to some of the major elements of college atmosphere there are small touches like school specific celebration animations after touchdowns. We would have liked to see even more school specific celebrations, at least three or four for each school, but it's still a nice touch. And plus, you can celebrate with the mascot. Who doesn't want to go play bull fighter with Bevo the Texas Longhorn's mascot after a fourth quarter score?
You'll appreciate the Quarterback Quiz once you start recognizing different defenses
Probably the most notable game mode offered in NCAA Football 09 is the Campus Legend mode. With respect to the school Dynasty mode, like Superstar in relation to Franchise mode in Madden, Campus Legend has come up on par with Dynasty mode. Dynasty will still be the primary game mode for many of you, but Campus Legend has become a marquee attraction.
The player creation could benefit from some added depth, but the look of your character is minimal considering the majority of the time he's under pads and helmet anyway. You can choose the physical basics on your aspiring college campus hero and you can choose his primary play style (i.e: a QB can be a pocket passer, option runner, or balanced), but most of your skills will be determined once you're thrust into the final stages of your player's high school football career. You play through your high school state playoffs, which determines your base stats and also serves to attract the big names schools that will hopefully offer you a scholarship. Once you've completed your final run as a high school athlete, you'll be shown the available offers from various schools, including the role you'll have as an incoming freshman (starter, 2nd string, 3rd string).
Regardless of the initial role you're offered, you can still move up the depth chart relatively quickly through performing well in practices. We created an athletic option oriented QB that got offered a scholarship to Texas to play behind Colt McCoy and by the second game of the season we had taken the starting job from a potential Heisman candidate, and that's while skipping some practices.
The options in Campus Legend are fundamental, but lacking anything inspired. You'll be required to make it to practice at least most of the time, and then decide how to spend your free time as well, either studying in the library, studying your playbook, hitting the gym, or working with the trainer. Each option gives you different bonuses or penalties and ignoring one or all of them will catch up to you eventually. There are a few activities from last season's game missing from this year's version, but it's nothing essential enough to make the mode feel drastically altered.
The practice mode in Campus Legend is an improvement over the practice mode in Madden's Superstar, and considering the emphasis placed on playing through the practices and not simulating them, that's an added bonus. Instead of playing a see-saw game with points throughout a practice, you're required to play a minimum of 10 reps playing various plays and you earn a set number of points depending on how well you perform. It's fun, it doesn't feel as tedious as Superstar practices did, and it actually makes you better.
The gameplay in Campus Legend is similar to what it would be in a normal game, with slight variations depending on the position you choose and the scenario. It's obviously not meant to play exactly the same way and it doesn't, but rest assured it's always fun. As has been the case with the position specific game modes in both Madden and NCAA Football, there are still discrepancies in the amount of fun you'll have depending on position. Playing as cornerback or fullback just isn't as eventual as playing a quarterback or linebacker, and we'd like to see that gap bridged somehow. Regardless, as you progress through your collegiate career you do get a high level of satisfaction as your skills and legend grow.
Just as a note... Darren McFadden is really fast
The Dynasty mode in NCAA Football 09 is still exceptional. By our estimation the Campus Legend mode is the most fun you'll have in the game, but we understand there are those who live and breath by the Dynasty mode.
All the standard options are there in Dynasty mode, providing you a solid level of control over your team. There are also a number of presentation add-ons such as ESPN headlines, Top 25 Polls, Heisman Watch, and Preseason All-Americans that are primarily aesthetic, but still a notable presentation plus.
Recruiting options are far and away the best we've seen to date on any college sports game. You can sort through potential recruits by position, skill level, or interest level, or have the CPU add potentials to your scouting board and look them over later. The recruiting is like a mini game of sorts that offers you a choice of “pitches” that you can make to convince a prospect that your school is right for them. Through a series of 'soft' and 'hard' pitches you can find out what's important to the prospect and then push that aspect of your school. Whether it's campus atmosphere, playing time, coach experience, NFL prospects, or several other options, you have plenty of ways to lure your potential prospect.
We love the Dynasty mode, and the ability to now take Dynasty mode online is a huge new addition. You can seamlessly transition your offline Dynasty online, or branch off your Dynasty started online to its own offline experience. The online Dynasty mode allows for up to 12 players to square off on the field and in attempts to recruit new prospects. This is one of the better new features installed in NCAA Football 09 and it keeps the Dynasty mode feeling fresh and expanded.
In addition to the primary game modes, EA has kept the inclusion of mini games from earlier titles, rounding out a nice full table of game mode options. HORSE (a field-goal kicking game of HORSE), Special Team Challenge, Tug-O-War, Option Dash, and Bowling are all entertaining distractions. Special Team Challenge and the Tug-O-War mini games are especially ingenious in a ridiculous sort of way. Considering how sparse NCAA Basketball 09 was when it came to game modes we're glad to see NCAA Football 09 come correct with a whole host of options.
You've never played "HORSE" quite like this
Visually speaking the game is at least on par with Madden, if not at times better given the variety and scope of college arenas these days. While your standard NFL arena is impressive, the range of different settings seen in NCAA Football 09 seems to better demonstrate the graphics. The actual crowd still looks like a bunch of colored cue-tips, but apparently that's the standard that all sports games refuse to change. But aside from that, the game is graphically brilliant.
Audio is also another bright spot, the whole range of school fight songs are present and well represented. We've already touched on the crowd noises and just how important those are. One particularly appreciated feature is custom stadium tracks. Players can choose from music on their HDDs and select when they want certain audio to play during a game. We always appreciate custom audio, and this is just one more thing NCAA Football 09 does right.
We hold EA's football titles in the highest regards, but we also hold them to strict standards and NCAA Football 09 only fails to deliver in a few minor areas. We would have like to see more depth added in Campus Legend and we would like to see an added emphasis on defense, but these are small complaints in view of all the game does right.
If you like college football, if you like football – hell, if you enjoy sports in the slightest, buy this game.
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8.5