Gaming Age Rips NCAA 2005 in a very detailed gameplay review

anchester · Post by **anchester** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 6:08 pm

http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/revie ... ball2005-2

I have to agree with a lot of the stuff the review says....I have played about 10 online games and what i am seeing has no resemblance to football. Only way to play is throw bombs and scramble and play dime defenses.

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:10 pm

Except for the passing difficulty remark, every flaw he pointed out was there in previous versions of this game. And I don't agree with the passing flaw anymore.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 3:27 pm

Hmm, wonder if he tried the sliders properly ?

3 weeks into my dynasty (created school, B+), my Qb is 52/85, and I'm 2-1, after slapping UTEP 34-7 (well, they are C rated), losing a 4OT heartbreaker to Maryland 41-38, and beating Alabama 21-17, helped by their starting QB getting walloped out of the game, a fortuitous fumble recovery in their EZ and a very dodgy PI call late on.

Call me misguided, but I enjoy this game way more than ESPN. Horses for courses, I guess.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 3:47 am

Never before have I ever seen a more accurate review. He's right about everything he says, even if you guys do disagree about the horrible passing game.

His points about CPU playcalling are dead on.

His points about comeback AI are dead on.

His points about the CPU going for it on 4th down are dead on.

And even if you disagree, his points about the passing game are dead on.

The best line in the whole review is this:

If you were to put me on the stand and ask me if it's possible, just possible, to find the right slider settings to make NCAA Football 2005 more playable, I'd have to say, "maybe." Anything is possible. I've tried, a lot, and haven't seen it help. And frankly, I shouldn't have to try that hard to make the game work right

I just finished my 1st season with Florida State. I started out 10-0 before losing to NC State and then finishing strong with a win over Florida at The Swamp. That was good enough to get me a Fiesta Bowl bid against Ohio State, a game which I won 24-7 despite going 9 for 27 passing.

Chris Rix finished up 88 for 243 for the year with 23 TDs and 7 INTs, and those numbers were good enough to get him in the running for QB of the year. WTF? I guess it bases it on how many TDs you have thrown and how high you are ranked since there's no logical reason for a qb with a 30% completion percentage to be in the top 5.

I can go back and look at every game I had. 9 for 27, 7 for 23, 10 for 32...it didn't really matter what I did, I was always going to wind up around 30% for the game.

No team in college football would win 12 games with qb numbers like that, let alone beat Miami, Florida, and Ohio State. Yes, despite the horrid passing numbers, you can still win games with 30% passing.

I think the guy's review was the best I've read and the most on the mark review I've ever seen for a sports game.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:56 am

I have to agree.

In a real football game, the way to get a QB into the flow is to throw a couple of short high percentage passes. Hit the RB coming out of the backfield, a short pattern by the wide out. In this game, the best bet is to run the old "receivers go deep, everybody else block like hell" play. Which is why I can have halftime numbers of 3-10 with 165 yards passing and 2 TDs.

This game is sort of like ESPN College Hoops last year. I can play a few games and have a blast, then I need to take a break cause the flaws start to become too apparent.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 8:07 am

Great analogy, Kevin... But like ESPN College hoops, the off-the-field stuff is good enough to keep me coming back. For me, I enjoy running the program just as much as playing the game, which is a big reason NCAA is my all-time favorite series, despite its flaws...

Kevin

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 11:33 am

If this game didn't have an online component it would be back at the shop already. I love playing the game online, but off, it's completely unplayable to me. I'd much rather play '04 offline.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:08 pm

K_Mosley wrote:Great analogy, Kevin... But like ESPN College hoops, the off-the-field stuff is good enough to keep me coming back. For me, I enjoy running the program just as much as playing the game, which is a big reason NCAA is my all-time favorite series, despite its flaws...

Kevin

The discipline system is killing me. Just killing me. Why oh why didn't they make this "feature" optional?

RiverRat · Post by **RiverRat** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:17 pm

What's wrong with it? Honest question as I haven't dabbled in dynasty yet.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:24 pm

What is with all these calls coming after the play is over? Whenever I've been the visitor (online), I'm seeing these calls which are costing me big time. There are no late hits, just a cutscene of two guys pushing each other. I am really getting sick of it.

Also, where are the holding, false start. offsides, etc., penalties online? I don't want a "flag fest," but it's ridiculous that I get burned by stupid stuff (see first paragraph), and not the more common called penalties in football.

Bill_Abner · Post by **Bill_Abner** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:31 pm

RiverRat wrote:What's wrong with it? Honest question as I haven't dabbled in dynasty yet.

It's a cool idea. I love the fact that players do dumb stuff but:

I finished my OSU Dynasty (year 1) and--

-I never played ONE game that a CPU team didn't have at least one player suspended. I played many games were 2 or 3 were being held out of the game. It's not THAT common to see a player benched for screwing up. It's just not. Not every game.

-The "grades" a player has, the supposed likelihood of him doing bad stuff, means nothing. My KICKER was suspended, and he's an A+

-I played a game against Penn State, and THEIR kicker was suspended, and they had no backup so they used their QB, who could not kick the ball 20 yards. He missed 3 FGs and an Extra Point and PSU lost by 1. Imagine this happening in a Bowl game. Hello ruined season.

-You get X number of Discipline Points each year. It leads to insane decisions that you have to make. It costs these points to discipline your players. So let's say the NCAA is close to investigating you but you are out of these phantom discipline points and your WR gets in trouble by skipping a class. You are out of points...and the NCAA comes calling. Bedcause your WR missed Biology 101. Or worse, let's say you have spent your points for the year and then a player gets in serious trouble..but you are not ALLOWED to take any action if you have used your points? I mean...that's just plain dumb. So my HB is charged with battery (no idea if that's in the game

but since I have used my "points" I can't suspend him and the NCAA drills me because of it.

It's a neat idea that was poorly implemented, and I hate that I just can't turn the damn thing off.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:53 pm

Good points, Bill... However, I played my first season as Akron, and I only had 3-4 incidents all year. I scarcely recall playing a team decimated by infractions. Maybe the bigger schools are affected moreso than the smaller schools?

I like the idea; I'm not sure about the implementation. Since it does have such a potential impact, I agree that it should be optional.

Kevin

koebner69 · Post by **koebner69** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 6:32 am

grtwhtsk wrote:What is with all these calls coming after the play is over? Whenever I've been the visitor (online), I'm seeing these calls which are costing me big time. There are no late hits, just a cutscene of two guys pushing each other. I am really getting sick of it.

Also, where are the holding, false start. offsides, etc., penalties online? I don't want a "flag fest," but it's ridiculous that I get burned by stupid stuff (see first paragraph), and not the more common called penalties in football.

Don't know about online,but offline I hit the start button to pause the game when it goes into the cutscene of guys pushing each other.When you return,you're back at the playcalling screen.I zero out the unsportsmanlike penalty slider,too.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Tue Aug 03, 2004 6:55 am

Bill_Abner wrote:
RiverRat wrote: -The "grades" a player has, the supposed likelihood of him doing bad stuff, means nothing. My KICKER was suspended, and he's an A+

-I played a game against Penn State, and THEIR kicker was suspended, and they had no backup so they used their QB, who could not kick the ball 20 yards. He missed 3 FGs and an Extra Point and PSU lost by 1. Imagine this happening in a Bowl game. Hello ruined season.

What the hell does EA have against Robbie Gould? I am playing a Penn State dynasty and he was in trouble too...LOL.