NCAA Episode IV: A New Hope - thescoop's Blog

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NCAA Episode IV: A New Hope

Posted on November 16, 2008 at 04:15 PM.

As we enter the fourth year of the NCAA series in next or as I like to call it now, current gen, I know a lot of people on these boards haven't been too pleased with the first three episodes.

I really feel some form of hope for NCAA 2010. I know some say 09 is a horrible game, but it is very fun. Yeah, the defense took the year off, but I still find myself going back to the game over and over again.

There a few things that really give me the new hope for 2010. First thing is the great addition of stadium sounds. I know that it is limited in its first season in the game, but I expect that to expand. The Stadium sounds have really added to the game for me in a big way. Being able to add more stadium sounds to more teams will help add to the atmosphere for next season.

Next reason for a new hope is seeing the lead designer Adam Thompson in our forums. I pull for a smaller school in Southern Mississippi and have always felt in things like uniforms and stadiums. His involvement on the forums has given me loads of hope this will change. We've seen him have an entire thread to address uniforms and such so I think this only adds to my excitement.

Another reason I have hope is even though 09 might not have been the game I was hoping for, it has been a marked improvement over the last two current gen offerings. I feel they'll take the progress made in 09 and carry it over.

That being said, I feel I must say the things I want to see to make 2010 truly be that new hope we're waiting on:

1. First off, drop campus legend mode. No one plays this mode anymore and it isn't wanted or needed. There loads of things they can do with the space. Get rid of it.

2. While we're in the drop things mode, please, please, please realize that no one wants mascot games. I like celebrating with them after a touchdown, but I don't ever care to play as them.

3. Add the division 1aa teams to current gen finally! We all saw app state beat Michigan last year and would love to pull off that kind of upset, but playing as 1aa west doesn't really do it for me. And please do them right by the ratings standards too.

4. Get all the stadiums and expansion that are seen in the 08 season in for next year's game. This should have been finished before this season, but for whatever reason wasn't. No more excuses. Make this happen.

5. More alternates uniforms and the ability to edit or at least change top a bottom combos ourselves. I know Adam has said he wants to allow us to do this, but was able to this year. I really expect this in next year's game.

6. With all the focus on the offensive side of the ball this year I hope and fully expect the defense to get some love this off-season.

7. Please take a cue from NCAA Basketball 09 and give us the real coaches. This adds to realism and is sorely overdue to this series. Again, no more excuses.

8. I'd love to see campus legend mode replaced with some sort of AD mode. Give me the chance to make the boosters happy, hire the right coaches, get money for new stadiums and practice facilities. I plan on writing another article about my ideas for this.

9. I like creating recruits and see where they go and trying to get them myself. I do find it a bit frustrating there is not an option to allow us to name the players top three schools. I feel this should be added.

10. Make the attendance more dynamic. I don't want to see a 0-7 Tulane team with a sellout. Time to start making a team's following start from game one and if they improve the number can go up and if they don't they can even go lower.

I've got more ideas and I will talk about them more later. There's a lot in game-play besides the defense that can improve this series and those need to be discussed. But for now, I'm holding on to my new hope and this feeling next year will be the year.

Comments

# 1 GoToledo @ Nov 16

I agree with you that NCAA 09 is a good game but not a great one. The stadium sounds and online dynasty were great additions. Hopefully now we can get expanded playbooks, and an huge AI upgrade in every facet of the game.

# 2 thescoop @ Nov 16

Thanks for the feedback. I'm really digging the new blog since I've always wanted to get into video game writing and reviewing. At somepoint I'll talk more about gameplay issues that need to be fixed, but for now I've got those ideas i wanted out there first.

# 3 i8kevin @ Nov 16

Nice write up scoop. It seems so easy to make this game great. I wonder each year why they haven't listened. I still enjoy the game each year but I am still waiting for that one great game.

# 4 rudyjuly2 @ Dec 3

Give me a much better cpu ground game, more and improved sliders, the cpu going deep, better playbooks, better cpu AI playcalling, and less interceptions and this game will be really good. I'm still enjoying NCAA '09 and I think they are very close to greatness for 2010 with some minor changes. Of coures, others will disagree.