Customer Reviews

NCAA Football 08

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I've been enjoying this franchise on PS2 for many seasons, so I've been looking forward to the PS3 version all year.

This game is really a ground-up redesign. Some major changes:

*Only one camera is available for actually playing, although several are available for intant replays. The game camera is similar to the default angle for the previous games in the series, but with slightly better down-field vision. Personally, I always played the overhead camera before, so I was a bit distraught on losing it. The downfield vision on this camera is just good enough that I'm not totally angry.

*The controller has been reconfigured, but it's completely customizable if you want to change it.

*The play clock is 25 seconds, and it starts REALLY soon. There is just no time for any preplay strategizing. In my opinion, this is a flaw. Perhaps when I find all the plays I want my pace will speed up enough, but at this point, I never get to the line with more than 5 - 8 seconds left, so hot routes and motion are just a fantasy. In previous versions, I enjoyed playing around with motion to get a look at coverages, etc, but I've got no time now to send a guy in motion, much less bring him back to where he started before getting flagged.

*The recruiting engine is now awesome. Even in past seasons, recruiting was my favorite part of the dynasty process, but EA has really taken this to new heights. The database for finding recruits is more work than before, and you can't just click "Interested Recruits". You have to really comb the database for the guys you want, and they have a targeted list you add them to. But when the recruiting gets started, you actually simulate phone conversations with these players in real time. This is so revolutionary, I just couldn't believe it worked as well as it did. I actually got butterflies picking the pitches in these "conversations" and reading the mood of the recruit. Talk to much about the wrong thing, and they will get mad and slam the phone on you. Talk about pressure!

*(SEE COMMENT ON THE STATUS OF THIS ISSUE)One big weird bug with respect to rosters: I usually spend a few hours after purchase setting up my favorite team's roster with names, along with stars on the other teams in the conference. This worked fine. I even used a USB keyboard to enter the names. I saved the roster several times and once again at the end. When I began the dynasty, it ported in the roster, no problem. After playing in the dynasty for a while, I came back out to the main menu to play some mini games, and guess what? All the rosters were reset and my saved roster was nowhere to be found. I went back to the dynasty, and everything was still in order, thank goodness, but the main roster for the game is wiped. HUGE bug, but since I'm mostly in it for the dynasty, I'm not despondent.

The game has its bugs, which I guess we should expect for a clean sheet redesign, but the leaps EA has made in graphics, recruiting, and gameplay still merited the 4 stars, possibly even 5.

As an avid player of the previous EA Sports NCAA Football titles to say I was greatly anticipating this release would be an understatement. The day of release I went and bought it on my lunch break, anxiously awaiting the time to go home and play.

Upon turning on the game I noticed major differences. Most importantly, there are now only 32 teams to use. This means there are NO All-Time teams, or even Dynasty teams from specific years past. There is also no Random-Select in the team selection screen. My friends and I utilized this every time we played so people would not use the same team over and over, it added variety to the game. Whether these All-Time and Dynasty teams will be able to be downloaded later as add-ons from the internet is beyond my knowledge.

The gameplay is good, graphics are amazing... but other small things with the game seem to be lacking. Play selection is now Madden-esque in style and annoying to say the least. They have gotten rid of the pennant collection, which for me was incentive to play, to unlock various teams. I never was a fan of the Dynasty Mode where you create a player and take a team throughout many seasons. I played merely single games against friends. So this lack of earning points and teams is a slight let-down.

On the plus side the stadiums are impressively designed and each home team has special little things you notice unique to that school. For example, at Penn State you here the "We Are... Penn State" cheer and the Nittany Lion does his one-armed pushups. Also, with the Weather Channel Live Feed you get the weather for that exact location at the exact time you are playing. Subtle things like this make the game worthwhile.

Overall if you are a former EA NCAA Football fan it is a definite must have, just for the sheer point of getting the newest technology and up-to-date teams. However, do NOT expect it to be a revolutionizing game. Many things could be worked on, and hopefully will be with downloadable updates.

