One giant leap for EA . . . backwards.
Indeed, after a couple sessions with this game, it's hard to imagine who, exactly, is the audience for this game. Does EA really believe that (as I saw someone else put it recently) soccer moms will see this on the shelf, slap the VISA down on the counter, and walk away with some NCAA football goodness for the Wii in the living room? Of course not. You cannot expand your base without also holding onto your core, which is a lesson sadly lost on the development team responsible for NCAA Football 09 All Play.
The litany of faults is almost too extensive to recap here. Suffice to say that if you expect a deep simulation, you will be disappointed by the abbreviated dynasty mode and lack of campus legend. If you last picked up a video game in the mid 90s, and you want to see how graphics have progressed since the N64 era . . . you, will be disappointed. If you owned NCAA 04 or 05 for the Gamecube, and are looking to see what improvements have been achieved over the past 3-4 years, such as whether EA has taken advantage of the Wii's substantially improved (over Gamecube) online capabilities . . . you, too, will be disappointed. If you're looking to see some of the attention to detail that allows NCAA Football 09 on the other systems to faithfully re-create the college atmosphere loved by so many fans of the sport . . . you guessed it, you will be disappointed.
The sad fact is that you'll be hard pressed to find any area where NCAA Football 09 All Play outshines its predecessor from several years ago on Gamecube. Not only does NCAA Football 09 All Play not do anything that NCAA 05 did not, it also looks worse doing it. Many gamers have notedthat the graphics and presentation of NCAA Football 09 All Play represent a clear step *backward* from the earlier Gamecube releases.
Of course, not everyone is familiar with previous releases of NCAA football. For some folks, NCAA Football 09 might be acceptable - even if it fails to improve on Madden 08's gameplay and represents a step backwards graphically. Frankly, EA had better hope that there are a lot of those people.
I give it a 4.5 because, as others have noted, it isn't as though it's completely broken. It can be enjoyed by those select few who are willing to look past its legion faults. If the review has seemed more critical than the score, it's because there's an important message that needs to be sent, which is frankly more important than recounting this game's few successes.
Bottom Line: I'm going to offer some advice to EA, and I'm not going to charge anything for it. Because if they do succeed in acquiring 2K, the future of sports games on the Wii depends on it.
The way you broaden your base is to make games that keep your core audience interested, while integrating less intensive, more intuitive control schemes that allow others to join in on the fun. That's the only way it will work. If you try to appeal to the lowest common denominator, you not only insult your longtime fans, but you give your new casual audience no reason to spend the $20 more than they would need to spend on a "Backyard Sports" title. The sooner EA realizes this, the more likely they'll be able to save "All Play" from ignominious failure.