gschwendt
06-11-2007, 10:37 PM
http://www.ncaastrategies.com/images/ncaafootball08/ign.gif NCAA Football 08 Preview
Lead By Example and make big time plays in big time games.
by Jeff Haynes
June 11, 2007- Every team needs a leader -- someone that improves the skills of their surrounding personnel. Their ability to encourage the people around them helps bring out the best in their squadmates, making them much more effective at their jobs. This leader can also motivate others when things get bleak, elevating the work of an entire team. Having an effective leader is crucial to success, and EA Sports knows this all too well, making leadership one of the key aspects of NCAA Football 08. We spent some time with the latest build of the sports franchise to improve our skills and get new impressions of the upcoming title.
Leading by Example stands out as the largest adjustment to this year's game, especially since it winds up replacing the composure meters for athletes. The effect is extremely easy to understand: based on the team that you select, you'll have one or more star players on the field as you run your plays. Depending on how they manage to perform during the game, the icon beneath their feet will start to flash, indicating that they're getting pumped up. For example, a linebacker that stuffs the run and knocks down passes over a couple of plays will start to get psyched. Their excitement will start to spill over to the players surrounding them, making other players play harder. If you consistently keep this play up, you can boost the motivation stats of your squad, making them hit much harder, catch more passes and break tackles more effectively.
<!-- start image div -->
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/795/795829/ncaa-football-08--20070611060328138-000.jpg (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/img_4616979.html)Lead By Example and you'll be able to make big plays a lot easier.
<!--- end image div -->Speaking of breaking tackles, there have been a couple of adjustments that have been made on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball to further improve the realism of the game. On offense, quarterbacks have brand new evasion moves thanks to the QB Avoidance stick. By flicking the right analog stick as a rusher is about to sack the quarterback, you can break tackles and gain another shot to complete a pass. Quarterbacks can also direct a receiver as they scramble out of the pocket with the right analog stick, allowing them to manually cut through coverage and get open. To prevent the offense from running the score up with these new tweaks, the defense has received new hot routes. Players can trigger QB Contain routes for a specific player, allowing him to shutdown a quarterback that tries to roll out of the pocket in one direction or another. This can also be effective on shutting down running plays. Players can also trigger Smart Zone coverage plays, dropping backs near the first down marker to quickly break up passes.
Adjustments have also been made to the Dynasty mode to make it a deeper experience for players. The pre-season has been redone with some new adjustments: players can now immediately redshirt players to extend their development underneath your team's system. This isn't simply for academic reasons either; players can also classify someone as a medical redshirt if they wind up getting injured early to preserve their eligibility. Players can customize their season schedule, making it tougher or easier for their team to be successful during the year. Pre-season recruiting has also been re-done, with a new focus on targeting the best prospects that will fill your teams needs as best as possible. Coaches will be able to now assign specific activities for these prospective students to check out when they make official visits to campuses, such as checking out the surrounding area or going over playbooks with a player. Incoming players will also make specific demands, such as wanting a certain number or amount of playtime for the next season. If a coach promises these items to a player, he'd better be prepared to fulfill these promises or he'll see that athlete transfer out of his program and the school's integrity rating take a hit.
<!-- start image div -->http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/795/795829/ncaa-football-08--20070611060327357-000.jpg (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/img_4616977.html)Make big plays like this in Points Pursuit and watch your score soar.
<!--- end image div -->While Campus Legend mode does make a return to NCAA 08, the newest game mode is called Points Pursuit. Although the gameplay is somewhat standard to a traditional football game, there's a bit of an arcade bend to the rules. For one thing, the score that typically determines a winner and loser doesn't matter; in place of that system, the game evaluates your progress and gives you points based on things like the amount of yards that you gain or lose, big plays made or user made actions. For example, if you manage to create a user sack or interception, that's worth more points than if a computerized player performs these deeds. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Players can also receive game ball multipliers every so often that double, triple or quadruple the amount of points that can be received on either side of the ball.
Regardless of the mode that you choose to play, your progress will be tracked thanks to the new My Shrine feature. A repository of your in-game actions, your shrine is decked out with any ESPN Instant Classics games that you may have created. It also holds your pennants and trophies that you've unlocked, patches of schools that you've beaten, and a report card on your playing style. This report card is created based on how you perform five game criteria: passing, catching, running, tackling and covering. Players can also check out highlights of their most memorable plays by checking out their personal photo album. At any time during a replay, a player can take a snapshot of a big hit or incredible run and save that picture to be placed in your shrine, allowing you to relive your glory days. We'll have more on NCAA Football soon.
