Glad I didn't rush out to get NCAA '08

[Queasy]

NCAA Football 08, oh how I loate thee.

Broken is the promise of 60fps as the game engine quickly chugs and stutters in between plays. Sometimes rendering the game a simple slide show until the play selection menu has appeared.

Gone is the ability to effectively throw a lob pass. Instead, every pass is on a rope making it easy pickings for the defenders.

Annoying is trying to work with the depth chart as simply trying to move players around results in the list of available players being sorted from the lowest first after each selection....forcing me to manually sort the list every time. You even send me into maddening fits of rage as I'm told I can't put a backup player at the #2 or #3 slot because he's already there (according to you) for one position but you let me fill up all three available slots with the same player for another position.

Irritating is navigating the game menu with its frequent pauses. There is nothing smooth here.

Amusing is the fact that the game loading screen shows the control layout for running the ball....every time. No mix of different diagrams...the same running control layout over and over again.

Stupefying is the thought that the play-by-play and comments a) can't keep up with the game and are frequently almost a play behind or more and b) are the same recycled crap from previous years.

Baffling is the number of other bugs in this game that I've discovered....AFTER ONLY 4 GAMES INTO A DYNASTY! It was really great of Corso to suggest I go for two after scoring a TD when I didn't need to. When I selected a field goal instead, the place holder got up inexplicably, ran around in a circle and then reset himself in the wrong position. The ball was snapped and went straight by the placeholder. The play was blown dead....why...I don't know.

Surprised.....I don't know. Same ole EA.

 

[tatteredpotato]

I take it this experience is from the Demo?

 

[venkman]

I agree with a lot of what the OP is saying from the XBOX 360 version. Buggy, slow, choppy, un-intuitive menus and control, crappy throwing and running mechanics. Just generally poor quality.

PS. last time I checked Dynasty mode was not in the demo, so the OP is talking about the retail game.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: ObscureCaucasian
I take it this experience is from the Demo?

Nope. Rented the game on Friday.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Do these issues plague Madden as well?

I don't really care, I'm not a football game kinda guy, but it would be interesting to find out.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

It's in the game!1!!!11111

 

[Shortcut]

I agree w/each of Queasy's points. The 360/ps3 version of this game has taken a baffling step backwards compared to '06 and '07 on the previous gen systems.

IMO, the improved graphics is one of the very few signs of progress of ncaa 08 on ps3/360. EA continues to disappoint.

 

[tatteredpotato]

Challenge Everything!!!!!!!!

 

[zerocool84]

See this is what I'm saying about the communist EA trying to own everything. It would only result in the genre not progressing as it did with 2ksports there

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Broken is the promise of 60fps as the game engine quickly chugs and stutters in between plays. Sometimes rendering the game a simple slide show until the play selection menu has appeared.

You really over-exaggerate this one. The game does, in fact, run at 60fps, so that promise is not broken. It certainly does not turn into a "slide show" though, as a split second stutter when going to the play menu does not constitute a broken promise of a higher frame rate. This stutter doesn't affect the on-field gameplay at all.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Gone is the ability to effectively throw a lob pass. Instead, every pass is on a rope making it easy pickings for the defenders.

Did you actually play it? Try tapping the button ever so slightly. Go into practice, it's all there. Trust me. My complaint is that it seems as if leading your receivers is harder this year (if even existant), but I think they toned down how far the QB's could throw the ball.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Annoying is trying to work with the depth chart as simply trying to move players around results in the list of available players being sorted from the lowest first after each selection....forcing me to manually sort the list every time. You even send me into maddening fits of rage as I'm told I can't put a backup player at the #2 or #3 slot because he's already there (according to you) for one position but you let me fill up all three available slots with the same player for another position.

How many times do you arrange depth charts?

Originally posted by: Queasy
Irritating is navigating the game menu with its frequent pauses. There is nothing smooth here.

I don't really notice any pauses, but I'll look next time. It's definitely not the smoothest menu out there, though.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Amusing is the fact that the game loading screen shows the control layout for running the ball....every time. No mix of different diagrams...the same running control layout over and over again.

