NCAA Football 09 Looking Good
July 8th 2008 11:09
Ah, the joys of this new generation of gaming consoles. I remember the days when a guy had to wait for a Pizza Hut promotion or subscribe to a pricey gaming magazine to get his hands on some upcoming game demos. Then, if that didn’t work you had to wait for your rich buddy to buy a game, then go over to his house, throw a few please and thank you’s his mom’s way till she asks you to stay for dinner, then politely excuse yourself from the table to figure out whether Mortal Kombat 13 is really as cool as it looks on TV.
Nowadays, with the Information Age in full swing, all you have to do is pick up your controller. Xbox Live and the Playstation Network have enabled us to preview thousands of titles right from our couches. NCAA Football 09 is one of the newest demos on PSN, and it’s definitely worth a look-see. Sure, you might be skeptical. Last years demo, with no announcers, weird camera angles and horrible frame-rate kept me from buying the game. But this years effort is much smoother, sleeker, and packed with as many features as EA could cram into a gig and a half.
The Play Now option puts you in control of Ohio State or LSU as they battle it out at the Shoe in Columbus. The graphics as the game opens are much improved from last year. The shadowing is much more realistic and even the crowd passes as convincing. Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit talk about key players as they have in previous installments, but the demo doesn’t show the players on the field. This is hopefully just a symptom of it being a demo, and not something that carries over into the actual game.
The players then line up for the kick off, which is said to be one of the many instances that the game will allow players to insert their own music. The demo doesn’t allow it, but that’s to be expected. It does give a glimpse of improved animation though. In the past, the kick off teams were stiff as statues until the kicker approached the ball. Now the players move freely, stretching, jumping up and down, just as they would in real life.
Once the ball is kicked, the returner fields it and as you advance him up the field you’ll notice a more human flow to the jukes and spins as he tries to avoid defenders. There’s no noticeable change to controller layout. I didn’t play last years title as I said, but the controls here were nearly identical to last year’s Madden. Throw an interception or go for a game winning kick and you’ll notice a change though. When you throw a pick, your QB’s composure will drop, causing a slight drop in attributes and the inability to check your pre-play play art. All is not lost however. Immediately after the interception, you’re taken to a screen where you’re asked to pick which play the defense ran. Choose correctly, and you get a portion of the composure back. If you’re wrong, you lose more. On game winning field goals, the kick meter ices over and accuracy is hard to come by. There’s also a rather distracting thumping sound meant to simulate the nervous kicker’s heart.
If you get bored with the Tigers and the Buckeyes, you can try out the Mascot Game feature, which is making it’s debut on the new consoles this year. You can choose between Florida’s Gator or the Texas Longhorn, but it doesn’t really matter because all mascot teams have maximum attributes. The major draw of this feature is the almost comical athleticism of these players. Go for a juke and the ball carrier will do a mid-air cartwheel to avoid the defender. The only real flaw of this mode in the demo is when the Gator QB lines up under center. A graphics glitch makes the centers tail go right through the middle of him. Maybe the actual game won’t have this, but even if it does, it doesn’t take anything away from the fun of being able to plow through defenders with superhero-like power, all the while dressed in a ridiculous alligator suit.
This is definitely one of the better sports demos available and a must-have for any football loving gamer. So save your money and stop taking advantage of your rich friends. You don’t even have to put on a pair of pants. Just download and enjoy.
Nowadays, with the Information Age in full swing, all you have to do is pick up your controller. Xbox Live and the Playstation Network have enabled us to preview thousands of titles right from our couches. NCAA Football 09 is one of the newest demos on PSN, and it’s definitely worth a look-see. Sure, you might be skeptical. Last years demo, with no announcers, weird camera angles and horrible frame-rate kept me from buying the game. But this years effort is much smoother, sleeker, and packed with as many features as EA could cram into a gig and a half.
The Play Now option puts you in control of Ohio State or LSU as they battle it out at the Shoe in Columbus. The graphics as the game opens are much improved from last year. The shadowing is much more realistic and even the crowd passes as convincing. Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit talk about key players as they have in previous installments, but the demo doesn’t show the players on the field. This is hopefully just a symptom of it being a demo, and not something that carries over into the actual game.
The players then line up for the kick off, which is said to be one of the many instances that the game will allow players to insert their own music. The demo doesn’t allow it, but that’s to be expected. It does give a glimpse of improved animation though. In the past, the kick off teams were stiff as statues until the kicker approached the ball. Now the players move freely, stretching, jumping up and down, just as they would in real life.
Once the ball is kicked, the returner fields it and as you advance him up the field you’ll notice a more human flow to the jukes and spins as he tries to avoid defenders. There’s no noticeable change to controller layout. I didn’t play last years title as I said, but the controls here were nearly identical to last year’s Madden. Throw an interception or go for a game winning kick and you’ll notice a change though. When you throw a pick, your QB’s composure will drop, causing a slight drop in attributes and the inability to check your pre-play play art. All is not lost however. Immediately after the interception, you’re taken to a screen where you’re asked to pick which play the defense ran. Choose correctly, and you get a portion of the composure back. If you’re wrong, you lose more. On game winning field goals, the kick meter ices over and accuracy is hard to come by. There’s also a rather distracting thumping sound meant to simulate the nervous kicker’s heart.
If you get bored with the Tigers and the Buckeyes, you can try out the Mascot Game feature, which is making it’s debut on the new consoles this year. You can choose between Florida’s Gator or the Texas Longhorn, but it doesn’t really matter because all mascot teams have maximum attributes. The major draw of this feature is the almost comical athleticism of these players. Go for a juke and the ball carrier will do a mid-air cartwheel to avoid the defender. The only real flaw of this mode in the demo is when the Gator QB lines up under center. A graphics glitch makes the centers tail go right through the middle of him. Maybe the actual game won’t have this, but even if it does, it doesn’t take anything away from the fun of being able to plow through defenders with superhero-like power, all the while dressed in a ridiculous alligator suit.
This is definitely one of the better sports demos available and a must-have for any football loving gamer. So save your money and stop taking advantage of your rich friends. You don’t even have to put on a pair of pants. Just download and enjoy.
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