I don't know why the vids don't work when I post them here. Here's the direct link to thread for the vids.
http://www.maddennation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55194Here's pastapadres first impressions of NCAA for the 360.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pastapadre)</div><div class='quotemain'>So I'll do the same here as I am with the vids thread, updating this first post a few times and I can answer questions in here as well. Just keep in mind that the questions end of things I wont be able to really attend to until Thursday night/Friday. I may be able to grab some here and there but no guarantees as I'll be busy either at the event or working on getting stuff posted for you guys.
WednesdayI actually only got a few plays in on this game, most of the time with this was watching Marcus and Rac play. They didnt have it out at the MS event for some reason. So we'll be back on this tomorrow to grab more on it and get me playing.We had many more options to tinker with here. Longer quarters, access to instant replays, ect. As soon as I saw it the game reminded me of Madden 360. Looked very similar but streamlined in a NCAA way. The environment looked sharp and player models were slimmed down. The fields looked very good as well, in both good and bad weather.
It may look similar to Madden in a lot of ways, but it plays smoother (which isnt a surprise considering its farther along). The reaction time of the players is quicker and the players make the catches they should (including picking off a lot of them on Heisman level - dont make mistakes lol).
We saw the momentum meter at work. See it in the pic below in the lower right corner. When big plays happen the bars will fill up in for that team. Havent seen what happens when it gets completely filled yet.
The loss of Home Field Advantage was evident and disappointing. The atmosphere around the game was back to feeling bland to me.The controls look be be customizable so you can map them as you see fit. We'll have a bunch of pics on this coming from Rac later this week.We saw NCAA on neither current gen system.So overall it felt like a solid game and and in good shape for this point in development. I think people are going to be pleased with it from what Ive seen so far. But we'll get more time with it tomorrow so I can give my own thoughts on my direct play experiences.
ThursdayDid get an opportunity to get some direct time in with this game. Overall I came out of E3 more excited about it compared to when the event started. Many little details (like are being shown in some of the vids) really stood out to me. I do want to say that a good deal of them are subtle but the type of guys on the forums will probably take note in them. We liked that we saw more attitude from the players for example.My understanding is the improved playbooks were not included in the build we had on the floor. So thats not really something I can comment on.There is a new method for doing onside kicks (see the 2 vids I posted). Basically you can decide where your kicker will strike the ball, meaning you can do different types of them. I went and had him hit the ball high in order to get harder bounces and it hit off the receiving team's player and I was able to recover it. It was a very nice addition to the game.Looks like I forgot to mention that the kicking meters are the same as in Madden, in that you use the right analog stick to do them. We continued to improve in this area today but its still no gimme.There has been a lot of discussion regarding the speed of the game. I would compare it to the speed you're used to with NCAA, its faster than Madden. Its more responsive and it feels to me like you have more user control. I didnt think it was too fast personally, maybe its coming across in the vids a little more pronounced then it actually feels.As you guys have seen in some of the vids and ones that you havent seen yet
there are some really great new animations and player momentum is improved. This was probably the part of the game that impressed me the most. I cant tell you how many times we were shocked by what we saw happen lol. The defensive lineman have some really nice moves in their arsenal. I didnt get enough time to judge if they were too good or anything, but I remember a good many situations where the QB got pressured by those guys.So I've seen a lot of positive comments around the different boards and I think its warranted. My expectations were definately exceeded. Hopefully people dont get too pumped up and it turns into a letdown situation though. We really only have a small sample of time on the game so flaws and such may not be noticed. At the same time they still have an opportunity to even improve on what we saw. I'll probably drop some more thoughts in here over the coming days as I remember certain things I may have negated to mention. I'll be gone most of Friday and traveling part of Saturday, so while I'll get some things in over that time I may not have a chance to do a whole lot more until Sunday or so. Rac will be dropping his thoughts sometime Friday however so theres still a lot more to share with you all. Vids and impressions are not nearly done
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