Nice, my copy of the game seems to ALWAYS show the defensive controls. However, you're really picking at straws if this is one of your legitimate gripes about the game. You can pause the games at any time and check out the control scheme in one of the menus (atleast I'm pretty sure you can, I remember looking at it one time).

Originally posted by: Queasy
Stupefying is the thought that the play-by-play and comments a) can't keep up with the game and are frequently almost a play behind or more and b) are the same recycled crap from previous years.

Agreed, although the play-by-play and comments being wrong or not keeping up doesn't happen all that often, just a couple of times a game in my experience. A minor annoyance to me.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Baffling is the number of other bugs in this game that I've discovered....AFTER ONLY 4 GAMES INTO A DYNASTY! It was really great of Corso to suggest I go for two after scoring a TD when I didn't need to. When I selected a field goal instead, the place holder got up inexplicably, ran around in a circle and then reset himself in the wrong position. The ball was snapped and went straight by the placeholder. The play was blown dead....why...I don't know.

I haven't ran into many bugs myself, only played about 5 games thus far, though.

Personally, I think you really need to comment on the gameplay, instead of all these little nit-picky things. The gameplay seems to be absolutely fantastic this year, light-years beyond last year's new-gen effort. The procedural animation system is pretty awesome, and is a great assest to the controls, the CPU actually misses field goals now, it's possible to return punts now, a lot of work has been done to actually have a great pocket to pass from now, QB's actually overthrow/underthrow their receivers. Sorry Queasy, but the positives in the gameplay far outweigh the negatives in the menus. This is one fantastic version of NCAA, I'm enjoying it tremendously so far.

 

[bucwylde23]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Queasy
Broken is the promise of 60fps as the game engine quickly chugs and stutters in between plays. Sometimes rendering the game a simple slide show until the play selection menu has appeared.

You really over-exaggerate this one. The game does, in fact, run at 60fps, so that promise is not broken. It certainly does not turn into a "slide show" though, as a split second stutter when going to the play menu does not constitute a broken promise of a higher frame rate. This stutter doesn't affect the on-field gameplay at all.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Gone is the ability to effectively throw a lob pass. Instead, every pass is on a rope making it easy pickings for the defenders.

Did you actually play it? Try tapping the button ever so slightly. Go into practice, it's all there. Trust me. My complaint is that it seems as if leading your receivers is harder this year (if even existant), but I think they toned down how far the QB's could throw the ball.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Annoying is trying to work with the depth chart as simply trying to move players around results in the list of available players being sorted from the lowest first after each selection....forcing me to manually sort the list every time. You even send me into maddening fits of rage as I'm told I can't put a backup player at the #2 or #3 slot because he's already there (according to you) for one position but you let me fill up all three available slots with the same player for another position.

How many times do you arrange depth charts?

Originally posted by: Queasy
Irritating is navigating the game menu with its frequent pauses. There is nothing smooth here.

I don't really notice any pauses, but I'll look next time. It's definitely not the smoothest menu out there, though.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Amusing is the fact that the game loading screen shows the control layout for running the ball....every time. No mix of different diagrams...the same running control layout over and over again.

Nice, my copy of the game seems to ALWAYS show the defensive controls. However, you're really picking at straws if this is one of your legitimate gripes about the game. You can pause the games at any time and check out the control scheme in one of the menus (atleast I'm pretty sure you can, I remember looking at it one time).

Originally posted by: Queasy
Stupefying is the thought that the play-by-play and comments a) can't keep up with the game and are frequently almost a play behind or more and b) are the same recycled crap from previous years.

Agreed, although the play-by-play and comments being wrong or not keeping up doesn't happen all that often, just a couple of times a game in my experience. A minor annoyance to me.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Baffling is the number of other bugs in this game that I've discovered....AFTER ONLY 4 GAMES INTO A DYNASTY! It was really great of Corso to suggest I go for two after scoring a TD when I didn't need to. When I selected a field goal instead, the place holder got up inexplicably, ran around in a circle and then reset himself in the wrong position. The ball was snapped and went straight by the placeholder. The play was blown dead....why...I don't know.

I haven't ran into many bugs myself, only played about 5 games thus far, though.

