I’m what you could call a college football-aholic. During a recent house cleaning before a garage sale, my wife found a box that had every NCAA Football game dating back to 1997, and she had no reason why I bothered saving ’em. To be honest, I’m not sure why I did either, but this is one of my best-loved franchises in the sports gaming genre. After what I felt was a fairly lackluster entry into this “next-gen” of gaming systems last year, I was waiting for something special with ’08.
After popping the game into the tray at about 12:15 a.m. (yes, I was one of the loonies who had to go get the game at midnight), I first dropped into game in the “Play Now” mode, because more than anything, I wanted to see the gameplay. My first impression was that the 60 frames per second that the game was running at made it a game that was very easy on the eyes. Combined with the added animations, from a strictly visual experience, NCAA ’08 was a vast improvement over previous versions and made the game fun to watch.
The incredible detail on stadiums has never failed to amaze me. Watching a stadium go from late afternoon to evening is something you definitely notice, as the shadows on the field change and the sun sets. A great tie-in with The Weather Channel allows players connected to Xbox Live to have real-time weather for their games. I’ve read some criticism of the game that EA did not take the time to add referees, cheerleaders and coaches, and that the models for players on the sidelines were subpar. While those things may indeed be lacking, I had no qualms with the fact that they were not part of the game, simply because they don’t detract a bit from the actual game, which to me, is why I’m playing.
If I have an issue with the gameplay, it was simply an adjustment to the manner in which you select plays. It felt very unintuitive to someone who has played the series for years. However, I watched a friend of mine who was not a long-time fan adapt very quickly, simply because he was able to find variations of formations with ease and make simple changes, such as using a back-up RB or swapping a WR from one side to the other, with a simple key press. With more time getting used to it, I’ve found that I’m starting to like it; although, it still has a clunky feeling to it.
The heart and soul of this series has always been its Dynasty mode, in which up to 12 people can become the head coach and coach and recruit new players for their favorite team. With a deep breath, I dove into this mode, which I have spent countless days in previous versions, engrossed in building my football team. Perhaps the most important part of this mode is Recruiting. All 119 Division 1 schools are rated on multiple categories, such as academics, pro factory, tradition, coach experience and others. These are the different things that are pitched to literally thousands of high school players during the season as you try to handpick talent.
You’ll begin by looking at your roster and determining what your upcoming needs will be, and then picking 35 high school players to actively recruit. Since these players will be aware of their standing on your “board,” ranking them according to need is going to be very important. It would be easy to spend an hour or two just on this part of the game and can be very daunting for someone who just wants to dive in and play in this mode.
During the season, you’ll be playing games, adjusting your roster and depth chart, and spending time talking to recruits every week. As weeks progress, recruits will consider coming to visit, and you’ll be finding out what is important to them, and hopefully, your schools strengths will match their desires as players. You’ll watch your team progress thru the rankings, hopefully toward the top bowl games and an eventual BCS National Championship. The ESPN.com style presentation in the game is actually pretty neat, since you’ll be able to see weekly top performers, big conference games and headlines for national games, as well as your headline stories from week to week.
New to the ’08 Xbox 360 version of the game is the Campus Legend mode, which has been a staple of the PS2 and Xbox versions for a few years. I’ve never been a fan of this mode, simply because I like the hands on control of a team, and I enjoy doing the recruiting. In the past, in this mode, you would do some drills, which would rate your player, see what schools offered you a scholarship, and then go to school and play football, trying to manage your studies, popularity and skill on the field.
This year, they added a twist. Instead of drills, you have an opportunity to play thru your State High School Football Championship, which means you have four tournament-style games to play, win and advance or lose and go home. Your performance in these games is how your player will be rated, and instead of playing as the QB, you will only be playing as your player. Odd at first, it felt great in a few minutes, as you see the play your coach picks and then you follow out the assignment once the ball is snapped. After the game, a list of colleges in attendance is presented to you, and when the tournament is finally resolved, you’ll have a choice of colleges to attend. Playing only as yourself is made easy with the new Super Sim mode— basically, if you are not on the field, the game simulates things along, and so a game can be completed extremely quickly.
On the whole, I’ve enjoyed my time with NCAA Football ’08. The game is an improvement over the ’07 version, but it doesn’t improve by leaps and bounds. Most of the improvements are fairly small, but they are definitely noticed. The online experience has been somewhat of a disappointment, with lag being prevalent in too many games, no support for online leagues, and the one feature I’d love to see: online dynasties. Having said that, I’d easily recommend the game to anyone who was a past fan of the series — or a fan of football games in general. The learning curve with either the Campus Legend mode or the regular game is not large, but Dynasty mode is going to take quite a bit of patience for someone who is picking up the series for the very first time.
