NCAA 10 Demo Impressions

[FlawLeSs]

I've bought NCAA for as long as I can remember. It's always been nothing more for me then a 1 month rental until Madden comes out. Moving into my own place has me a lot more cautious with my money. I will look into this depending on how good fight night is.

fight night doesnt look promising

[kyhadley]

PastaPadre's impressions:

Having played the full game at E3, which was probably built off a different and slightly more recent build, it makes it difficult to evaluate the demo. There are some things that seemed better at E3, yet there are also some things that seem better in the demo. So I’m not sure exactly how valid some of my impressions can be as they relate to the final build. Because of that I won’t go into much detail on those things.

Continue on to read some general thoughts on the game/demo and check out the videos of a full demo play-through.

I’ve continued to argue against two minute quarter demos because of the inability to get into any rhythm. The faults of this are more pronounced with NCAA 10 though because the improvements and additions to the game I see as being more subtle. So it is less likely you’ll see the effect of game planning, or have the chance to run a fully “set up” play, or see the AI adapting over the course of the game. So in general I think the game comes across as feeling very similar to 09 and for the most part it does even in extended play.

In the demo I’ve had a real difficult time running the ball on All-American. In most cases a rushing attempt results in getting taken down in the backfield. I didn’t have the same reaction when playing it at E3 and hopefully the final build provides better run blocking than what is seen in the demo. Otherwise I feel forced into passing the ball more than I want to even in short yardage situations.

In somewhat of a surprise I don’t see too much of a problem with the pass rush. In fact on some occasions I was frustrated having run play action and getting no time to throw before being hit. While on defense I found blitzing to be effective, especially by using Player Lock and user blitzing. Still the sliders being broken is inexcusable even with the promise of a fix to come via patch.

As to Player Lock I didn’t talk about it much out of E3 but I’m finding it natural to use during the course of a game. This is especially the case when looking to blitz where the new perspective can really be of benefit. It is a detriment in pass coverage though. I had the CPU QB throw deep over the middle when I was controlling the FS. It was overthrown and in normal view it would’ve been an easy user pick. However the view was disorienting and I couldn’t tell where the ball was going to land which led to misplaying it and cost me an easy INT. I haven’t tried to player lock on offense yet. I like it as a punt returner and wish they would allow you to lock onto kick returners. Why they decided to leave out that possibility I don’t know.

Something that really bothers me is how the game resets you in the play calling screen. At each timeout you get the option to change your gameplan which is efficient. However then you go back to the game and are at the start of the play calling menu instead of it sending you back to your previous formation or even formation selection. This means navigating back through with multiple button clicks just to get where you want. Frustrating and a waste of time. Also a problem that remains even after complaining about it the past few years is after a special teams play you’re sent back to the special teams formation. After punting the ball I’m fairly certain my next selection isn’t going to be a special teams play EA.

I think the biggest problem with the game is that there is just a lack of emotional attachment. Some of that has to do with how the game doesn’t present a lot of the real life touches that Madden is adding this year or that have been found in MLB The Show. But also there isn’t much emotion shown on the field or felt from the crowd and commentators. In the demo video I got what was a critical touchdown yet there was no celebration and the QB did something along the lines of a boring fist thrust. It just didn’t draw me into the moment.

It remains to be seen how the final of the version of the game will be received but the demo does deliver a good idea of what to expect. There is nothing revolutionary for gameplay or presentation this year. Feature wise having Online Dynasty and adding Teambuilder could be what preserves it as an entertaining game that has value past just being what holds people over until Madden releases.

http://www.pastapadre.com/8999/ncaa-football-10-demo-impressions

[Sportsbuck]

Either team with the black sock/white shoe combination just look great, especially with Oklahoma's red jerseys.

[Archer]

fight night doesnt look promising

Not sure where you are living but Fight Night is getting great reviews right now . Check out the other sports gaming section

Just because you didnt like it doesnt mean its not looking good . All the main sites are giving it good reveiws from what i can see

[Poundtherock]

Not sure where you are living but Fight Night is getting great reviews right now . Check out the other sports gaming section

Just because you didnt like it doesnt mean its not looking good . All the main sites are giving it good reveiws from what i can see

Can you post those sites b/c I might be interested?


Thanks.

[Archer]

Can you post those sites b/c I might be interested?


Thanks.

Sent you a pm

Would rather not spam up the ncaa thread with Fight Night links

[Poundtherock]

Sent you a pm

Would rather not spam up the ncaa thread with Fight Night links

Yeah, I understand.......there is a lot of that "spamming' that can happen on a reular basis.


Thanks.

[Archer]

I didn't even realize it until I read it over at OS.

The new camera system they are using gives away run or pass every play as soon as the ball is snapped. If the camera zooms out it is a pass. That will make calling play action passes against a fellow human opponent worthless. Simply manually blitz with a LB if it zooms out go straight to the QB. If it stays normal chase down the RB.

This game just gets worse the more I read and/or play it.

Close your eyes and you MAY be able to enjoy it

[Poundtherock]

I didn't even realize it until I read it over at OS.

The new camera system they are using gives away run or pass every play as soon as the ball is snapped. If the camera zooms out it is a pass. That will make calling play action passes against a fellow human opponent worthless. Simply manually blitz with a LB if it zooms out go straight to the QB. If it stays normal chase down the RB.

