NCAA 09 vs. Madden 09

For the past couple of months, I have immersed myself into my PS3. Due to my unemployment, I really had nothing much else better to do (yes, I was also looking for a new job). With football season in full swing, my thoughts had turned to the new upcoming football games for the next-gen systems, mainly EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 and Madden 09.

First off, I'm a huge fan of the NCAA franchise. I think my first copy was NCAA Football 2000 for the old PSOne and have been sticking with it since. The Madden franchise has been more of a historical significance, taking over the reigns from the Tecmo Super Bowl series when I first purchased Madden 94 for the Super Nintendo. Purchasing Madden games has been on-and-off, only if there had been significant improvement to the gameplay. Overall, NCAA had more depth -- especially when it came down to recruiting high school players.

This year marked the first year in which I purchased both games in the same year (last time this happened was back in 2004). The NCAA game was a no-brainer, but everybody and their grandmothers were bragging up this year's version of Madden, so I'm taking a shot.

With NCAA 09, this version is probably the best I've played -- with only one hiccup: skip the Campus Legend mode. It's basically a waste of time, unless your "created player" is a quarterback or a running back. They had Campus Legend modes in the past and they were a lot better than this year's version. Go straight to the Dynasty mode.

I guess the real turn-on about the Dynasty mode is that it's not all about just playing the football game. Every week you've got to turn your attention to the recruitment of high school players. You can call them (you get 10 hours/week worth of "attention"), offer them scholarships (25/year), and set up campus visits. This is actually a lot of work, since you're already competing with blue-chip football programs across the country.

If you don't happen to sign your recruit, you can make promises to them during a 5-week period in the off-season. Some of these promises comprise of winning a conference title, getting national exposure, finishing the Top 10 in the polls, or even taking it to the ultimate promise of winning the national championship.

Something with the gameplay that I've noticed is that in some cases, it's extremely hard to win on the road. For the past few years, NCAA Football has listed the "Top 25 Places to Play" which ranks which home fields are the hardest to win in. If you know me, I always play with Michigan, so if I take trips to Notre Dame, Penn State, or Ohio State, games are going to be close.

Add all this to your old features, like travelling trophies, end of the year awards like the Heisman, the All-American lists, and just the great college atmosphere makes this game great.

As for Madden 09, there are some good things and some bad. The good include a huge graphical improvement to NCAA 09 -- the players are more detailed and the fields look a lot better. Another thing I like about Madden 09 is the new "Madden IQ" system. It takes a look your abilities in the run and pass offense, plus the run and pass defense and it basically gives you a grade. It will customize your skill level to make the game more challenging, instead of winning games 56-0 every week. I actually do see this feature carrying over to NCAA Football sometime in the future (my current "Madden IQ" level is 635, which ranks 3 out of my 4 catagories in the All-Madden level).

I'm "so-so" on one thing in Madden 09, which is the "Rewind" feature. If you mess up, like throw a pick or give up the long ball for a TD, you can use the "Rewind" to basically do over that play. Usually the game gives you 1 of these per game, but the number of the rewinds are customizable. I personally don't use them.

The bad: the commentary. This differs from the PS2 version, which Al Michaels and John Madden are featured on that version. Unfortunately for us PS3 owner, we're stuck with a bland Tom Hammond and the always-sucky Cris Collinsworth. The NCAA version features Brad Nessler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstreit -- which are very good in my book. I don't even get sick of Corso's comments.

With the Franchise mode in Madden 09, you have complete control of your team. This includes payroll (managing the salary cap), scouting college players for the draft, and dealing with injuries, free agency, trade deadlines, etc. It's all been there in the past, so it's nothing new.

Overall, the NCAA Football franchise has an obvious edge ... but I would like to say that you're missing out if you're not playing Madden 09. It's a tough call, but with this year's version, I probably won't buy Madden '10.

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To give you a little background, this is how I play the games:

• I let Lee Corso or John Madden pick the plays, offensively and defensively. I do this because I can get a full-range of the plays and can better learn offenses. Otherwise, I'm just sticking with "bread-n-butter" plays. Obviously I can veto their picks, but that is seldom. I usually do this on defense, since sometimes it seems I can play a team better in man-to-man, and another team on zone.
• Very rarely do I control my players. The only ones I control are the quarterback and the running back. If a receiver catches a ball, the CPU takes over. The defense and special teams play themselves. Otherwise, it just gets too easy.

So far with my Dynasty/Franchise:

• I'm in my sixth season with the University of Michigan. I've won the past two national championships and have lost a total of 4 games (2 against Penn State).
• I have an undefeated record against Michigan's rivals (Notre Dame, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Michigan State).
• I have not won the Heisman. I've had one finalist, but he finished 4th in the voting. But lately, my defensive backs are studs: winning the past 4 Thorpe Awards.
• I have had the top recruiting classes the past 3 seasons.
• Despite my contract with Michigan (which I'm currently in the last year of), I have been receiving offers from universities like Florida, Florida State, USC, and Ohio State. I've been eyeing the SEC as my next destination.
• Michigan Stadium is the 2nd toughest place for opposing teams to win a game in (behind Oklahoma).
• I've currently a 1-2 record with the Minnesota Vikings (first season). My offense is almost like the one you see on TV on Sunday afternoons.