It's hard to ding this game because it's always my favorite game every year. But, I bought a PS3 for the 1080p capability, and I'm getting annoyed that all EA's games only have 720p graphics. They better have 1080p by the NCAA 09 release next year. That said the graphics are quite good but only an incremental improvement over Madden 07 for PS3.

I like the new menus for choosing plays. But, that ask Corso think needs to go. Retire it already. Who actually uses that? It must be in his contract or something.

Much of what I liked or disliked about this release has already been well covered in earlier reviews. I continue to be baffled as to why EA gives the PS3 version the inferior treatment with 720p and 30fps graphics. The last version I bought was NCAA 06 for the Xbox, and I went back to it about a week after playing this PS3 version.

The player model quality is stunning save for the observation that every lineman is hideously obese. My biggest complaint is the feel of the game. The players run around like Mech Warriors or Imperial Walkers. They just don't seem to be moving like humans. I wager the PS3 30fps rate has something to do with this. The sounds don't feel realistic either. Almost every contact sounds like a basketball hitting the floor. The dynamics of the crowd noise doesn't feel right either. They also took the college atmosphere out of the game by removing the cheerleaders and more notably the on-field officials. Having the official occasionally get in the way of a defender or messing up your runner was actually strangely enjoyable albeit frustrating and added to the realism of the game.

The play selection method just flat wore me out. I must be really slow on the take because I would end up getting at least a dozen delay of game penalties or pick the first available play on the screen to avoid getting a penalty as I was running out of time. I am also disappointed that they removed the pennant collection. I didn't use it much in 06 except for the "tough as nails" pennant after getting sacked for the 10th time despite having an offensive line with an average rating of 95+ at Heisman level. it was just nice to have options to level the playing field when I felt the AI was "cheating" too much. The game play sliders help some, but not quite as much as the pennants would.

On the plus side, I *loved* the new recruiting system. It probably mimics the actual experience better than any previous version and it is infinitely deeper. The game play is actually quite nice. The passing game is much improved and the running game is much more realistic and challenging so I was unlikely to have a 2,000 yard rusher every other season. The kicking method which was first introduced in 07 is also much more challenging and pretty much guarantees my kicker won't win the Groza award every season or kick a dozen 60 yard field goals every season.

I am hoping against hope that EA will stop treating the PS3 platform like the red headed step child. I also wish they would stop making the NCAA game more and more like Madden in look & feel, but that's not realistic either because I'm guessing they're trying to minimize their development costs by maximizing base code overlap. I wish EA would go back and dig up the NCAA 06 code, fix the passing game so your 99 rated tight end doesn't have a perfectly thrown ball bounce off of his chest 9/10 times or the ball bounce off of your wide open clutch receiver's helmet, tweak the defensive secondary AI to play at their rated level instead of 65 rated players jumping 5 feet in the air or dive 15 yards to bat down passes or make one handed interceptions while doing a back flip, tone down the defensive impact players tackling the AI player by the face mask a half dozen times a game, use the 08 recruiting system and keep every other feature intact. I think that would be a winner.

NCAA Football 08 is a great 1st time offering on the PS3 despite some ridiculous flaws. First off, i see a lot of complaints about turnovers and i have my share of them but it's not the game's fault for this and is the players fault. I have played about 50 games and every one of my interceptions was my fault throwing into coverage or throwing it up for grabs to avoid a sack. You need to be able to read defenses and like real football stay away from throwing to a impact players side. As far as fumbles it is actually more realistic this year as they have even added a tuck the ball away button to avoid fumbling. When you know your going down or going to be hit hard tuck the ball away. I don't like the default speed on the R2 but you can customize the controls anyway you like. I'll keep it simple from here on out and just list the pros and cons.

Pros:
Great Franchise mode with deep fun recruiting all season long now.
Tons more player animation and much more realistic tackling.
Improved AI, no more money plays. You need to mix up your play book.
Campus Legend much improved.
Unlimited create a player and new create a recruit.
Detailed stadiums.
Fun realistic game play.

Cons:
Depth charts agonizing to navigate.
Menu system added needless steps to navigate.
PS3 30 FPS.
Presentation needs improving.
Missing key last gen features like create a play book and formation subs.