This game just gets worse the more I read and/or play it.

I with you, CL, that I may have been skeptical of earlier........beginning to see some points that you previously pointed out.

Thanks.

[FedEx227]

I didn't even realize it until I read it over at OS.

The new camera system they are using gives away run or pass every play as soon as the ball is snapped. If the camera zooms out it is a pass. That will make calling play action passes against a fellow human opponent worthless. Simply manually blitz with a LB if it zooms out go straight to the QB. If it stays normal chase down the RB.

This game just gets worse the more I read and/or play it.

Hmm... now that you mention it... yeah it does. God damn lol

[Archer]

LOL you forgot to have it on mute. here is an idea play blind folded with a headset on playing music.

I think i could somewhat find Madden 09 half enjoyble if i do that!

[FedEx227]

Yeah I didn't notice it either some guy over at OS started a thread about it. However, if someone in the community can notice this issue in less than 48 hours you really have to wonder what kind of QA system they have in place.

A friend and I had a real long conversation about this... I really cannot understand how they can't have game testers.

Honestly, you can take 2 guys from OS or VSN or any site like that fly them out to the studios and have them play the game for a week and you'd find about 1,000 easily fixable errors.

Honestly... 1-2 could probably do the job... and the kicker, I doubt they'd even want to be paid. Imagine the amount of people that would sign up to game test NCAA for free months in advance, it'd be in the thousands.

Yet, 48 hours into a DEMO a bunch of dudes at a message board can find hundreds of errors.

That's just fucking pathetic.

[Vinsane]

I'm still staying hopeful for NCAA.

I've played the game now and I have to say that whatever build this is, it's poorly executed. Choppy animations, physics are way off, motion of the players is suspect. It felt more like I was being driven through the game, rather than actually playing the game.

Hopefully when I get my hands on the "final" build I'll be able to judge this game correctly. Right now I'm giving it a generous D-.

Here's what I don't understand, if I'm EA. I'm trying to get my consumers to hype this game to expand the community. If I'm EA, I don't let this crap build out as a demo. I know that EA is all eye candy, but where is it? This build has given us nothing of what has been hyped. We don't see any video previews, or demonstrations in this demo. We get load screens that "explain" the new features.

Whoever was in charge of this demo project needs to come out of the wood work so the NCAA community can rightfully stone you. To counter all the negative publicity the game was given a solid demo would have sufficed. Instead we're given an obvious early piece of crap build that was just "getting the players to move against one another". Not one aspect of this demo runs smoothly or solid.

EA could of really helped it's cause by coming out with "demo exclusive" video. Show us the final build, show us what's past this piece of crap so we can at least look at the release date in the eye. And not drop our heads as the day gets closer.

However, this could be the most clever marketing decoy that I've seen to date. Pastapadre got it right, Madden is the anchor for EA. As long as their getting rave reviews in that department, they can afford for NCAA 10 to take a step backward, rather than a step forward. Meanwhile, Tiger and FN4 look more sweeter in the eyes of those hoping for a decent NCAA game.

CLW has been right all along. This is 09 with more fluff. I enjoyed 09 and played it well into it's twilight, and would of continued playing it, had I not of traded in my 360. It'll be an interesting gaming season for sure as we enter the 3rd and 4th quarter of the year.

[Vinsane]

I'm still staying hopeful for NCAA.

I've played the game now and I have to say that whatever build this is, it's poorly executed. Choppy animations, physics are way off, motion of the players is suspect. It felt more like I was being driven through the game, rather than actually playing the game.

Hopefully when I get my hands on the "final" build I'll be able to judge this game correctly. Right now I'm giving it a generous D-.

Here's what I don't understand, if I'm EA. I'm trying to get my consumers to hype this game to expand the community. If I'm EA, I don't let this crap build out as a demo. I know that EA is all eye candy, but where is it? This build has given us nothing of what has been hyped. We don't see any video previews, or demonstrations in this demo. We get load screens that "explain" the new features.

Whoever was in charge of this demo project needs to come out of the wood work so the NCAA community can rightfully stone you. To counter all the negative publicity the game was given a solid demo would have sufficed. Instead we're given an obvious early piece of crap build that was just "getting the players to move against one another". Not one aspect of this demo runs smoothly or solid.

EA could of really helped it's cause by coming out with "demo exclusive" video. Show us the final build, show us what's past this piece of crap so we can at least look at the release date in the eye. And not drop our heads as the day gets closer.

However, this could be the most clever marketing decoy that I've seen to date. Pastapadre got it right, Madden is the anchor for EA. As long as their getting rave reviews in that department, they can afford for NCAA 10 to take a step backward, rather than a step forward. Meanwhile, Tiger and FN4 look more sweeter in the eyes of those hoping for a decent NCAA game.

CLW has been right all along. This is 09 with more fluff. I enjoyed 09 and played it well into it's twilight, and would of continued playing it, had I not of traded in my 360. It'll be an interesting gaming season for sure as we enter the 3rd and 4th quarter of the year.

[Poundtherock]

Hear, hear! Double thanks, lol! Glad I didn't pre-order.