Digital Sportspage Blog

I popped in a copy of NCAA 2004 in my PS3 last night (hooray backwards compatibility), as it is considered to be the best game in the NCAA series. There are some general issues with the game (the field seems too small, player control is too momentum-based and “skatey”, AI doesn’t account for QB rollouts well, RBs often make an exaggerated fall forward after the initial hit, gaining a good 3-5 yards from it, recruiting mode was worse). Actually, here’s my original NCAA2004 review (hooray archives). After one game of Florida versus FSU (where the completion percentages for both teams was about 50%, and I lost 14-10), and some time using random plays in practice mode, it was clear that NCAA 2004 is actually better than NCAA 2009 in passing and special teams.

For special teams, there’s not much of a comparison. Not because it is great in NCAA 2004, but because it is terrible in NCAA 2009. Passing is also better, but primarily because some of the basics are captured better on ‘04 compared to ‘09. First, player separation in man coverage is much more realistic. A linebacker won’t be able to keep up with a wide receiver, but the gap isn’t nearly as large as in ‘09. In zones, awareness is much better such that it’s not as easy to sit back and pick apart of zone. As for the actual passing, passes were occasionally off-target! If you receiver had his man beat on a fly route, sometimes the quarterback would overthrow the ball. If your quarterback was on the run, his pass would often be inaccurate (especially when thrown across his body).

These are really basic football concepts that were in the game five years ago. As for why they aren’t in there now, who knows. Oh, and NCAA 2004 had I-AA teams. I’d much rather play UMass or Western Carolina or Penn or FAMU instead of “I-AA Southeast”.

If given a choice, I would choose NCAA 2009 over NCAA 2004, primarily because of the much better running game, player control, and the possibility of good games with even, middling teams. However, the fact that ‘09 is behind ‘04 in passing and special teams is not a good sign for the series. Let’s hope that the patch fixes some of these problems successfully.

Anyways, off to play the Madden demo…