Let me first clarify that the game is somewhat fun to play. I enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed the last few NCAA football games from EA. The problem is that I didn't pay $500+ dollars for a PS3 to get graphics and content at the PS2 level. I am not saying that there are not some animations upgrades and the player movement is very fluid. But with a BluRay disc and the capacity that they have, EA should start hiring some people that know how to use and program for the PS3. They got rid of alternate uniforms, lots of historic teams. On top of that, the people in the stands still look like cardboard. With the capabilities of the PS3, we should see people walking up and down the aisles, going to the bathroom, etc. Sounds funny, but true. Not all the stadiums are accurate and the fight songs for many teams are not right.

Maybe I am expecting too much, but you get a NEXT GEN system to play a NEXT GEN game. This game is not next gen. My impressions of this game alone are going to keep me from purchasing Madden 08 or NASCAR 08 simply because I don't expect EA to be able to deliver. Madden 07 was understandable. Look at the reviews for it. It was not a good game on the PS3, but I cut EA some slack due to it being their first game for the PS3. But now, they have had the time to learn to program for this machine, give us 1080p graphics and a good frame rate. They again did not deliver.

I will give them props on a good recruiting system. What EA needs to figure out though is that we don't want "NEW" features added while old ones are removed. LEAVE the old ones and add the new ones to make a more complete game. EA treats it like putting together a jigsaw puzzle where you have to remove a piece everytime you add one. Plain and simple, you never get a complete game. On the PS2 I could understand due to the space limitations. Now, on the PS3, you HAVE the space EA, USE IT !!

Bottom line: Fun to play, just don't expect to be wowed and plan on not having some of the features you used to enjoy.

After my fourth fumble of the half despite protecting the ball I pulled this piece of junk out of my ps3 and took as hammer to it. I have never seen even the most fumble prone backs fumble that many times in a whole game. I went back to the ps2 game. My receiver would beat his man deep by 5 yards, I would very lightly tap the button to throw a bomb with some air under it, but no, the stupid game throws a bullet right into the beaten DB's hands every other time. The graphics are great, but the all important gameplay is 50 times better on 05,07,08 for the ps2. Where's create a team EA? I hated this game

More Disappointment

Like many people are, I am very disappointed with this game. I have been an avid fan of NCAA games for the past 5 years or so, but this game is practically unplayable for me.

In the past, I have mostly played Dynasty mode. However, in my opinion, it's not very fun in this game. Many people seem to like the new recruiting system, but I hate it. It is overly complicated and requires about as much time as the actual games do. Also, as mentioned in other reviews, the depth charts are horribly difficult to navigate because of the very slow load times, poor button configurations, and the fact that the game does not automatically sort players by their ability.

The Campus Legend mode is a great idea, and it's a lot of fun to create your own player. But, once your player is created, you do not have the option to pick your own plays and you can only play ½ of every game (either offense or defense). Although this is realistic, it takes away a lot of the fun. It would be nice if we were given the option to pick plays and to control our teams on both sides of the ball.

I actually traded in this game about 2 weeks after I bought it.

Alright, I have to start by saying that I have bought EA games for a long time since 2002 to be exact. Having said that, I bought a PS3 hoping that the games would be a step up from the their respective PS2 versions. The first thing I noticed about this game was how the menu system was revamped. It is much slower, and it takes much longer to get to the actual action than the older versions. Also, you seem to need reading glasses to actually read the player's names in the rosters. I've had this problem with versions of NBA Live before, but can't EA make the font sizes for the text bigger so we can actually read it without being next to my TV screen? If you are looking forward to changing the names of your players, you will be disappointed about that as well. Player editing takes forever to do. Also, changing the depth chart is a problem because it sorts the ability of players EVERY change to the lineup causing me to search for the next best player for that position EVERY time. I think some of the options they added aren't really that necessary. They focused a lot on being able to save replays, but I don't know anyone who really cares about that very much. If they cared about it so much, why couldn't they bother to give the replays slow motion? It boggles the mind.. Also, the "Create a team" option is gone. You cannot watch games played strictly by the computer anymore. You have to select a side. Not cool at all.

