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NCAA Football 09 | 
| From: Electronic Arts
List Price: $59.99
Buy New: $31.25
You Save: $28.74 (48%)
New (32) Used (25) from $30.95
Rating:  35 reviews
Sales Rank: 192
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: football_games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Xbox 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 15599
Model: 15599
UPC: 014633155990
EAN: 0014633155990
ASIN: B0015E4G4G
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Great Game! Great Graphics and fun Gameplay!
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| Features:
| • | Wide open and authentic college style gameplay | | • | College atmosphere and pageantry plus the all-new Mascot Mode | | • | Home Field Advantage with new mini-game components | | • | Improved recruiting system in Dynasty mode | | • | Online capable and up to 4 players |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Brings college pigskin action back with a new break away animation mechanic that will allow increased maneuverability on the field / ESRB E for Everyone
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| Customer Reviews: Read 30 more reviews...
 Been playing it ever since this came out and I am VERY impressed so far! July 16, 2008
D. Crawford (Hoover, AL United States)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
First of all, I have been an EA sports gamer for a while now... ever since Madden and NCAA football has been developed. If you look over my past reviews I have written, you will see that I don't hold my opinion back any in regards to hammering a game title. Personally, I feel EA in regards to XBOX360 has gotten cheap and lacked quality over the years. So read this review taking that into account.
As for this game, I have to say, "ABOUT TIME!" EA's NCAA football is finely getting back to the level of its glory days in regards to quality and new inventive game options. For example, there is a new bluff option in the game. Usually when you pick a play and your team is on the field, you want to check what that play looks like before you snap the ball. The problem with doing that is the other team knows what you are calling right before you snap. The new bluff feature allows you to show multiple bluff plays on the field - both runs and passes. You can show multiple bluff plays and throw in your real one to see what it looks like and still not totally give away what you are doing... GREAT ADDITION TO THE GAME!!! The recruiting in the game is a lot better also. This game allows you to now pick and choose what you want to do in regards to recruiting and let the computer take care of the rest. It provides options for people who want a little assistance to allowing the computer to do it all.
The game play finely is smooth again. Running the ball seems more realistic and passing is more fun. I think the game programers of today have finely started to catch up to the XBOX360's technology... finely. The past games just didnt feel right to play. Newer gamers (People who started playing this game in 2006 to now) probably wouldnt notice this however if you have played this game and Madden forever, you'll notice.
About the graphics... the xbox360 has always done pretty well with graphics, however, this year it looks even better. I have to stress one thing though. Having a quality TV makes all of the difference. For example, I have an older model HDTV 27inch that I played this game on and it looked nice, however, when I played this on my 52inch 1080p LCD HDTV... this game is AWESOME!!! Regardless the game is fun no matter what TV you have.
Well I will probably be adding to this review as I play more. So far I have not experienced any freezing moments or glitches in the game, however since the game only came out yesterday, I may change my attitude about that topic. I havent played it enough to give a totally valid opinion. With that said nothing so far.
UPDATE: I'm still enjoying the game very much. Still no Freezing up like the poster stated before the game came out. I've noticed a lot more things about the game also. There is A LOT more detail to it in regards to the stadium, crowd and sideline action. Your cheerleaders are sad when you mess up for example. I remember in older games the crowd and cheerleaders would celebrate no matter what. The Crowd and Sideline players interact more with the game. About the game being too easy??? I do not agree with that. Play the game on a higher level and try playing with the teams that don't have every player rated high. I usually stay away from the USCs of the game. What is the point? The team is already perfect - in regards to player ratings. Basically, if you want it to be harder there are ways of making the game harder. One Con about the game I do not like is that blitzing is a lot harder. In the past speed rushing on the sides was a lot easier. That changed last year so I went to LBs to blitz manually. This year I can't get through with the LBs or LE/RE. Being able to hit the QB is something I really enjoyed in the past. This does take away from the fun factor of the game - a little. With that said, still a great game!
Daniel
 A monster disappointment August 19, 2008
zlionsfan (Indiana, USA)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is what happens when lack of competition meets overextension: EA Sports has so many games it no longer cares about their quality, and it has competition in so few areas that it doesn't need to.
While NCAA 09 can be fun at times, it is so full of obvious bugs and strategy flaws that I would be surprised if it actually went through a QA process and was changed at all. If you look on pretty much any 360-related forum, you'll find a huge list. Here's an example of what you'll see:
-- The clock doesn't always run during a kickoff return. That's kind of a big deal when there isn't much time left.
-- If you press a button at the wrong time after an extra point, you'll actually end up selecting your kickoff or return formation and you won't know what you picked.
-- Receivers can run out of bounds for any length of time, come back in and catch the ball without penalty.
-- Yardage announced over the stadium PA rarely matches the pop-up box and in-game stats.
-- When a penalty occurs on a kickoff return, the pop-up box for the returner and the Super Sim window both show a large negative number as the "result" of the return.
-- The referee points in a seemingly random direction when announcing a penalty and does not announce the uniform number of the offending player.
-- You cannot change the camera angle during play, even though there are obviously multiple cameras available (you can save replays from different angles and the camera in Legend Mode is not the same as the camera in other modes).
-- You cannot change your playbook.
-- You can no longer select I-AA teams or swap them with existing I-A teams (sorry, I don't play the FBS semantics game).
-- In Legend Mode, the camera is located somewhere behind you and always stays there, so when the action comes straight toward you, the camera does a 180, effectively taking you out of the play.
