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> Results: NCAA Football 08
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If you're a football fan your heart beats a little quicker this time of year. Sure, it's still summertime but the release of EA Sport's "NCAA Football" always kicks off a flood of football related events. Soon the NFL preseason will begin, then Madden is released, then kids head off to College, then the NFL season starts, and then the College season starts, and before you know it, it's Bowl season! Fans are ready. For gridiron gamers, the football season begins with the release of EA's College game.
Each year, and this year is no exception, Madden gets most of the tweaks, improvements, and coverage. That's fine because College football is for purists. In the real game the coaches adhere to the most fundamental stratagems in the game, the rules are more basic, the playbook a bit smaller, and the superhuman athletes are fewer and farther between. Each team is lucky if they have a handful of NFL draft prospects on their roster so it's play calling, rather than play making, that marks the College game. Plus there are so many schools, so many teams, so many titles, and the result is a fanbase more rabid and enthusiastic than even fan-towns like Cleveland or Green Bay can boast. The playbooks are expanded, with more than a few clever trick plays to choose from. The kind of plays that can help you win big or blow up in your face. They tweaked the already deep and massive dynasty mode. In a nutshell, dynasty mode lets you create or play a coach, and handle the team for a set number of years (provided you aren't ridden out of town on a rail). The sound is superb and the graphics are too. The color commentary from Nick Corso is a love it or loathe it proposition but that's a pretty good definition for a color commentator. One problem is that the calls and advice are wacky at times. I was up by four touchdowns and Corso tells me this is a close game. Right. Overall presentation is stellar, and the game has you pick your favorite school and then presents the game in that schools colors fight song, and information. This makes starting the game, especially with friends and rivals nearby, a source of alumni (or in my case wishful alumni) pride. Oh, and expect to hear marching bands while playing. So many stadiums, mascots and most of the famous teams even have their familiar fight songs. "On Wisconsin" indeed! If football means younger players, exposed calves, few superstars and an emphasis on team play and tradition abandon Madden. Here's your gridiron classic.  
GamerDad believes sports games are among the best to play with kids. Competition and complexity intertwine beautifully in video-Football and EA Sports does everything possible to teach the game to new players. Parent and child can even play co-op versus friends or the AI, and bond throughout a long season of play.
This review edited by Michael Anderson Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: NCAA Football 08 |
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