NCAA 2010 early anticipation thread

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:31 pm

Danimal wrote:So I played a few games last night on AA. I'm just confused how I feel about it. This might be the first time I pass on a football game.

+ The game play actually feels a ton better. There is good pressure on the QB, there is not an exaggerated perfect pocket like the 2K games that forms every play but if you try and rush to the outside the ends will eat you up.

+ The coverage in the secondary is a ton better, man coverage actually works.

+ pursuit angles are fixed

+ Man lock is a great feature, especially when playing Defense. I think the camera angle I get playing D in man lock is better then the default.

+ The AI seemed to adjust to what i was doing.

Sounds good so far right.

- Graphics are horrible, I mean washed out. I thought it was a fricking PS2 game. I can't even put in to words how bad this game looked to me.

- Same tackle animations over and over. The ones that play repeatedly are ones that should happen rarely and that's an issue.

- The game speed is faster then 09, it feels like Madden 09 speed. I didn't dig it at all

- Maybe it's me but i could not get comfortable with the camera angle, it looks changes to me. Like it is lower to the field.

So to sum it up the game play seems like it has been tweaked and is playing a better game. But something is just off, I can't put my finger on what it is but I just never felt comfortable. I am thinking it is the game speed but it's hard to say.

I also played a few games last night and yes,yes, yes and yes. I saw all of that the same way.

Something just wasnt right....but...As I cross my fingers, it was just a demo and there were the positives Dan and Jared mentioned. It didnt change my plans for buying it on release date.

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:54 pm

Yeah they really screwed the graphics up, I hope that isn't the new look that will be in Madden also.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 6:02 pm

I played one game and doubt I'll play the demo again. Saw some new animations, but the gameplay pretty much felt the same as last year. One thing that seems to be fixed is the qb sneaks. The qb just kind of falls forward now as opposed to running upright for 5 yards before.

All in all, EA should be ashamed of themselves for trying to sell this game with this demo. The graphics really are a big step back from last year. Something told me to hold onto 09 and I'm glad I did. I popped it in after playing the demo and couldn't believe how much better is looked than the new version. Let's hope this is an unoptimized version as they sometimes like to put it and the final version will look as good as last year.

I'll still buy it if for no other reason than to have some draft classes to import into Madden, but by no mean am I excited by it.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 8:26 pm

I obviously agree with the graphics but the game play is not the same.

Pluses
Better pursuit angles
Better coverage
Better QB pressure

Minus
Game speed Too fast
Bad camera angle
Pass velocity is way too fast

I still doubt i will buy it since they already have about 3 things broken on the gold disk they are planning on patching, same crap as last year. How you go 2 years in a row without sliders working out of the box is beyond me.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:00 pm

Danimal wrote:
How you go 2 years in a row without sliders working out of the box is beyond me.

Wait, what?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:12 pm

According to the devs over at OS the sliders do not work and will be fixed in a patch.

Post by **Jared** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:36 am

Played some more...hmm....

- What's up with the QB sneak? Before it was too effective, granted. But now, when I use Tim Tebow to gain 6 inches, it seems like he just belly flops onto the ground for no yardage or a negative gain when I try and move into a gap. I understand that this was a money plan before....but have they now made it to where it's useless?

- CPU clock management is horrible. Oklahoma (CPU) is down by 3 on the Florida 45 with 9 seconds left with one time out and the clock stopped. Instead of going for one play to get into field goal range, they try a hail mary, it's incomplete, and they lose.

- Clock rules are strangely messed up (though it could be b/c it's a beta). Oklahoma gets a 1st down late in the game (completion over the middle), clock stops with eight seconds left to move the chains. They hurry to the line, and the game clock never starts up again. They then sit there for about 15 seconds at the line, waiting. Then, they SPIKE the ball. What?

- I've actually had the game clock slow down in the menu screen, such that each game second took about 1.5 "real life" seconds. Annoying b/c I was trying to run out the clock, which is just boring, and the game made it longer.

