NCAA PS2 impressions

bdt92 · Post by **bdt92** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 1:05 am

Picked it up today at EB so here are my thoughts after 1 game.
 
 Pros:
 1. Commentary is stellar again.
 2. Graphics look slightly better than last years.
 3. Seems tougher. I played on the default difficulty which is Varsity and it seemed a little harder than last years default difficulty.
 4. I saw some impressive new tackling animations that really brought a new feel to the game.
 5. Speed seemed spot on IMO.
 6. Sound is great with more livelier crowds.
 
 Cons:
 
 I honestly didn´t see anything wrong.
 
 Had a chance to play a full game offline. I was Notre Dame at home vs. USC. I played on Varsity difficulty with 7 minute quarters. I had an absolute blast. I won my first trophy in a hard fought 7-6 victory. The infamous EA catch-up was NOT in effect either as I was able to get a key interception with 3:55 left and was able to run out the clock.
 
 Just when you thought they couldn´t make NCAA any better they did. Everything has been tweaked from sound and animations to the AI. DB´s are much improved this year and you really have to read the defense and pick your passing lanes. The running game is top notch as well.
 
 I´m going to try and go online right now so I´ll leave some impressions later.

bdt92 · Post by **bdt92** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 2:27 am

Played my first online game. I was Notre Dame, he was Texas. I lost the game 20-7 but definitely could have won if it weren´t for some key turnovers inside his 30. The only lag I noticed happened between plays. During plays it was smooth as hell. Unfortunately the guy I played didn´t have a headset so I couldn´t check out the EA Talk feature, hopefully next time. My user name is Todcomplex so when you sign on add me to your buddy list and we can hook up for some solid college football action.
 
 So far my initial impressions are that this year´s version is better than last years and not just because of online play. It seems more realistic and the AI has been improved.

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 5:32 am

Thanks for the impressions bdt. My guess is this was answered awhile back, but are there limitations to the teams you can play as online?

bdt92 · Post by **bdt92** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 11:44 am

DChaps,
 There are no limitations with who you can play with. Well you might not be able to play as classic teams but you can play as any current team you want.

Neckthai · Post by **Neckthai** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 1:19 pm

I intended to get this for the XBOX, but I guess I´ll have my grubby little paws on the ps2 version soon.
 
 Can´t resist online play.
 
 neck

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 1:50 pm

wco posted over on SR that there may be issues with NCAA 2004 PS2 online play and DSL (PPPoE) requiring you have a router. bdt can you comment? Do you have DSL?

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 2:00 pm

Todd...thanks man and keep your impressions coming. I will not be able to get my hands on the game for a couple of weeks.
 
 I know what kind of Football gaming superfreak you are so your take on this game means alot to me.
 
 Todd you are to Football games what PK is to Racing games <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_biggrin.gif">

bdt92 · Post by **bdt92** » Tue Jul 15, 2003 8:16 pm

James, I have a cable modem so I don´t know about any issues with DSL. I did notice something in the manual saying that DSL would be a problem though.
 
 Jack, that´s some pretty high praise there. I appreciate it. And just because I have every football game coming out this year (except Blitz Pro) already reserved and paid off does not mean I´m a football superfreak. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_razz.gif">
 
 Unfortunately I won´t have another chance to really tear into the game until Thursday night (and it´s killing me) due to my work and school schedule. And I should also be picking up Star Wars:KOTOR on Thursday as well so I will have to split my time between the two. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_wink.gif">

Neckthai · Post by **Neckthai** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 1:16 pm

Well I waffled and changed from the XBOX version to the ps2 version of the game (online play was the deciding factor) and to quote baseball superstar Fred McGriff, "I was so impressed with NCAA 2004, I gave it my full endorsement."
 
 Gameplay is fairly similar to last year´s game, but there are several tweaks, mentioned above by BDT, that are definite improvements. I haven´t played much offline, but I did play five online games against the boys from SR.
 
 Graphics could be better, it´s a little jaggy here and there, and if the connection isn´t just right, the screen gets jumpy in the online environment.
 
 All and all, it´s a strong game in the collection for any college football fan. On the American Bandstand scale of 35 to 98, I give it a 90 because you just can´t dance to some of those fight songs <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif">
 
 neck
 
 P.S. James, I have DSL and a router and experienced a drop early on against Sportsguy´s dialup connection. Other than that, no problems
 
 
 
 [ This message was edited by: Neckthai on 16-07-2003 10:17 ] [ This message was edited by: Neckthai on 16-07-2003 10:18 ]

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Jul 16, 2003 1:45 pm

I think the biggest tweak they made was to their pass leading system. I´m now able to throw pinpoint passes to a receiver, hitting him in full stride. You can finally take those slants the distance, or lay it in over the shoulder perfectly. I´m having so much fun with the passing game that my rushing game is suffering....I´m forgetting to actually balance it out, so I end up flinging it 40 times a game and rushing 10.

dskrizzy · Post by **dskrizzy** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 1:35 pm

I picked up the game yesterday in Toronto Canada.. Good ole Ma and Pops stores rock!
 
 Anyhow, I just thought I´d chime in... I am on DSL and have no router...
 I played 2 games last night one vs HipE and the other vs Siam.... I did not encounter any disconnects or any of the such. The game played awesome online and was rather pleasantly suprised as I am a loyal XBL head...
 This is my first experiece with any NCAA EA College football game and Im left without speech..... Simply amazing... Gameplay is tight and responsive, graphics are bit jaggy but its ps2 version, and options galore....
 
 Im very impressed....
 
 I cant wait to play online again...
 
 Any1 wanna get a game online?
 
 My gamertag is: dscrtch
 
 holla,
 dskrizzy,
 turnstylez crew

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat Jul 19, 2003 12:16 pm

Hey there folks;
 
 I´ve put in a few games myself, and had a blast so far online. I like the new play-fake. It´s almost effective sometimes now. My tag is "Zeppo" for the time being, at least until my record gets so far below .500 that I can´t see daylight.
 
 I think the DSL issue relates only to the voice chat, as it says pretty explicitly in the agreement, I think, that the voice chat will not work on DSL with PPPoE. (Although my router handles my PPPoE, so it may work after all. Alas I have no headset.)
 
 One thing in this game I want to b*tch about is the crowd sound. Put simply, the crowd sounds in EA football games are deplorable. This one has a lot more of the special little chants and cheers, and the bands have always been great for NCAA, but the basic crowd noise is a joke. Just some really bad, non-dynamic pink noise, annoying to the point of headache inducement. To me it is inexcusable, especially compared to the great work Sega does in it´s NFL games. What makes it even worse to me is that the special WC ´02 edition of FIFA had by far the best crowd sounds I have ever heard in a game, period (really the sound was the only thing good about that game). The orgasmic explosion of noise when a goal was scored was spot on, and the general ambiance was superb. Why can´t those folks at EA ever seem to share resources across dev. houses?