Freak's NCAA review

#1

Freak

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#1
Easily the best NCAA game ever made.

I started off with the campus legend mode as a wide receiver. The high school playoffs are really pretty fun. The band and the stadiums really make it feel like a high school game. Of course, the Tennessee state championship is played at Neyland. You kind of feel like you've made it to the big stage at that point.

The campus legend mode is really fun in that you get the view of the game from only your players position. It does get frustrating (as a WR) when your team calls 8 straight running plays and all you get to do is block or when your QB just won't throw it to you no matter what you do. But overall the campus legend is a great new addition to the game. That part alone is like a whole new game.

The gameplay is very smooth. As others have mentioned they have made it more realistic by taking away the deep drop. If you are one of those players who drops your QB back 10+ steps in the pocket, you are probably going to get sacked. The DE takes a direct route around the blocker. Some will have to readjust their game. It also is more difficult to roll out...although I am playing with Ainge.

I played one game in Dynasty mode and the biggest thing that caught my attention was how much more in depth the recruiting mode is. For those of you that get into that type of thing, the recruiting is WAY more detailed this year.

There are some years that you buy this game and think it's just last years game with a few tweaks. Not this year. This may be the biggest upgrade in the NCAA game from one year to the next that I can ever remember (and I'm pretty old).

My only gripe with the game thus far are the graphics. Overall they are good. However, as somebody mentioned, the players standing on the sideline look like some monster straight out of Scooby Doo. They just look creepy. I can live with that though.

What REALLY annoys me the most are the shadows on the field on sunny days. I don't know if it's that way with every team or just Tennessee, but the players (especially the jerseys) look really fake/bad when in a shadow. Not very realistic at all. Even in the sunlight I think the orange is too bright. I played a game at Mississippi State in the rain with the white uniforms and I had no complaints.
 
#4
#4
Easily the best NCAA game ever made.

I started off with the campus legend mode as a wide receiver. The high school playoffs are really pretty fun. The band and the stadiums really make it feel like a high school game. Of course, the Tennessee state championship is played at Neyland. You kind of feel like you've made it to the big stage at that point.

The campus legend mode is really fun in that you get the view of the game from only your players position. It does get frustrating (as a WR) when your team calls 8 straight running plays and all you get to do is block or when your QB just won't throw it to you no matter what you do. But overall the campus legend is a great new addition to the game. That part alone is like a whole new game.

The gameplay is very smooth. As others have mentioned they have made it more realistic by taking away the deep drop. If you are one of those players who drops your QB back 10+ steps in the pocket, you are probably going to get sacked. The DE takes a direct route around the blocker. Some will have to readjust their game. It also is more difficult to roll out...although I am playing with Ainge.

I played one game in Dynasty mode and the biggest thing that caught my attention was how much more in depth the recruiting mode is. For those of you that get into that type of thing, the recruiting is WAY more detailed this year.

There are some years that you buy this game and think it's just last years game with a few tweaks. Not this year. This may be the biggest upgrade in the NCAA game from one year to the next that I can ever remember (and I'm pretty old).

My only gripe with the game thus far are the graphics. Overall they are good. However, as somebody mentioned, the players standing on the sideline look like some monster straight out of Scooby Doo. They just look creepy. I can live with that though.

What REALLY annoys me the most are the shadows on the field on sunny days. I don't know if it's that way with every team or just Tennessee, but the players (especially the jerseys) look really fake/bad when in a shadow. Not very realistic at all. Even in the sunlight I think the orange is too bright. I played a game at Mississippi State in the rain with the white uniforms and I had no complaints.

I caught this too. The jersey's almost look painted on the players...
 
#5
#5
I caught this too. The jersey's almost look painted on the players...

yep, exactly. It looks like a bad photoshop job or something. It's like the color in the shadows somehow takes all the detail out of them.
 
#7
#7
Is there a game intro or does it just go to the coin flip?

**edit

I didn't notice this but from reading online there really is not much of a pregame.

Also is the crowd noise meter thing gone from last year?
 
#8
#8
No pregame from what i have seen just talked about Hefney one time but i have only played online so dont know about offline.
 
#9
#9
Is there a game intro or does it just go to the coin flip?

My Dynasty starts at Kansas, and so far i havent even had a televised game. Probably not a bad thing, as we really suck, beating Central Michigan 13-10, but handling a I-AA team before being blasted by Toledo. Once the Big 12 season starts, i got a shot at beating Baylor, but i'll go 0-fer unless i get the hang of the controls better
 
#10
#10
no pregame, and no postgame celebrations...the latter being my biggest complaint. i know in the past, seeing the same cut scene after almost every game got old, but you would think they would have some sort of celebration on there, especially for rivalry games and bowl games...it looks pretty stupid having the players just standing still in the middle of the field. idk anything about programming, but can they put patches on XBL for this sort of thing? I know they won't, but it would be cool to have it available, plus it would keep more of the fan base totally happy.
 
#11
#11
Anyone else having problems with the game freezing after you pause it? I know the same thing happened in last years game. Anyone else having this problem?
 
#12
#12
no pregame, and no postgame celebrations...the latter being my biggest complaint. i know in the past, seeing the same cut scene after almost every game got old, but you would think they would have some sort of celebration on there, especially for rivalry games and bowl games...it looks pretty stupid having the players just standing still in the middle of the field. idk anything about programming, but can they put patches on XBL for this sort of thing? I know they won't, but it would be cool to have it available, plus it would keep more of the fan base totally happy.

wow that sucks. of all the things i would have thought they would have had the post and pregame stuff in there. it's little stuff like that that i enjoy in the ncaa football series.
 
#13
#13
no pregame, and no postgame celebrations...the latter being my biggest complaint. i know in the past, seeing the same cut scene after almost every game got old, but you would think they would have some sort of celebration on there, especially for rivalry games and bowl games...it looks pretty stupid having the players just standing still in the middle of the field. idk anything about programming, but can they put patches on XBL for this sort of thing? I know they won't, but it would be cool to have it available, plus it would keep more of the fan base totally happy.

I've always wanted to see people rush the field after a last second fieldgoal :). Unfortunately NCAA will never let it happen.
 
#14
#14
I love the game, though the fact that they took out create-a-playbook and position subs doesnt make me too happy.
 
#15
#15
I love the game, though the fact that they took out create-a-playbook and position subs doesnt make me too happy.

I haven't gotten to deep into all the features yet. So you can't create a play? What do you mean by they took out position subs?
 
#17
#17
**edit

I didn't notice this but from reading online there really is not much of a pregame.

Also is the crowd noise meter thing gone from last year?

I don't think the crowd noise feature is on NCAA '07 (I don't have '08 yet) for the 360. At least, I don't think I've noticed it? It certainly isn't as evident as the meter on NCAA '05 on PS2 at least.
 
#19
#19
I'm sick of having my fast guys(Lamarcus Coker) gets chased down from behind by a linebacker. That's just retarded.
 
#23
#23
congrats, give urself a pat on the back. gamers are just blind right now it's ok, ps3 will rejoice again
 
#25
#25
u act like i'm just sittin at the house waitin on games. far from the truth. after work, i go work out, mayb play some ball. go home, eat, shower, and usually go hang out with some of my boys. i play a total of maybe 3 hours a wk. video games don't run my life, like they do yours
 
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