NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event Recap - Part III: Impressions (9/19)

[cdj]

NCAA Basketball 09 Community Event Recap - Part III: Final Impressions & Thoughts

Layout of Community Event – First off, I’d like to thank EA Canada Content & Community Leader Marcus Stephenson for organizing this event and also the NCAA Basketball development team for meeting with us and being open to hearing our feedback and thoughts. Not playing the game at all on day one may not seem exciting, but being able to hear producers explain what features are in the game (and why), their thoughts on the franchise, and also taking our feedback (positive and negative) is a process I hope takes place at more community events. They have made it very easy for attendees to go back and tell the community their feedback is heard and implemented when they show us direct quotes from community members found in threads, wish lists, etc. I hope they continue this in blogs leading up to the release of the game.

Gameplay – Right off the bat, the new engine (from NBA Live) has helped eliminate two of the biggest issues found in March Madness 08 – poor ball physics and a poor rebounding system. The game plays faster and smoother than MM08.

The NCAA Basketball team has put a focus on making the game play as accurate as possible the last two years, making the big feature addition each year gameplay related. While it would have been easy for them to respond to the slow, sluggish March Madness 08 with a run & gun, completely offensive minded feature in NCAA Basketball 09 to attract the casual crowd, the team responded with a feature that makes gamers play to their team’s strengths.

Making cross-court passes is ill-advised in this game. You must make smart passes or they will be picked off. Beating the press takes work. It can be done, but it takes patience and smart passing & correct ball movement; as in real-life.

As stated in the earlier reports, the team has put a focus on making the offense & defense play as realistic as possible, while still being a fun video game.

With the addition of the NABC license, NCAA Basketball has put a focus on getting each team to play like their real-life counterparts. Tennessee & Memphis will push the ball up the floor and apply full-court pressure defense, Colorado will run a half-court offense, Syracuse utilizes the 2-3 defense, etc.

Game Tempo Control - During the presentation on day one, this feature sounded gimmicky and several attendees wondered how this feature would appear when actually playing the game. However, after playing the game this feature works as intended. It stresses that gamers execute a gameplan that matches their roster. No longer can people just run and gun (shoot 3s and press all-day), if it doesn’t fit their personnel. The Game Tempo Control helps reflect the game pace and reminds gamers via Coach Feedback about their gameplan and to stick with it.

Drawbacks/Concerns – While many community wishes were addressed with this title, there are still some concerns in the game. In no particular order:

- Lack of an addicting secondary feature. While the focus was on gameplay (and rightfully so), NCAA Basketball may get lost in the shuffle with the lack of a feature such as Online Team Play or Campus Legend. EA franchises such as NBA Live (Online Team Play), NCAA Football (Online Dynasty, Campus Legend), & NHL (OTP, Be A Pro, EA Sports Hockey League) have seen their life-spans grow with several new features added in the last year or two. While NCAA Basketball plays a very good game of college basketball, I am concerned it lacks an overall feature with ‘punch.’ Hardcore basketball fans will enjoy what NCAA Basketball offers, but I am not sure how long casual fans will stick with it.

- No named rosters online. Despite Locker 3.0 aiding roster file sharing and the focus on optimizing online play (game connection), players online will be designated by the generic 1994-esque “SF #11.” I strongly believe the lack of names online will greatly diminish the overall number of online gamers. Adding this in may minimize the lack of an addicting feature, as people would be more inclined to play online, given the solid gameplay of the title.

- Inability to export draft classes from NCAA Basketball 09 to NBA Live 09. It’s understandable that this is not something easy to implement, but three years into next-gen basketball without a feature that aids the marketability & cohesion of both is disappointing. (This was strongly conveyed to the team at the event.)

- Lack of injuries in human-controlled games. During human vs. human Play Now games this may not be a big issue, but going the length of a season (or Dynasty) without them could be – particularly when they occur (optional) in CPU simulated games. It’s things such as injuries that make Dynasty Mode its own world or story for gamers. The lack of injuries may make Dynasty Mode seem like a series of Play Now games pieced together; not a long grueling season where gamers (‘the coach’) must persevere and overcome adversity. (However, the improvements to the pre-game presentation – showing conference standings, for example – will alleviate this concern, but only to a degree.)