-- In Legend Mode, the AI will always return punts for you, even if the ball is kicked 8-9 yards deep in the end zone.
-- Slants, outs, hooks, and other short routes are very difficult to complete: if there is a computer-controller defender nearby, he will jump the route and pick off the pass, unless you are on defense, in which case he will stare in amazement at the ball.
-- Animations frequently kick in regardless of where the players were at the time of the event: for example, you can be a DE who gets around an offensive lineman, but if the game decides it's time for a blocking-engaged animation, he'll lock you up again, even though he wasn't even facing you.
There are other significant bugs I have not yet seen myself, like being able to throw the ball when you are well past the line of scrimmage, or seeing the scoring team keep the ball if they hit the upright on an extra point and a defender catches it.
Somewhere in all of that, there's an excellent game waiting to be saved, but frankly, I've spent too much time trying to find it. I wish I hadn't purchased this game, and I won't be buying any more EA Sports games until someone else shows me that they care about quality again.
 Changes Make it Almost Unplayable July 18, 2008
Alexander P. Boyko (Virginia)
9 out of 14 found this review helpful
I have been buying the NCAA football games for the past 7 years and always enjoyed each year's new edition. However, after playing NCAA 09, I am sorely disappointed and am ready to sell it. There are two major problems with the game that make it pretty much unplayable on defense. First, it is virtually impossible to rush the QB with defensive linemen or linebackers. I tried with various teams and always got stonewalled every time. The second, larger, problem is with the fact that the wide receivers pretty much catch every ball thrown to them, even in nickel and dime defensive sets. When Duke is able to complete 90% of their passes, something is not right. Anyway, these two flaws really make the game play not very fun at all and I'm suprised that it was not balanced better. I'm not ready to give up on the series yet, so I hope next year's edition will fix this issue and I'm hoping that the same problem does not occur with Madden 09.
A clear improvement over NCAA 08 in features July 15, 2008
Michael D. Cooper
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I picked this game up to replace last year's version, and as a huge fan of college football I was pleased to see some neat additions (such as icing the kicker) that became a big part of the lexicon during last year's crazy season.
If you've played any of the games in the NCAA series, you know what to expect. Some new features for this year's version include "celebrating with the mascot" where you can run over to the mascot after running a touchdown and perform an animated celebration (mascot worshiping you/dancing around/etc.). The sideline players/cheerleaders/coaches actually exist this year, unlike in NCAA 08 when they mysteriously weren't on the sidelines during a game. You'll see cheerleaders dancing, players on the sidelines getting out of your way, etc. so the stadium atmosphere is much more alive than it was in last year's version.
Some new gameplay options are tweaks to the way running plays work. No longer can you just click 'go' and push forward, you can now find and exploit holes in the defense, you can get your offensive line to shift to one side to cover your option play, you can basically fine-tune your plays a bit more (as well as bluff your play art when playing side-by-side with a friend, something you couldn't do before).
On passing plays, you no longer have to worry about the AI intercepting the ball constantly. If they aren't facing it, they won't catch it. If you throw it directly into coverage though, do expect to be picked off.
Tackling has been upgraded, as has evasion. You can evade tackles if you know what you are doing, and you can also one-arm tackle, hit the player so hard they bust a flip and fall flat on their back, and basically do much more than just dive and pray like in NCAA 08.
Other neat features such as online dynasty mode, the ability to set up songs from playlists to play when certain things happen, downloading rosters, etc. give you much more in terms of having customization over your game.
Basically, each particular area in the game has been tweaked in just the right areas, and this is much more of a transition than 07 was to 08.
Bottom line: If they take what they have here and improve it for NCAA 10 then you can expect me to be a happy gamer for a while to come.
Numerous bugs and rubberband AI lead to frustration July 20, 2008
ozzzy (Los Angeles, CA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
This game is just too buggy to recommend. It has egregious functional and balance issues that make this game too frustrating to play.
* Custom AI Sliders do not function correctly. The CPU sliders do nothing. Human sliders affect both CPU and human.
* Online dynasty mode sometimes simulates games that have been played by humans. A number of people have reported trouble connecting to EA's servers.
* Super-sim simulates an unrealistic number of plays when fast-forwarding through a game, and produces lopsided final scores.
* Players able to return most kick offs and punts for large gains. Average kick off return is to the 35-45 yard line.
* Suction blocking - player cannot release off their blocks nor get by the offensive line without being knocked down or pushed in the back.
* Defenders moving full speed in one direction will turn around and intercept balls thrown well behind them.
* The new player speed model is causing huge problems with pursuit angles by CPU-controlled players. This skews the balance unfairly towards fast wide receivers.
* AI rubberbanding is used to make the games close. As soon as you get a 14 point lead, the CPU will either return a kick off or make an amazing run/pass just to catch up. This is essentially cheating by the CPU to catch up.
Lastly, there have been two particular incidents of CPU cheating that have really turned me off to this game:
* While defending the goal line a RB ran forward clearly not breaking the plane by at least a yard. The player was then pushed back three yards; after which the team was awarded a touchdown.
* While throwing the ball to a receiver coming across the middle the ball changed directions in mid-air and right into a trailing defender's hands.
Either way I'm calling EA and asking for a refund; I suggest getting an advance refund and not buying this until they patch the gameplay issues. Stick with NCAA 07/NCAA 08 with roster updates.
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