The first NCAA Football game to hit the Nintendo
Wii, NCAA Football 2009 is set to offer a different experience, courtesy of EA
Sport’s All Play brand. The basic concept behind the All-Play moniker is that it
allows anyone to pick up and have a good time with the game and with its
controls, and that design philosophy has been passed down to NCAA Football 2009
on the Wii. The game is a markedly different experience from the PS3 and Xbox
360, with new features and control elements built from the ground up for the Wii
and the system’s core audience. There’s even a way to control the game
completely with the Wii-mote, while the AI will handle your player’s movement
and you doing the rest. All in all, NCAA Football 2009 for the Wii will be a
nice way for all types of gamers to get into college football, regardless of
skill level.
The controls are one of the most important
elements in NCAA Football 2009. They have been given some versatility, meaning
that while newcomers and more casual gamers will be able to play the game with
simplified controls, while more seasoned fans will be able to play with the same
kind of controls that they’ve grown accustomed to with the Madden games on Wii.
Advanced users can perform moves like fake snaps and so on, adding a deeper
element for them.
Aside from the control scheme, the game has some
additional Wii-centric features. The game will use players’ Miis for certain
elements, like the Refer-mii (a Mii Referee) and so on. You’ll also be able to
perform a celebration dance in the end zone by shaking around the Wii-mote,
causing your player to celebrate. One of the biggest exclusives in the Wii
version is the Mascot Game, where you can pick from 80 different teams composed
entirely of mascots and take on another such team.
With NCAA Football 2009, the developers are
focusing on making the experience a lot more social for the Wii. Whereas the PS3
and Xbox 360 versions will deal mostly with the one or two-player experience,
the Wii version will focus on offering compelling four-player gameplay, lending
itself to a more party-type atmosphere than other football titles on the market.
One of the ways that the game will do this is by allowing players to drop into a
game whenever they want, taking over a team and challenging the other player.
This pick-up drop-in style of gameplay is a nice touch to the NCAA Football
formula, especially with the new multiplayer focus.
NCAA Football 2009 is turning out to be a very
unique experience geared towards the Wii’s core audience, providing plenty of
incentive for gamers both hardcore and casual to take the plunge.