+/- I am really liking defensive lock. Although I'm afraid there will be balance issues. The speed rush using Carlos Dunlap (stud DE) seems a little too effective. And I'm finding it hard to "pull away" from being engaged with a lineman.

- Repetition of "unique" animations. Nearly every sack I've had in D-lock mode is one where the DE grabs the QB and sort of drives his legs for about two seconds and finally brings him down. Some animation variety?

Murph · Post by **Murph** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:10 am

Jared wrote:Played some more...hmm....

- What's up with the QB sneak? Before it was too effective, granted. But now, when I use Tim Tebow to gain 6 inches, it seems like he just belly flops onto the ground for no yardage or a negative gain when I try and move into a gap. I understand that this was a money plan before....but have they now made it to where it's useless?

I noticed this too. QB sneak is useless, at least in the demo. Better to use a FB dive or something similar.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 10:36 am

Danimal wrote:According to the devs over at OS the sliders do not work and will be fixed in a patch.

You are, Dan -- seriously man -- you are F'ing kidding me.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:04 am

How can anyone still be surprised by EA's lapses?

They always give you one thing, take a couple of other things away (see "online franchise").

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:07 am

I'm not surprised that features are still not working and that it will require a post release patch four years in a row. I was mildly interested in this game because the last NCAA Pigskin game I bout was the '07 version. No thanks i'll wait till next year.

Post by **Jared** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:11 am

Bill_Abner wrote:
Danimal wrote:According to the devs over at OS the sliders do not work and will be fixed in a patch.
You are, Dan -- seriously man -- you are F'ing kidding me.

From a dev in a post about things they need to patch...

http://www.operationsports.com/forums/n ... plans.html

# Rosters - A new file will be posted on EA locker to start and then we are planning on patching the online rosters.
# Downloadable Content - The plan is to add the off/on toggle in a patch.
# Game-play Sliders - Also planned on being in a patch to increase/fix the effectiveness depending on the slider.

I think (?) there's some other thread where they talk about it in more detail, but I haven't found it.

Post by **Jared** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 11:18 am

A few more things (NCAA always awakens me from my gaming slumbers....and then annoys the hell out of me)...

+ Florida's playbook is excellent. Probably the best playbook I've ever seen in an NCAA game...they've got the offense down.

+/- Option pitch consistency is weird...I've had multiple examples where the pitch has gone a little behind the player, slowing him up and preventing a big gain. These were pitches to the slot receiver, so maybe it's because it was a WR on the option? Or maybe it's just some randomness in pitch effectiveness? It might be a good thing...

+ The defensive line will bat down passes, so you have to be slightly aware of passing lanes.

- Why hasn't NCAA put in some sort of controller vibration when someone is coming near the quarterback? (Isn't this a new Madden addition?)

hellbent · Post by **hellbent** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 1:26 pm

Jared wrote: - DB play seems improved, but I still found it difficult to throw it over the DB on a fly route with man coverage....the DB would jump and make the tip more often than he should. Need to see this more, but this was a big peeve of mine in previous versions.

That's probably the biggest plus side of the demo is DB play improvements. DBs definitely seem more active in coverage, yet it appears the "pick 6" plays are largely gone - the CPU and I haven't gotten a single one yet, which is a very welcome change. There are actually a lot of things fixed from 09 as others have mentioned. I'm still just not feeling the passing game yet this year.

For example, the frequency of players getting open deep seem to have nothing to do with playcalling, routes, player ratings, or user input, IMO. Maybe extended playing will reveal something different. It feels like every year, more control gets taken away from the user so the game can play out a predetermined outcome.

I've been able to complete passes in the demo despite making terrible reads - I've thrown the ball behind receivers that were blanketed, had a few lame ducks caught for gains, and hit a deep pass on a receiver in triple coverage where the DBs didn't even turn around for the ball.

Yet, I've also had balls batted down or intercepted where the ball would just randomly seem to hang in the air forever and a wide open receiver would suddenly be surrounded by defenders that were nowhere near the play when the ball was released. There are still far too many balls that don't simply harmlessly sail and hit the turf - everything is tipped, dropped, or caught.

