Think of Football, and what comes to your mind? Tailgating, Drinking Beer, and 60 minutes of pure action. Now add a dash of College to the mix, and what do you get? Emotion. That’s all College Football players play with Raw Emotion. The roar off the crowd after a big play, the excitement after a stop on defense, and of course the celebration after a huge upset. Thankfully, EA Sports captured all of this into one game. But does it just end up being a Prologue for the Pros?
Presentation:
As always, EA Sports is right on in this area. Of course, whats an EA Sports game without the intro of sc! reaming fans, telling me “It’s in the game.” And who doesnt enjoy them making fools out of themselves? The menu design is nice and easy to navigate. The sidebar has clips of your favorite team from the past, which are cool. The PS2 version does have some extremely long load times and save times. A few times I thought it froze because it took so long. But, Otherwise, EA Sports was right on in this area.
Sound:
Remember when I was talking about the roar of the crowd, and the celebrations? Well EA couldnt have captured it better. This crowd really pumps you up and sometimes it even seems as though it carries you to touchdowns and long scoring drives. The school-themed fight songs are a nice touch too. The only problem I had with the sound is the commentary. You’d think we three comeentators they’d find a way to not be repetitive. Well, not exactly. They always seems to say the same exact things everytime you start a game. But, its not something you cant get past.
Gameplay:
If we havent gotten it by now, the Gameplay area is where EA thrives. The controls are easy to just pickup and play. The dynasty mode is one for the ages. You can add 1-AA teams, or created teams to the dynasty. Also you can choose how long the dynasty goes for, and if the coach contracts are on. Once inside, the new “Sports Illustrated” themed cover stories are a nice touch, it’s always nice to see your team on the cover after a big win. In the offseason, I like the new refreshed Recruiting, where you earn points based on your performance, and now you can even choose which you are going to pitch about your school to the high-school player. School Prestige, Coaching Style, and Playing Time are just a few of what you can tell your recruit-hopefull about your school, and they even can tell you that coaching style isnt a big deal to them or that playing early isnt something there looking for in a school! , so all in all a very deep experience. What I really liked about this game was the online play. The voice chat is really nice add-on and the ranking system is also nice.
Replay:
The Online mode will keep you coming back for more and more. Just trying to climb up the ranking boards will keep you busy for quite some time, so will that one guy you just cant seem to beat. Also, the dynasty mode will have you playing for years, or at least until the next NCAA comes out.
Final Word:
This a very deep football sim, which can be enjoyed by big football fans, but its also easy enough for casual fans to pick up and play. However the game seems to do what college football seems to do every saturday during the season, be a prologue for the pros (Madden NFL 2004).