NCAA 2004 Gamecube - Everyday can be Saturday!
Written: Aug 18 '03 (Updated Aug 18 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Dynasty Mode, recruiting, fun fun fun.
Cons: Lee Corso? He's not that bad.
The Bottom Line: More proof college football is a gift from God.
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| rice75's Full Review: NCAA Football 2004 for GameCube |
I am passionate about a few things, but when it comes to college football, I’m more than passionate. Obsessed? Perhaps. But from the last weekend of August until the first week of January, come Saturday I am glued to the TV, soaking in all the college football I can. Of course, the Ohio State Buckeyes are my #1 team, but I enjoy watching any of the 117 Division 1-A teams play. There is something about the fall air, the feeling of “getting back to business”, the sound of Keith Jackson’s “whoa, Nellie!”. Brats and (root)beer. It just doesn’t get any better.
With EA Sports NCAA 2004 Football, it actually can get better, because with this game, it can be Saturday everyday. EA is known for its annual Madden offering, which often is the cause for NCAA 2004 Football getting overlooked. This year’s offering is again in the shadows of the Vick-endorsed Madden, but it certainly shouldn’t be shrugged off. This game is for real.
The most important aspect of a sports game is how well the gameplay reflects the sport. NCAA 2004 Football does a great job recreating the game of football. Sound is great, graphics top-notch and the control is superb. But perhaps the deepest offering of gameplay is the assortment of game types that are available.
There are plenty of games to keep fans happy. The simplest game type is the “Play Now” mode, which lets you jump right in and get your game on with your favorite team. This is just your basic football game, no frills attached. There is the “Rivalry” mode which allows you to recreate the various storied rivalries in college football. There is the requisite OSU vs. UM game, the Army/Navy game, the USC/ND game and countless others. You can recreate historic moments in college history playing the “College Classics” mode. There’s even the humorous Mascot game where you team is made up of eleven mascots. This mode is funny for a couple games but is really not that great.
These game types are great, but there’s one mode that trumps them all: Dynasty Mode. Dynasty mode is where it’s at. This type of game is pretty common in EA Sports games but it is full blown in NCAA 2004 Football. You can take your favorite school and help them maintain their greatness or help them rise to the top of the college world, or you can create your own school, complete with customized logos, uniforms and stadium. You can customize how good your school starts off (its “prestige) which affects your team’s abilities. It ranges from “cupcake” (one star of prestige) to juggernaut (six stars). As your team gets better, you’ll be awarded with more stars. You can put your new school into an existing conference, replacing an existing team, or you can play as an independent, hoping that your good performance will get you invited to a top-tier conference.
You have almost complete control over every aspect of your dynasty. You can set depth charts, red shirt players, set your personal non-conference schedule, simulate or play any game, and finally recruit players at the end of the season. Playing a full season can take as long or as short as you want. You can play each game your team plays or you can simulate games.
During the regular season, you can play as many games as you want, watching the season progress. After each week, you can read “Sports Illustrated” which gives you the breakdown of the Top 25, players of the week, Heisman watch, and many others. Perform well that week and you can get your team on the cover. It was exciting to see sophomore defensive end “Tony Rice”, playing for Tony Rice University, grace the cover of an issue of SI. It really adds an enjoyable aspect to the game.
As the season continues further, SI gives you updates on the BCS standings, Award finalists (awards like the Heisman, the Maxwell award, etc). When the regular season ends, awards are given out, there are the conference championships and finally the year end bowl games. When the bowls are over and the season has ended, the real fun begins. It’s recruiting time!