Personally, I think you really need to comment on the gameplay, instead of all these little nit-picky things. The gameplay seems to be absolutely fantastic this year, light-years beyond last year's new-gen effort. The procedural animation system is pretty awesome, and is a great assest to the controls, the CPU actually misses field goals now, it's possible to return punts now, a lot of work has been done to actually have a great pocket to pass from now, QB's actually overthrow/underthrow their receivers. Sorry Queasy, but the positives in the gameplay far outweigh the negatives in the menus. This is one fantastic version of NCAA, I'm enjoying it tremendously so far.

Man do I hope you are right. I'm expecting the game in the mail today. I loved '07 so I'll be pissed if this game isn't any better.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: blurredvision

Originally posted by: Queasy
Broken is the promise of 60fps as the game engine quickly chugs and stutters in between plays. Sometimes rendering the game a simple slide show until the play selection menu has appeared.

You really over-exaggerate this one. The game does, in fact, run at 60fps, so that promise is not broken. It certainly does not turn into a "slide show" though, as a split second stutter when going to the play menu does not constitute a broken promise of a higher frame rate. This stutter doesn't affect the on-field gameplay at all.

I never said it affected on-field gameplay. It is just a jarring experience in gameplay in general to have the game stuttering in between plays.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Gone is the ability to effectively throw a lob pass. Instead, every pass is on a rope making it easy pickings for the defenders.

Did you actually play it? Try tapping the button ever so slightly. Go into practice, it's all there. Trust me. My complaint is that it seems as if leading your receivers is harder this year (if even existant), but I think they toned down how far the QB's could throw the ball.

Yes I've played it and yes I've been tapping it. No lobbing except for seemingly random occasions. I honestly don't think the passing mechanic is as good as year's past.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Annoying is trying to work with the depth chart as simply trying to move players around results in the list of available players being sorted from the lowest first after each selection....forcing me to manually sort the list every time. You even send me into maddening fits of rage as I'm told I can't put a backup player at the #2 or #3 slot because he's already there (according to you) for one position but you let me fill up all three available slots with the same player for another position.

How many times do you arrange depth charts?

At the start of every season and every time there is a serious injury. The point is, the depth chart and roster have worked perfectly fine for how many iterations? And now it is broken?

Originally posted by: Queasy
Amusing is the fact that the game loading screen shows the control layout for running the ball....every time. No mix of different diagrams...the same running control layout over and over again.

Nice, my copy of the game seems to ALWAYS show the defensive controls. However, you're really picking at straws if this is one of your legitimate gripes about the game. You can pause the games at any time and check out the control scheme in one of the menus (atleast I'm pretty sure you can, I remember looking at it one time).

I said it was amusing...not a show stopper.

Originally posted by: Queasy
Stupefying is the thought that the play-by-play and comments a) can't keep up with the game and are frequently almost a play behind or more and b) are the same recycled crap from previous years.

Agreed, although the play-by-play and comments being wrong or not keeping up doesn't happen all that often, just a couple of times a game in my experience. A minor annoyance to me.

Again, something that worked fine in previous iterations and is broken now.

Personally, I think you really need to comment on the gameplay, instead of all these little nit-picky things. The gameplay seems to be absolutely fantastic this year, light-years beyond last year's new-gen effort. The procedural animation system is pretty awesome, and is a great assest to the controls, the CPU actually misses field goals now, it's possible to return punts now, a lot of work has been done to actually have a great pocket to pass from now, QB's actually overthrow/underthrow their receivers. Sorry Queasy, but the positives in the gameplay far outweigh the negatives in the menus. This is one fantastic version of NCAA, I'm enjoying it tremendously so far.

I don't think what I have listed here (beyond the loading screen graphic) is nit-picky. Most are things that worked fine in previous versions of the game. Instead of making the defense tougher against the pass, they've made it more difficult to throw the type of ball you want. Yeah, they've upped the frame rate but the game goes into epileptic fits between plays. When the game starts me out with only one RG slot filled and won't let me fill the two empty roster slots with available players but will let me fill all three FS slots with the same player, I don't think that is being nit-picky. When I come out of the defensive huddle and the game only lets me select two or three players and the players stop running to their positions, that's a rather stupid bug....this has happened three times in four games so far.

