Providing an Online Dynasty mode to keep gamers entrenched in their favorite college football team, NCAA Football 09 turned out to be a quality sports title. While ignoring that the gameplay has changed very little, this year’s NCAA Football from EA Sports delivered an Online Dynasty mode that supports up to 12 players.
Setting up the online dynasty couldn’t have been easier. One player must represent the league’s commissioner to set up the rules and difficulty level, and then he/she must send out the player invites to their friends. Players are then able to choose from any Division 1A school they’d like. With the ability to play up to 60 in-game years, players will have a lot of time to compete against one another. But if a player does become tired of playing and quits on the league, adding a new player is a cinch with just sending an invite and incorporating them into the league.
On top of playing against one another, the commissioner has the ability to boot players who are lazy and never play or they could just advance a week ahead of time. Lastly, a recommendation for the commissioners who want more competitive and quality leagues is for them to change the team schedules so that all twelve players face off against one another. Custom rosters now can be shared online. What this effectively means is players who decide to rename all their favorite college players can take it online and share with the world. There are already a few files online that allow players to download all the exact names for every major team in the game. It’s much better to play with a team that has its roster named then one that doesn’t.
One interesting aspect that I am sure will have people picking teams with good quarterbacks is home-field advantage. If, lets say, you are playing in The Big House of Michigan, and the crowd is rowdy, you best have a primed and ready quarterback under the snap or else he’ll collapse under pressure. If you pull up the play before you are about to snap on the road when it’s hostile, you’ll come across your play that’ll have lines crisscrossing and players with question marks above their heads. It’s fun and definitely adds authenticity to playing a real NCAA game.
Outside of those few additions, NCAA Football 09 remains practically unchanged. Sure players can celebrate with their team mascot after a touchdown, but for the most part, they are repetitive and annoying, especially for the team who gave up the touchdown. Returning this year is the Campus Legend mode but it doesn’t provide any real thrills like it should have. Outside of selecting options within a menu to determine your player’s attributes, the Campus Legend mode is still weak and only offers a few season’s worth of entertainment.
The changes in gameplay seem to be for the worse as it was easier to break tackles, juke and spin off the opposing team, and succeed at running back kick offs for touchdowns. Not only that, it felt like as if every time I threw a bomb down the field, my receiver would burn the defender and make the miracle catch. While this is all fine and dandy, the competition I was playing against didn’t enjoy it too much. Looking back though, NCAA Football 09’s addition of the Online Dynasty mode unquestionably saved this game from mediocrity. At least offline co-op play is back to allow up to four players to play together – without that, friends and family wouldn’t be able to share the fun on one console.
