NCAA 2009 for a guy who hasn't played since college...

[This is from Champ, who has been working like a beaver, and spending his off time playing this game. Ok, I really just wanted to call Champ a beaver. - B2]

Ok... knee-jerk reactions to NCAA '09 after one half on All-American... (which means most of these are totally misguided likely)

First, a few caveats:
1. I did not own or play NCAA 08, so perhaps I'm a bit behind the curve on some of this stuff... read: totally goddamn lost on most of it.
2. I am now playing the PS3 version of this game for the first time since college, the controls are somewhat foreign to me right now.
3. Some of the player ratings are a joke (KC Lopata a 58 for example, dude was only 11 for 12 last year!) but I'll try to focus more on the gameplay since messed up player ratings are nothing new.

Which brings me to my first complete gripe... the X button, which for all of eternity has been "sprint" is now "stiff-arm". This greatly annoys me as I have taken at least 6 handoffs in the backfield and promptly tried to stiff-arm nobody in particular instead of blasting towards a hole... I actually had to consult the manual to notice that R2 is now "sprint"... why this setup is better I do not know, I'm going to try playing a few games with it before I start making tweaks.

Speaking of running, not sure if this is just because it's Michigan, but uh... it's hard. Part of the problem is that I simply don't know our "strengths" yet and I definitely don't have my rotation of "go-to" plays figured out at all. The computer can't run (nothing really new there) and you can't run (although perhaps I will improve now that I know how to sprint), all in all it's difficult. I'm also not real clear on Michigan's depth chart. Minor is the starter, with Grady the second in line... I switched him with Brown who has a 94 speed rating. They appear to have Michael Shaw or somebody (Avery Horn?) listed up on the list as well at #28... I think McGuffie is #34. The freshman numbers are all mixed it up making it a little tough to know who's who. Regardless, that all said, it's hard to run... and I was playing Minnesota.

It's also not hard to throw three interceptions apparently. I think I was something around 14-19 in the first half, with three picks (throwing short passes over the middle is begging for it). Most were short passes, but I'm starting to get the scary impression that it's going to be an air it out type of game where the ball is more than likely caught, rarely dropped, and often picked if you throw into the slightest bit of coverage. Oh, and they still have Mallet in the game, he was quickly benched for who I thought was Threet [Turns out that Threet is the starting QB, and was apparently benched promptly by Champ - B2], but may very well have been Sheridan. Whomever #8 is... God, I don't even know our QB's number.... Pump fake is the R thumb stick, which I like and am very accustomed to.

Pass defense will take some time, I tried to go for two picks/breakups and both times got absolutely torched, so for the time being, I am letting the CPU handle that.

Play calling... holy hell did they change this on me, don't know if it's new this year or was last year and I just haven't seen it... but the format is totally changed and unfamiliar, it takes a while to find how you like them presented (ex. you can say, Run or Pass and then see all available plays, or you can go by formation, etc) and it takes even longer to find a play you want to run.

The playbook itself? Base 4-3 on D, and then more shotgun formations than any Michigan team has EVER featured at any point in time... ever. In fact you could probably combine all shotgun formations for all years of this franchise, and this year's playbook has more, it's going to take some getting used to.

The game itself looks great, very fluid and far less choppy than the old-gen games. They still managed to botch Michigan Stadium a bit (the visitors section is all wrong) but I've given up on those kind of details at this point. That said, is it too freakin' hard to have the team run out and touch the banner? If they do other entrances, why is that so tough? Hell just show a video clip for all I care.

There's an online-dynasty mode... which I have to figure out how it works, but sounds amazing, it may well get you and I in trouble. The game seems to have a deeper level to it in terms of playing your dynasty, etc.

It's going to take some getting used to, but the game looks good and plays nicely... after the requisite warm up period here I'll check back in with more substantive thoughts.

The latest update from Champ was regaling the tale of a stirring comeback involving a 31-7 halftime deficit. Needless to say, Champ has been enjoying the game immensely, and I've received no reports of thrown controllers, or broken TV's.