How the hell would I know? I have only played one game, and I am not into the whole “best ever” bit after a few minutes of play. So here are my free-form opening remarks …
As the game loaded up I was immediately put into the race for the Heisman mode thing. I am not sure why they force you to do this out of the gate, but that is what EA Sports deemed best, so it must be good for us. I created a scrambling QB; all of 6 feet, 180 pounds. I guess I did OK, but not great. Scholarship offers came in from #48 Minnesota, #49 Arkansas, and #55 Kansas State. As if I would ever consider playing for any of these teams; I signed up as a walk on for North Texas.
Just in case it needs to be said again, my favorite college teams are Georgia, Texas, and North Texas; in that order. I usually go with North Texas because there is not much of a challenge playing with a great team (in terms of video game potential) such as Georgia. I digress.
Next up I created my player profile; my ratings were not bad, but certainly not great. I think I would like to be a little faster than 78, but what can you do?
The race for the Heisman thing looks pretty interesting. You can import your dude into Madden 06, which is nothing new, but you can also become a coach in Dynasty mode, which is cool, if not a bit of a novelty.
You are then taken to your dorm, which is pretty much your NFL 2K style crib thing; I suppose. I did not mess around here (or with this mode); instead I took it back to the main menu and played a rivalry game: Georgia Tech vs. Georgia. Unfortunately the bumblebees got the better of me.
Are drop passes better compared to NCAA 2005? I think so, but I had at least 4 passes that were dropped that should have been caught (my opinion anyway). Tech ran back a punt for a TD. I am rather pissed that the who “tackle the QB while throwing” animation thing still looks to be “in the game.” I could live with this if it happened to the CPU, but while it happened to me three or four times, the CPU QB always managed to avoid such misery.
What else? Impact players are highlighted in white – kind of a shadow effect. This actually adds to the game and reminds me of Sony’s GameBreaker franchise. I missed an extra point; too soon to tell if the meter means more and/or if it is faster.
A pass interference call was levied against the CPU on a crossing pattern when their defensive back kept my player from reaching the ball! That is a minor improvement, but will actually be a huge game play enhancement if it is called on a regular basis. Your mileage may very.
You have several options once you are inside of two minutes including running a no-huddle offense and spiking the ball.
I lost 32-16; boo hiss and all that. Out of the gate, stats were more or less in line with last year (Tech / GA):
Total Yards 257 / 297
Rushes 12-106 / 19-73
Comp-ATT-TD 6-11-2 / 11-24-2
Passing Yards 151 / 224
TOP 5:50 / 10:10
Tech got several big players including a 64-yard TD pass off of a screen after three of my guys bounced off the freaking HB! Needless to say, that was ridiculous. Other highlights were a 55-yard TD pass and a 64-yard TD run (also featured several missed tackles). The only real highlight for me was a 60-yard TD strike from DJ after a timely INT with about 20 seconds left before the half, which put me up 16-14.
Interestingly enough, Tech went for 2 when the score was 20-16; not sure why because two points would not have help much. I stuffed the play, and if things did not go south from there, I think you would have to consider that a questionable call.
Too soon to reach any sort of verdict, but figured I would do my part to contribute to the yearly hype.
