NCAA 09 almost was a great game, but slight mistakes made the game fall just short.

User Rating: 6.5 | NCAA Basketball 09 PS3
I had high hopes for NCAA 09. I knew that with all the new additions that the game would have to improve, but i guess i was wrong. I was very impressed with the 08 version but the 09 version came up just short.

NCAA 09 built on many things that 08 presented; one of which was the graphics. The graphics in this game are stunning, so I have say that they hit there. An example is after a game is over, you can see the distcust on the losing teams face(for some reason that stood out to me). Another good aspect that i felt was improved on somewhat was the dynasty mode. The depth was extended. There are more options than before to fine tune your roster, and the overall school you are coaching. So I can say that 09 hits in some spots.

BUT, it fell short in many more. One is the overall presentation of dynasty mode. Its set up to be one big quick menu that you can control everything from, but in reality you can't. The most iportant options are tucked away in side menus that you have to search for. Also, each time you go back a menu it takes you back to the large quick menu, which can create very time consuming roster changes.

Another feature the game fell short on was the game tempo meter. The overall concepy was good, but it almost ruins the gameplay. If you have two up-tempo teams playing each other, then everythings fine but any other combonation and the gameplays horrible. If you face a balanced or half-court tempo team, all they'll do is pass the ball and you'll only have a chane to score about 40 points, which isn't even a game. They have a good idea, but it ruined the gameplay speed.

So overall, NCAA Basketball 09 is a game that has great potential, but fell just short because of drawn out games and inefficient gameplay menus.