I just can't get into a NCAA game where I feel like my input seemingly has no effect on what happens on the field - maybe I'll feel different the more I mess around with the demo. Since we can pretty much assume the game plays the same in the retail version from what the devs are saying on OS, I guess I'll wait for the post-patch impressions and look forward to the revamped Madden 10 for now.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 5:17 pm

hellbent wrote: That's probably the biggest plus side of the demo is DB play improvements. DBs definitely seem more active in coverage, yet it appears the "pick 6" plays are largely gone - the CPU and I haven't gotten a single one yet, which is a very welcome change.

That's weird...I've only played 2 games so far, but one of my computer teammates (I was using player lock) returned an INT 93 yards for a score. As soon as I saw it, I was wondering about pursuit angles because there's no way he should've been able to out run the whole team down the field. It was the same old EA-style single file chase.

I do like player lock...reminds me of First Person Football in 2k's games.

I haven't seen it yet, but I hear there's a shotgun glitch in the PS3 version where the snap goes over the QB's head and is called an incomplete pass. Unbelievable, the quality of Tiburon's play testers.

Be careful using player lock on special teams. I was using it on punt return and ended up watching my computer controlled teammate field a punt at the 2 yard line instead of letting it bounce into the endzone for a touchback. Again, I don't know how that kind've a play got past the play testers, when I noticed it in my second game of playing.

And Off Topic...Vader, I love your Avatar!

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 7:14 pm

I'm not feeling this game at all......game doesn't even feel fluid and sounds arcadish and those on the field graphics....good lord...what a mess.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 8:19 pm

GTHobbes wrote:That's weird...I've only played 2 games so far, but one of my computer teammates (I was using player lock) returned an INT 93 yards for a score. As soon as I saw it, I was wondering about pursuit angles because there's no way he should've been able to out run the whole team down the field. It was the same old EA-style single file chase.

Hmm maybe a freak occurance because i have had several picks and several outside runs which last year would of resulted in easy TD and in all instances was taken down. Actually the pursuit and DB coverage is about the only thing I see I do like from this demo, everything else is complete s***.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:01 pm

Maybe it was just a freak occurrence, Dan...I'm going to give it another try tonight.

Someone over at OS posted this side-by-side video comparing this year's game to last year's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoXczlCj ... r_embedded

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:32 pm

Hey, I want this to be good but in the first game the center snapped the ball 10 yards over the QBs head and it was ruled incomplete...ouch. This is on PS3 where the graphics/animations are PS2.5 quality.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:34 pm

Leebo33 wrote:Hey, I want this to be good but in the first game the center snapped the ball 10 yards over the QBs head and it was ruled incomplete...ouch. This is on PS3 where the graphics/animations are PS2.5 quality.

I guess the guys on OS weren't kidding. Seriously, if this showed up in Leebo's first game, how does it make it past Tiburon's play testers?

Seriously?

toonarmy · Post by **toonarmy** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:33 pm

I agree with much that has been said here. After playing the demo I am leaning against buying NCAA 10. I really dislike the control. Sometimes final products are different than the demos, so hopefully they make some changes.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:39 pm

toonarmy wrote:I agree with much that has been said here. After playing the demo I am leaning against buying NCAA 10. I really dislike the control. Sometimes final products are different than the demos, so hopefully they make some changes.

And on the flip side sometimes the demo plays better than the final product such as NCAA 09.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:41 pm

I'm worried about the bug I mentioned. I've seen it twice in two games now. This is on PS3.

I tried to play last night, but all it did was make me play NFL 2k5 instead. But I'm a sucker for football games though

DookieMowf · Post by **DookieMowf** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 5:17 pm

Game is pretty bad to me. I will be away until the Friday after release and unless I come back and it's getting great reviews, this will be the first time I pass on a NCAA Football game.

Plus, the patches they are supposed to be working on won't be out until a few weeks after release, at least. Probably after Madden releases, so...

Zlax45 · Post by **Zlax45** » Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:43 pm

Free Overnight shipping on Gamestop...I got it...but can always cancel when the early adopters take a look at it.