So yeah, they may have taken a step forward in some regards but it feels like they've taken two steps back in others.

I'm still waiting to see how the new recruiting mechanic turns out. It is interesting so far but it is starting to look like it will be just as easy to sign classes full of 5-star players as before the more weeks I get in. Have to see how it plays out.

 

[blurredvision]

Originally posted by: Queasy
I never said it affected on-field gameplay. It is just a jarring experience in gameplay in general to have the game stuttering in between plays.

Personally, I find it far from "jarring". And you refer to it as stuttering between plays, I'd refer to it as a hiccup. It's split-second at best, it's not like you're waiting 2-3 seconds to get to the playcall screen.

Yes I've played it and yes I've been tapping it. No lobbing except for seemingly random occasions. I honestly don't think the passing mechanic is as good as year's past.

I've had no problems lobbing and throwing bullet passes whenever I wanted.

At the start of every season and every time there is a serious injury. The point is, the depth chart and roster have worked perfectly fine for how many iterations? And now it is broken?

Agreed on that they need to be stepping forward, not backwards. I personally do not deal with depth charts, I don't get that into it. I trust the computer to give me the best player for whatever play I call based on fatique and skill. I can see how that would be frustrating that would be with how you describe it.

I said it was amusing...not a show stopper.

I didn't say you said it was a show stopper, but a legitimate gripe. I just assume if it's good enough to throw in the middle of a cons list, then it must be legitimate to you.

Again, something that worked fine in previous iterations and is broken now.

You've never had announcing problems in the past? I don't think I've ever played an EA game in the past 6 or 7 years that didn't have problems with the announcing at certain points. It's something that doesn't really bother me, and doesn't happen often enough for me to consider it a problem.

I don't think what I have listed here (beyond the loading screen graphic) is nit-picky. Most are things that worked fine in previous versions of the game. Instead of making the defense tougher against the pass, they've made it more difficult to throw the type of ball you want. Yeah, they've upped the frame rate but the game goes into epileptic fits between plays. When the game starts me out with only one RG slot filled and won't let me fill the two empty roster slots with available players but will let me fill all three FS slots with the same player, I don't think that is being nit-picky. When I come out of the defensive huddle and the game only lets me select two or three players and the players stop running to their positions, that's a rather stupid bug....this has happened three times in four games so far.

So yeah, they may have taken a step forward in some regards but it feels like they've taken two steps back in others.

Epileptic fits is bit of a strong phrase for a split second hiccup. The depth chart complaints are legitimate issues. I've personally not had any problems with switching defensive players, but then again, I always play the line, so the only time I have to switch is when I choose a play that defaults me to a linebacker. Do you cycle through players with the B button, or do you hold down B and use the d-pad to cycle? I can't imagine it'd make a difference, but maybe try that to see it works differently.

I'm still waiting to see how the new recruiting mechanic turns out. It is interesting so far but it is starting to look like it will be just as easy to sign classes full of 5-star players as before the more weeks I get in. Have to see how it plays out.

Another thing I sub out to the CPU . I just want to play a game football, I could care less how many 5-star guys I get. I'll just take what I'm given when the next season rolls around.

Hope the game gets better for you, I love it.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: venkman
I agree with a lot of what the OP is saying from the XBOX 360 version. Buggy, slow, choppy, un-intuitive menus and control, crappy throwing and running mechanics. Just generally poor quality.

PS. last time I checked Dynasty mode was not in the demo, so the OP is talking about the retail game.

I felt the 360 version wasnt very good. A few features are still missing and I thought the thing felt choppy and the menu system was awful.

I got the PS2 version and am happy with it.

 

[venkman]

Another issue I had, the team balance seems WAY too close. I handily beat #1 USC with #2 Michigan and struggled like all hell to squeak by Western Michigan the next week. USC didn't sack me the entire game but WMU had about six.

 

[bucwylde23]

Damn after playing 2 games today, I have to say that I am LOVING this game on the 360. It looks great and in my opinion is far better than NCAA 07.

Even the small details such as live ESPN radio sports updates, and uploading game videos/photos makes it that much better.

I rented it through gamefly but I'm thinking I may actually keep this one..