NCAA Basketball 09 compared to NBA Live 09 – Keep in mind that I played NCAA Basketball for around 10 hours and Live for 10 minutes, so I will keep the comparisons brief. In limited playing time, I felt that the animations and gameplay was noticeably smoother in NCAA Basketball 09 as compared to NBA Live 09. The controls and in-game features are virtually the same, except for NBA Live 09 containing the Dynamic DNA feature and NBA Live 365.
In my opinion, NCAA Basketball 09 is the better of the two basketball titles in terms of gameplay, but lacks the depth of features NBA Live 09 has – Dynamic DNA, NBA Live 365, NBA Academy, & Online Team Play, to name a few. Personally, I can’t fault the NCAA Basketball team for this as they made gameplay their biggest priority in 09, as they should have. When I played March Madness 08 last year, my first few days were spent endlessly typing up issues with gameplay – with NCAA Basketball, that wasn’t the case. While gameplay was not perfect, the issues community attendees discussed with producers was already on their list to get addressed before release.

The team did need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, for NCAA Basketball but that isn’t the case for NCAA Basketball 2010. Next year, I believe the team can spend most of their time expanding the depth of the franchise with gameplay finally reaching a true next-gen level this year.

Overall Thoughts on the Game – Without a doubt, this is the best college basketball game EA has ever made. For those who have been diehards with the March Madness franchise, they are going to be in for a treat come December 2.

As mentioned above, the game doesn’t have the same depth or features as NBA Live 09 and understandably so. College titles lack the ability for roster updates and updated player tendencies, since they technically do not feature real-life players. This year, rapidly updated rosters are some of the main feature additions for NBA Live 09, FIFA 09, and NBA 2K9. However, NCAA Basketball will be one of the best sports titles on the market in terms of seeing your computer foe play like their real-life counterpart, something titles such as NCAA Football & Madden NFL have lacked.

The team also added in numerous items based upon community feedback: authentic schedules, PS3 at 60 FPS, NABC license, smoother online performance, and enhanced game presentation, to name a few.

The bigger question comes from those who have been College Hoops die-hards the last few years – will they enjoy this game? The game lacks some of the depth that College Hoops possessed – Coaching Carousel, assistant coaches, & All-American drills to name a few – but does have vastly improved gameplay, as well as the ability to start at a small school and work your way up the coaching ranks. The Coaching Legacy feature has been the most requested feature from College Hoops that gamers wanted to see in NCAA Basketball.

The biggest key for fans of the College Hoops franchise looking to make the move to NCAA Basketball is to play the game (rental or purchase) with an open mind. Play the game as-is and see if it offers a fun, realistic experience. Just as you wouldn’t go into a new relationship telling your current girlfriend how your previous partner made breakfast in bed and was a better cook, making non-stop comparisons to College Hoops while playing NCAA Basketball will negate the experience. While NCAA Basketball 09 lacks the depth of College Hoops 2K8, it does play a fun, realistic game of basketball with some solid features around it. Will it satisfy every wish of College Hoops fans? No. However, it has taken some steps in that direction; more than most editions in the March madness franchise could say.

EA must make it easy for College Hoops fans to make the leap and can do so by releasing tutorial videos for key gameplay features found in NCAA Basketball 09. For example, many owners of March Madness 08 did not know how to use the Dynamic Post Play feature since the tutorial existed only on gametrailers.com and not in-game. At the Community Event, several attendees stressed to the development team that they make sure tutorial videos either get into the game or get posted on the X-Box Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store before the demo is released. The features that new players may need tutorial videos on include Dynamic Post Play, Lockdown Stick, Quickstrike Anklebreakers, and Pick & Roll Control. If EA does not strive to educate new players on these features, they will be setting the game up for failure.

Overall, I am very pleased and impressed with the progress NCAA Basketball 09 has made over March Madness 08. In the week since the event, I have found myself wishing I could play the game again and that’s despite an already full plate of recently released games (NHL 09, Tiger Woods 09, etc.), which should say something about this title.

Each game has the potential to feel different than the one preceding, due to different tempos and accurate playbooks. Human vs. human games were very fun (& challenging), so there is potential for a solid online community.

Whereas in years past many wondered in what direction the game was heading, it finally feels like this franchise is back on track, and not a moment too soon.

[scdb12]

I am very excited about this game, now that teams will play like their real life counterpart we will see teams like in the Big-Ten play that slow-paced brand of basketball, and teams like in the ACC play that up-tempo fast paced brand of basketball. For example Wisconsin playing half-court offense, and North Carolina playing fast-pased high scoring offense.

[J Hall]

I find it hilarious how EA knows College Hoops is much better and doesn't try to hide it.

[OptionMasta]

Originally Posted by J Hall

I find it hilarious how EA knows College Hoops is much better and doesn't try to hide it.

I find it honorable. If you make a suck game and admit it I am more likely to buy your next effort if you are man enough to admit that you needed to change and did.

I'm actually going to buy this game this year with an open mind because it seems like they made a real concerted effort AND it's the only new college basketball game. I was planning on just sticking with CH2k8 but I will give them a chance.

Even though I am not the only consumer I think it's good strategy.