Every week the SportsGamer staff and community writers will discuss different topics to sound-off on. This week we take a look at NCAA Football 09 and Madden 09. After months of playing both titles, it’s now time to determine which game was king of the virtual gridiron. Which game did you think was better? Let us know in our forums by voting in our poll.
Staff Member: Moz
- Two words could sum this up for me… Online and Dynasty. Yes, there are issues but it has really made the NCAA series even more enjoyable for me. Madden is, well Madden. It's better this year but I imagine if Online Franchise was implemented I would play it more than I currently do. I'm going to have to go with NCAA and I imagine a lot of others will agree with me.
Community Writer: MackenGFX
- I agree with Moz, Online Dynasty was a great addition to the NCAA series. This was something that took NCAA a step above Madden. With my entire dynasty's getting restarted, I thought Madden did a good job of improving gameplay but my vote is leaning towards NCAA.
Community Writer: Poutliper
- Madden has always been able to be the franchise game for EA Sports. Name alone has been able to lure in customers. The trend began about 2 years ago when NCAA was slowly becoming the better game. I'd say hands down NCAA was the better title in 2009. The dynasty mode is so in-depth compared to franchise mode that people who mainly play for that aspect tend to lean towards NCAA
over Madden. This is going to continue until Madden revamps their franchise mode.
Community Writer: LucianoJ
- I am one of the few, the proud, to buy a copy of Madden 09 on original Xbox. The Madden series got me started, but over the years I've been a bigger NCAA fan. NCAA Football 09 is one of the games I bought a PS3 for, and one of the games I buy every year. While Madden got a face lift and a number of tweaks, it's not enough to win me over. I am still disappointed with next gen NCAA Football 09. It seems unbalanced, with QBs being too accurate, terrible CPU play-calling, the botched option game, the non-existent pass rush, and the way the D-line gets flipped as if they were a hundred pounds lighter. The game looks good, but the difference in foot speed when someone is in pursuit, as well as the choppy way guys run in the open field, should have been corrected in beta testing. People are accustomed to a different level of presentation, too. Coin flips, coaches and refs, pre-game and post-game visuals, and more ESPN content is missing. Why not have Erin Andrews on the sidelines, or at least doing some kind of voiceovers, like she did for March Madness? Any of the sideline reporters could add something. Next year, this will all have to be added on, or else more people are going to be saying how much better PS2/Xbox was.I will go out and rent Madden today to pick up the differences so I don't seem like a total unbalanced NCAA fan boy. I've read plenty of reviews so I know what to look for and what is new, but I don't want to pass judgment based on what I read. The toughest job EA has is to satisfy former football players who want these two games to be sims, while satisfying the crowd who wants more of an arcade, high scoring shootout. The NCAA/Madden crowd is probably older and more experienced at these games. They may be harder to please, but still keep buying at least one football game.
Staff Member: ‘Sider
- Online Dynasty seems to be a fan favorite here. I’m much more interested in the Madden series since my interests lean towards professional football rather than the collegiate level. Not taking away from the leaps and bounds that NCAA made this year, I just feel like playing Madden improves my skills with the Virtual Trainer each game. You can no longer blame the computer for mistakes that are clearly caused by the user’s skills. Plus, I play more of my games with friends over at my house and the REWIND function is something we use for an advantage by getting in the other persons head. Will my great INT be brought back? Will that long bomb for the game winner get revoked at the hands of my opponent? Madden is still king for me.
Community Manager: Fred
- Through the years NCAA Football has always taken a back seat once Madden dropped. Come July, NCAA simply got me into football mode before the "real" football game hit stores. This year that all changed for the first time. Like the others have mentioned, Online Dynasty mode has made me want to play this game more than ever. After the initial release, I have rarely played Madden. I'm not sure why. It could be because it's virtually the same game with no real additions. NCAA on the other hand has implemented what is
probably the best addition to a sports game this year in Online Dynasty. I've been running an all Big 10 team dynasty since August, and not once have I thought about stopping. We are currently in the off-season, and will start season 2 in the next couple of days. The NCAA development team really out did themselves by adding this. It does have a few bugs. But in the end the ability to recruit, play, and talk smack with others in dynasty mode, far outweighs any bugs in the system.
Staff Member: HustlinOwl
- It was an easy decision for me going into this football season. With the addition of Online Dynasty NCAA seems to be the only game for me here on out. This was the first year that I did not purchase Madden. I played a couple of games around the start of the football season at my brother's house, but was not convinced to purchase Madden. I to, like Fred, started on online dynasty, but on the PS3 and it started out very well, but seemed to lose interest halfway through the second season. The online Dynasty is like crack and now with EASW launching online dynasties via the web makes that much more appealing. Granted it is very limited, but you do not have to turn on the game to see where members are at with the weekly assignments.
Staff Member: Masta Solidus
- By and large, NCAA Football is the better of the two football games this year. The atmosphere is better, the play calling system is more robust, and everything else is a dead heat. To me, NCAA football translates better to a game than NFL football anyway, and the new additions to the game in 09 made it the hands down the best this year.
