NCAA Football 09 Review

BY Rabie Hassoun | POSTED: 23 July 2008

Pick your school and fight for your pride!



There is a big difference between college football and professional football. College football is all about the pride and the schools spirit and reputation. Lose and you are not just letting down your team, you are letting down the whole school. Win big and watch your campus wear the colours of your team proudly for years to come. The professional game, love it or hate it, has become more about the money than anything else. This fact is rightfully reflected in videogames too. College videogames such NCAA football 09 takes care of building the dynasty, recruiting the right players and managing the tactical side of the game. Madden on the other hand takes care of the business side of the game. Which game is your cup of tea? It is your decision to make, but we will go ahead and explain to you how awesome this college football game is.

One of the things we have noticed about EA Sports over the past few years is how they learn from their mistakes and improve on what they have already mastered.  Problems with last year’s version of NCAA 09 were the unrealistic animations and the 30 FPS running PS3 version. This year the PS3 game runs at a perfect 60 FPS along with the same count for the Xbox 360 version. The animations, something we will discuss a bit later in this review, are thankfully also improved. The best thing about EA Sport’s previous effort this summer, EURO 08, was the in-game atmosphere. Luckily for us gamers, this same atmosphere is to be felt in NCAA 09, and then some! Observe and be amazed about how the whole stadium will be supporting your team wearing unified colours. Watch your schools beloved mascot running around the field as you set plays. Listen to the marching music and even watch the hot cheerleaders fill the stadium with joy and some well justified excitement. This is all happening right in front of your eyes, in every play during every game.

The fans will also be affecting the final result of the game this year. Using a simple press of a button you will be able to trigger the home fans reaction to either boost your quarter backs confidence or dent the opposition’s confidence. While the effects might not be as huge as advertised, you can’t help but beg the fans for some help in the time of need. 

One big issue hindering the development and popularity of college video games for years now is the licences. Even though every collegiate game released by EA Sports carries the full NCAA name and logos, they all lack the real names of each player. You will have no.10 passing to no.24 who in turn jumps over no.12 to score a touchdown. Well thanks to the new EA locker mode, you will either be able to update the names yourself or directly download a full list of accurate names from the EA Sports servers. There have been some reports of errors and issues with the downloading mechanism so far. Fortunately, we at MEGamers have not faced any of the problems reported YET.

The dynasty mode and the Campus Legend mode is where you will be spending most of your time. Both involve a big investment of time from your side. One, the dynasty mode will give you full control of a school you choose. For years you will be recruiting players, setting training schedules and scouting for new talents. Add that to a very attractive ESPN themed presentation and you surely have one heck of an addictive mode on hand. The Campus Legend mode views the game from the other side of the spectrum. You will be the new kid on the block where you will be playing and training to make the team as you grow bigger in both talent and popularity.

The biggest change in this year’s version is the online gaming capabilities. You are finally able to take your dynasty online to enjoy with your cyber friends worldwide.  All you have to do as the commissioner of the league is to send out invites to your friends to come and join your league. From there on, you will be playing the very same dynasty mode you are used to, but instead of having the AI kicking your ass, your friends will be taking turns doing so this time. Having played a few games online from this part of the world, we have to say that we are quite pleased with the result. We did face a few lag filled moments every now and then, but overall the games ran smoothly enough for us to enjoy the action on the field.

Unrealistic looking tackles and easy passes missing the target were some of the trademarked game play issues in last year’s NCAA effort. Thankfully this year everything in the gameplay has been improved. There is a decent number of tackle animations that will play based on what angle you take the tackle from and more importantly on the timing of the tackle. The running game is a lot simpler now too. While on the run you will be able to use a number of tricks to avoid the defence and run to safety. We did face a few problems in the running game however. The runner sometimes seems to run in the opposite direction for a moment while taking over the defence. That problem rarely happens, but is actually very costly when it does occur.

Graphically this series have been impressive for years now. The players look ultra realistic and the action outside the field (fans, cheerleaders and bands) look fantastic and run smoothly all the time. After a buggy 08 version on the PS3, 09 is a rather smooth game that does not lag or slowdown no matter how intense the action gets. It is a bit disappointing however to report that overall the stadiums look unrealistic. There is no specific weak point to report, but the overall graphical beauty of the field’s surroundings should have been better.

Using your own soundtrack is a reality in this year’s installment of NCAA Football. You will have your songs played during pause menus and while your set plays. That plus the already respectable sound track on hand makes up for a superb musical experience. The commentary is again decent, not a breakthrough for the genre but still a very realistic and responsive commentary system anyway. Sound effects are also very effective and accurate; you will rarely hear a sound that is out of sync.

NCAA Football 09 might be the little brother of the soon to be released Madden 09. Madden might have all the big time names and the star studded teams, but NCAA offers the simpler side of life where your school’s pride and colours is what you eat, sleep and dream about.  If you just want to test drive the new gameplay options and get ready for Madden than buying this game is actually a good idea. Just remember that at the end of the day with all the options and depth NCAA 09 offers, it is a well justified investment on its own.