Source (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/795/795829p1.html)
Images (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/imgs_1.html)
Lead By Example and make big time plays in big time games.
by Jeff Haynes
June 11, 2007- Every team needs a leader -- someone that improves the skills of their surrounding personnel. Their ability to encourage the people around them helps bring out the best in their squadmates, making them much more effective at their jobs. This leader can also motivate others when things get bleak, elevating the work of an entire team. Having an effective leader is crucial to success, and EA Sports knows this all too well, making leadership one of the key aspects of NCAA Football 08. We spent some time with the latest build of the sports franchise to improve our skills and get new impressions of the upcoming title.
Leading by Example stands out as the largest adjustment to this year's game, especially since it winds up replacing the composure meters for athletes. The effect is extremely easy to understand: based on the team that you select, you'll have one or more star players on the field as you run your plays. Depending on how they manage to perform during the game, the icon beneath their feet will start to flash, indicating that they're getting pumped up. For example, a linebacker that stuffs the run and knocks down passes over a couple of plays will start to get psyched. Their excitement will start to spill over to the players surrounding them, making other players play harder. If you consistently keep this play up, you can boost the motivation stats of your squad, making them hit much harder, catch more passes and break tackles more effectively.
<!-- start image div -->
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/795/795829/ncaa-football-08--20070611060328138-000.jpg (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/img_4616979.html)Lead By Example and you'll be able to make big plays a lot easier.
<!--- end image div -->Speaking of breaking tackles, there have been a couple of adjustments that have been made on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball to further improve the realism of the game. On offense, quarterbacks have brand new evasion moves thanks to the QB Avoidance stick. By flicking the right analog stick as a rusher is about to sack the quarterback, you can break tackles and gain another shot to complete a pass. Quarterbacks can also direct a receiver as they scramble out of the pocket with the right analog stick, allowing them to manually cut through coverage and get open. To prevent the offense from running the score up with these new tweaks, the defense has received new hot routes. Players can trigger QB Contain routes for a specific player, allowing him to shutdown a quarterback that tries to roll out of the pocket in one direction or another. This can also be effective on shutting down running plays. Players can also trigger Smart Zone coverage plays, dropping backs near the first down marker to quickly break up passes.
Adjustments have also been made to the Dynasty mode to make it a deeper experience for players. The pre-season has been redone with some new adjustments: players can now immediately redshirt players to extend their development underneath your team's system. This isn't simply for academic reasons either; players can also classify someone as a medical redshirt if they wind up getting injured early to preserve their eligibility. Players can customize their season schedule, making it tougher or easier for their team to be successful during the year. Pre-season recruiting has also been re-done, with a new focus on targeting the best prospects that will fill your teams needs as best as possible. Coaches will be able to now assign specific activities for these prospective students to check out when they make official visits to campuses, such as checking out the surrounding area or going over playbooks with a player. Incoming players will also make specific demands, such as wanting a certain number or amount of playtime for the next season. If a coach promises these items to a player, he'd better be prepared to fulfill these promises or he'll see that athlete transfer out of his program and the school's integrity rating take a hit.
<!-- start image div -->http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/795/795829/ncaa-football-08--20070611060327357-000.jpg (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/img_4616977.html)Make big plays like this in Points Pursuit and watch your score soar.
<!--- end image div -->While Campus Legend mode does make a return to NCAA 08, the newest game mode is called Points Pursuit. Although the gameplay is somewhat standard to a traditional football game, there's a bit of an arcade bend to the rules. For one thing, the score that typically determines a winner and loser doesn't matter; in place of that system, the game evaluates your progress and gives you points based on things like the amount of yards that you gain or lose, big plays made or user made actions. For example, if you manage to create a user sack or interception, that's worth more points than if a computerized player performs these deeds. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Players can also receive game ball multipliers every so often that double, triple or quadruple the amount of points that can be received on either side of the ball.
Regardless of the mode that you choose to play, your progress will be tracked thanks to the new My Shrine feature. A repository of your in-game actions, your shrine is decked out with any ESPN Instant Classics games that you may have created. It also holds your pennants and trophies that you've unlocked, patches of schools that you've beaten, and a report card on your playing style. This report card is created based on how you perform five game criteria: passing, catching, running, tackling and covering. Players can also check out highlights of their most memorable plays by checking out their personal photo album. At any time during a replay, a player can take a snapshot of a big hit or incredible run and save that picture to be placed in your shrine, allowing you to relive your glory days. We'll have more on NCAA Football soon.
Source (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/795/795829p1.html)
Images (http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/890/890435/imgs_1.html)