The recruiting aspect of dynasty mode is by far the best part of NCAA 2004 Football. Depending on your prestige (number of stars) and your previous season’s record you are allotted a certain number of recruiting points. Then you can go through the fifty states (and Canada) looking for your next Maurice Clarett or Carson Palmer. Each recruit is graded on a one-to-five star grading. Obviously, a five star recruit is the cream of the crop and it goes down from there. You can inspect each player you’re interested in and you’ll have a list of abilities your player has. For example, if your recruiting a QB, you be able to see what type of passer he is (pocket-passer, scrambler, balanced) is 40-yd dash time, his arm strength and pass accuracy, his GPA and other aspects. These values will affect the player’s ratings in the actual game. Then you will see how interested he is in your school, along with his top three schools at that point in time. Depending on how interested he is in coming to your school and how close he is geographically determines how many recruiting points you can spend on him. You can do one of four things: head coach visit, asst. coach visit, or a phone call from either the head coach or asst. coach. Then you can use four different pitches to get him to go to your school. You can pitch school prestige (not a good idea if you’re a cupcake with one start), location (not always the best choice for out of state players), playing time (sometimes a selling point, sometimes not) or coaching style. As recruiting begins, you’ll have a list of interested players, so you can go after these guys first and then go after other players once you’ve landed those guys. After you’ve used up all your points, you simulate the week (there are five recruiting weeks) and then do it all over again. Each week, players will make their decisions and sign with a team. Hopefully it’ll be yours!
After recruiting, your existing players train in the off-season, getting stronger, faster and smarter. There’s an added realism in that one of the ratings of a player, AWR (awareness), starts off low as a freshman and then increases each year. Your player really does mature. A high AWR rating makes a big difference. After you’ve trained, cut players and set the depth chart, you’re ready to start another season. You can red-shirt players before the season starts, ensuring you have top-notch players ready to play the next year.
As you can tell, I love the recruiting aspect of the game. It is a game in and of itself.
As far as the rest of the game goes, everything else is great, and on top of gameplay, that’s pure gravy. Graphics are on par with Madden graphics, with the simple exception of recognizable faces. The uniforms, stadiums, and playing fields are faithfully reproduced. The animations and slow motion instant replays are a treat to watch. They faithfully reproduce the game we love. One of my main gripes, though, has to do with the graphics. The models aren’t “solid”. Too often you see a player walk through an umpire, a down marker or another player. It seems like they can fix this with a little simple code. When you have great game like this, you tend to nit-pick, but it does bother me a bit.
Sound is pretty good. Unfortunately, commentated video games invariably become repetitive and monotous, but with Brad Nessler, Lee Corso (not my favorite, but okay), and Kirk Herbstreit (King of Columbus, ex-Buckeye) the commentary is pretty fun. On occasion the comment will be way off base, but it’s usually relevant to what is happening in the game. Luckily, only regional and national broadcasts are commentated by these guys, so your basic local game will only have the PA announcer (is that an oxymoron?) call the game. That is actually a blessing, since he just tells you the pertinent information and you can move on from there. All the fight songs sound great, and there is the added sounds of various school crowds, like the OSU fans chanting “O-H!” “I-O!” or the FSU fans doing the tomahawk chop. The ambient sounds are great.
Control is tight! If you’ve played Madden, the game play hasn’t changed much. I love to run the option, and the controls are great. You can sprint, spin, hurdle, stiff arm and juke defenders. The juke button is pressure sensitive, as are the passes. Tap a receiver’s button and you’ll get a timing pass and press and hold the same button and you’ll get throw a frozen rope. Defensive controls are equally well integrated.
The computer’s AI is can pretty tough. Run the ball over and over right tackle, the computer will shift its D-line to the right, stuffing your running back. Pass too many times in a row, the computer will fall back into zones and pick you off left and right. You can still trick the computer with a half back pass or option pass, but you’ve got to execute it perfectly our you’ll be looking at second and long.
What more can I say? I am enthralled by NCAA 2004 Football. It hasn’t left my Gamecube since the day it was released, and I can't see anything in the next couple months (except maybe Soul Calibur or Viewtiful Joe) replacing it. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I asked the guy at my local Video Game Store, and he told me told me they’re selling more NCAA 2004 Football than Madden 2004. And now with Vick sidelined, it’s time to go out and get your copy of NCAA 2004 Football!
Recommended:
Yes
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rice75
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Member: Tony Rice
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 72
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