As mentioned early, the biggest addition to the gameplay is the ability to break in and out of animations, but the improvements don’t stop there. EA has brought back home field advantage and it can have some pretty interesting effects on your players. On third down and fourth down plays the crowd will get louder than ever and mess with the head of your quarterback. It won’t be long before your quarterback forgets what button each receiver is associated with, their routes will become nothing more than shaky lines, and sometimes they can even forget their routes all together. Even the most experienced quarterbacks are susceptible to these moments, let alone a rookie quarterback. Whenever your basket case of a quarterback finally throws an interception you will be presented with five pictures of the defense and three different defensive plays. From this point you must review the pictures in a limited amount of time and choose which play they ran. Guess correctly and your quarterback will gain a valuable piece of his composer back. Guess incorrectly and your quarterback will continue to be a nervous wreck. Also, all of the game mechanics from previous years, such as the pitch, are still there and work tighter than ever thanks to the new animation system.

No presentation is complete, however, without an impressive showing in the sound department. While NCAA 09 may not deserve an A+ it is certainly more than just acceptable. The hits sound as realistic as ever and the 90,000+ fans screaming will rattle you as much as your quarterback. Sadly, EA has decided to bring back the same commentators as last year, and I know what you are about to ask. Yes, they are as bad as they were last year. For some reason, unknown to me, Corso manages to get under my skin in a way no other announcer can. I would rather listen to John Madden than this guy.

EA has also provided plenty of modes to experiment with all the different gameplay tweaks. The fan favorite, Mascot Mash-Up, is back and is as entertaining as ever. There is just something about watching a gator doing a front flip at four in the morning that never loses its pizzazz. Football themed mini-games such as bowling, tug-of-war, and horse all make an appearance and provide nice ways to pass the time if you don’t have enough to play a full game. Superstar mode is back, but not much has changed since NCAA 08. You progress the same way you did in previous titles and whatever positions you couldn’t be in 08 you still can’t be in 09. They did improve the coaching AI though. Coaches will now keep you on the field during fourth down plays when it is too long for a field goal, but too short for a punt. It isn’t much, but it’s a welcome change that should have come two years ago. Pretty much the same can be said for Dynasty mode. The only thing that has really changed is that you can have two players on the same team in this year’s version. Other than that, don’t expect anything different from the Superstar or Dynasty mode. After all, why fix something that’s not broken?