2008 Woodie Awards
NCAA Football 2009 Review
EA Sports delievers great college experience in NCAA 09
Devon Robinson
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: Sports
It's a scary time for college football fans. Males between ages of 18 and 24 know what I'm talking about. Their significant others hate what I'm talking about.
What phenomenon am I referring to? Why, none other than the release of NCAA Football 09 by EA Sports. Of course, it's not the caliber of Madden 09 (which was released a few weeks later) but the game is life-stealing all the same. Apologies to loved ones should be delivered early because NCAA Football 09 does not disappoint.
The game takes three to five seconds to load on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The presentation is very slick. Like previous versions, the game opens with the option to choose a favorite team. After this, the team's band music starts and an active slideshow of that team's pictures plays in the background. Thankfully, EA kept the most recent menu style, because it was definitely clunky in years past.
During the loading screens, some history and current facts about the home team being played are shown. Instead of a football game that just happens to have college teams on it, NCAA 09 has an authentic college feel.
Tired of randomly generated names? Worry no more, OCD gamer, there is a feature called EA Locker. It allows gamers to download full rosters from EA and Xbox Live accounts. I find this particularly cool because I can play as players I actually went to high school with using their real names.
Online dynasties are finally here. Now everyone can play online with their friends and compete for the national championship. Everyone with online functionality should utilize this feature because it's just as smooth as the offline experience of Dynasty mode.
Graphics are only a little better than last year's experience, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The crowds are definitely more alive this time. The players all have great details, including folds in uniforms, moving grass and detailed faces.
If you have surround sound, prepare yourself for a real treat. The field atmosphere is beyond ambient and it really feels like a college campus. For example, playing in Neyland Stadium includes authentic chants from the crowd and Rocky Top played by the Volunteers' pep band. The announcers tend to repeat themselves from time to time, but usually have pretty relevant things to say about the game.
What phenomenon am I referring to? Why, none other than the release of NCAA Football 09 by EA Sports. Of course, it's not the caliber of Madden 09 (which was released a few weeks later) but the game is life-stealing all the same. Apologies to loved ones should be delivered early because NCAA Football 09 does not disappoint.
The game takes three to five seconds to load on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The presentation is very slick. Like previous versions, the game opens with the option to choose a favorite team. After this, the team's band music starts and an active slideshow of that team's pictures plays in the background. Thankfully, EA kept the most recent menu style, because it was definitely clunky in years past.
During the loading screens, some history and current facts about the home team being played are shown. Instead of a football game that just happens to have college teams on it, NCAA 09 has an authentic college feel.
Tired of randomly generated names? Worry no more, OCD gamer, there is a feature called EA Locker. It allows gamers to download full rosters from EA and Xbox Live accounts. I find this particularly cool because I can play as players I actually went to high school with using their real names.
Online dynasties are finally here. Now everyone can play online with their friends and compete for the national championship. Everyone with online functionality should utilize this feature because it's just as smooth as the offline experience of Dynasty mode.
Graphics are only a little better than last year's experience, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The crowds are definitely more alive this time. The players all have great details, including folds in uniforms, moving grass and detailed faces.
If you have surround sound, prepare yourself for a real treat. The field atmosphere is beyond ambient and it really feels like a college campus. For example, playing in Neyland Stadium includes authentic chants from the crowd and Rocky Top played by the Volunteers' pep band. The announcers tend to repeat themselves from time to time, but usually have pretty relevant things to say about the game.
Be the first to comment on this story