Yet another EA fumble...
The NCAA Football fan base is split between two sides. One side is the hardcore college football fans who want a sim-style game ala Madden. The other side is the casual football fans who get bored if they don't win by 50 every game (by exploiting the horrible A.I.). Sorry hardcare fans, we are out numbered. But hey we might live long enough to see EA actually FIX their gameplay bugs. (I know wishful thinking)
OK back to the 09 game. Same old problems. Horrible defensive A.I., generic playbooks, depth chart bugs, etc...But by far the biggest frustration lies with playing defense. Your defenders will always allow one receiver to run open. Of course that receiver will catch the ball every time. All you have to do is run some sort of crossing route and you will be guaranteed to have an easy completion. It does not matter what defense you call. It does not matter if you call press or zone. There will always be open receivers period. Basically your defenders are "dumbed down" and suddenly get slow when they are trying to cover a receiver laterally. Of course you can't see the outside receivers (thanks to the limited camera options) when the ball is snapped so you can't see how they get open as the play unfolds. All you see is a receiver streaking across the field (when they get into your camera range) and your defender or defenders trailing behind (not matter the speed ratings). Of course the result is high scoring games. Never at any time do you get the feeling that you can stop the offense. You basically have to rely on getting an INT, penalty, fumble recovery, or hope the opponent will start conservative play calling. (Did I mention the pass rush is non-existent.)
The gameplay cannot be any more unrealistic. But hey, EA has to entertain those 13 year olds. The bottom line is that this game should have never left testing with all the bugs and flaws that are still present. (They still test right??) It's just shocking to see how many bugs this game has. Stat bugs, drive summary bugs, unrealistic stats etc... I'm not even going to go into the online glitches....too many to mention. It's pathetic that we can discover these countless bugs and errors that their testers should have caught. Unless those testers just don't know anything about college football, which really looks like that is the case these days.
Sadly, us hardcore fans are going to have to play Madden to get some realism, while the casual fans will enjoy the scoring spree, riding the glitch pony all the way home. Do yourself a favor and save your $60 for a good game, unless you think the roster update is worth it.