However, the options are minor compared to the gameplay. Gameplay will make or break a game for me, and EA definitely took a step backwards. For those of you who like graphics, you will find that the animations added are excellent, as well as gang tackling, which was missing from the other games. The players appeared to be a bit hunched over, and all of them look way oversized to me. I always thought that was a negative for EA games for a while, and they didn't fix it for this game. The players move a bit choppy and takes a lot of practice to stay controlled, which was typical of the old arcade games. It doesn't feel smooth or natural at all, making the controls erratic at times. Also, the buttons sometimes have a slow response time(throw the ball before the sack, please!!). In the past, you could clearly tell who your impact players were by looking for the white circle. Now, they decided to use a star that you could barely see. They decided to change the button configuration for the gameplay. Now, it feels like you need three hands to make moves after the catch or on a running play (stay on turbo with R2, stick, and R1, L1!!!). I do not understand the logic for this, nor do I care for it. Another problem EA chose to ignore are the sliders. The sliders have no effect on the game whatsoever. Just like last year's game (and in last year's Madden!), the interceptions happen way too often. It is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to play one game without throwing one or getting one yourself. It is very easy to throw three or four a game on both sides, which is unrealistic. I guess you could blame that on bad decisions, until you see it every game. I moved the sliders for interceptions down to ZERO to correct this for me and the computer, but it STILL happens. It is incredibly frustrating. At greater difficulty levels, the computer is IMPOSSIBLE to tackle and sack. The CPU quarterback was brushing my lineman off with ease! It is also very hard to jump the snap and call fair catches.

So to sum it up, this was not worth my 60 bucks. I am giving it two stars because the game may get easier for me the more I play it. However, because of all the negativety in the gameplay, this game may be on my shelf or back at my local game store as a trade-in in a BIG hurry.

After work, I bought NCAA Football 08 for the PS3. There was a lot of hype for this game and to be honest, it doesn't live up to it.

Graphics
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For the PS3, it is played on 720p which is quite a disappointment. After hearing it will be on 1080p, I was expecting stellar graphics and fast frame rates. Playing Madden 07 on the PS3, I was hoping for a huge step up.

The stadiums are very well designed and they bring their own uniquenesses along as well. The player designs are okay and seem real enough. The tackles are fun to watch and do. The highlight mode takes pictures and records certain big plays if you'd like to save them. I usually don't, but maybe it'll change.

Gameplay
========
The load times could be faster, but it's acceptable. I do miss the random team pick, but it's okay if you want to just play with your favorite team. Also, this may seem a little odd, but there's no way to pit teams against one another and simply be a bystander. Yes, you can SuperSim it, but it's not the same. Sometimes, my friends and I will build a dynasty team and export our year's team and play against each other or just watch it. Like I said, it's a little odd, but we enjoy it. There are a bunch of pre-snap controls, which are useful, but a little overwhelming. I'll have to get used to them.

The Dynasty Mode has a crazy amount of recruiting options, which I'm glad for. The Campus Legend Mode is interesting, because you use only your own player. And if you start from scratch, you can play a high school state tournament before signing with a school. An interesting concept, but only if you're willing to play the tournament all the way through. One thing though, you can't choose your plays, but you can SuperSim until you are in a play, so that means no playing when you're off the field.

I started on Varsity and found the AI formidible, but still won (Texas A&M v. Texas). Of course, when the difficulty goes up, I saw some smart moves from the AI, which included fake snaps, showing blitzes, audibles, and good play recognition (so don't use the same play over and over again). I was pleased on that note and now play Heisman for the challenge (I lost Texas A&M v. Texas...)

Overall
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It's still a good game, but it could have been better on the PS3. I've heard the 360 is a full 1080 resolution, which would have been better on the PS3, but isn't, so that sucks. I don't understand why EA hasn't used the PS3's potential... it's a shame.

I'll play this with buddies and we'll like it, because we've played lots of NCAA over the years (2006 being my favorite).

I'd still recommend this for anyone who's a die hard College Football fan.