NCAA Football 10

A post by "Blake the Megalomaniac" To see more posts click here

The excitement over Madden 10 is at a fever pitch with the game set to be released this Friday, August 14th.  Most sports gamers have reserved their copy of the EA sports flagship game and at 12:00am on Friday morning they’ll completely throw out NCAA 10.

Mistake.

It’s no secret that Madden has always been preferred over the NCAA title.  People can’t get over the lack of player names, the feeling of not being able to completely control your player on the field, specifically the ball carrier, and how annoying Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso are in the booth (not mention how Erin Andrews is forced upon us in the game for no reason other than to capitalize on her appearance).

While I’m usually one of those who decided that when Madden comes out I will wash my hands with NCAA, this year I’ve grown fond of the college football title.  While I’ve never been taken aback by the nameless jerseys, I can get over that. Especially considering I only play in dynasty mode and in 2 or 3 seasons most of the strictly numbered players are gone making room for fictional recruits with made up first and last names.

As far as feeling like you don’t have total control over your player whether the ball carrier or a defensive guy, I enjoy that as well.  The contrast between how reactive and responsive the NFL players in Madden are compared to how unresponsive NCAA’s players are is vast.  In that sense, NCAA reminds me of a RPG.  Think Zelda or Final Fantasy here.  Where Madden demands a mix of the user’s physical ability to hit the correct buttons at the correct times and a fitting strategy, NCAA 10 relies less on a juke or spin and more on timely play-calling and getting the ball into the hands of the people that can make plays because those players will undoubtedly make a player miss on their own.

The new “set-up” feature which allows you to set-up the run with a pass or viceversa has less of an impact than the developers probably thought it would but at least we know they’re thinking and they’re trying.  But as I said, the gameplay is less about the user and more about the ability of your players.  In my dynasty, I went 14-0 with Virginia Tech and won the BCS National Championship.  After an average recruiting season, one in which I got fifteen 4-star recruits but didn’t use up all my scholarships and didn’t necessarily recruit for need, I’ve already lost one game (granted it was to #1 Florida in the swamp and the knocked out all-American and Heisman runner-up, Tyrod Taylor).  My strategy didn’t change but the quality of my players did.

The two things I like best about NCAA ‘10 are the aforementioned dynasty mode and how much of an impact that home crowd has on a visiting team. If you really like college football and you don’t like NCAA 10 then you don’t really like college football. What sets the amateur game apart from the pros is the pageantry, the rabid fans in 110,000 seat stadiums, and the recruiting.

When you’re in the swamp or Beaver stadium or Lane Stadium as the visiting team it’s fitting that you do not expect to be able to win with a true freshman QB or with inexperienced players on offense.  The crowd noise makes playing in any of the “toughest places to play” so painstaking because you can’t audible, you can check your play at the line of scrimmage but the routes are all jumbled and shaking along with your controller, and some of your players forget their assignments.  In that respect it feels like what one would think it would feel like playing in those stadiums.  Yes, it gets me jacked up especially when you can pull out a win in there.

If you want to be successful in the game you have to spend about as much time recruiting as you do playing (depending on how long you have the quarters set for) which is cool because people forget or don’t know how much time coaching staffs spend on recruiting.  It’s a weekly thing that you’d be remiss to neglect. At the end of season you have to convince underclassmen who want to go pro to stay in school and the list of recruiting headaches, including making promises to recruits, negative recruiting, and college visits, goes on-and-on.

Overall, I’m going to give NCAA Football 10 some more run while I wait for Madden prices to go down.  Then once the NFL is in full swing and the Redskins are 6-0, I think I’ll go ahead and make the switch. For now though, I like playing with a true freshman QB while I wait for Tyrod to recover from his injury.

udothedishes . . .