GENRE
	Sports
	DEVELOPER
	Tiburon
	PUBLISHER
	EA Sports
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	CONNECTIVITY
	yes
	BUY NOW AT

Every time I think of college football I get a mental image of Miami Dolphins’ head coach Dave Wannstedts’ face with a staccato horn section playing in the background. Kind of like a scene out of National Lampoon’s “Animal House.” Don’t ask, but if you do catch a Miami Dolphins game this year, see if it works for you as well.

Anyway, I think that being a Canadian, I can provide a great objective perspective on this game because to Canadians, collegiate football isn’t a big thing. This translates to how most Americans see F1 racing video games. There is one clear difference though; I love sports and more importantly, I love a quality sports title regardless of the sport that it’s portraying. Hey, I loved Brunswick’s Pro Circuit Bowling on the N64 because of its incredible Pin Physics!

With that in mind, EA Sports NCAA Football 2004 presents a high pedigree. It stands on the shoulders of a giant as it is based on what I consider to be the greatest sports video game ever: Madden. With that in mind, the flavor that you’re getting from this game is the collegiate atmosphere of incredible play calling, different turns of events, and a generally different pace than the professional league “Madden” game. To use an analogy, I want you to take linguistics. Think of NCAA as a “slang” version of ‘Maddenese.’ Take it from this diehard sports fan; you are going to want to learn the NCAA football language!

visuals

The presentation of U.S. college ball is well portrayed here. With lots of cheerleaders, coaches roaming the sidelines, and well produced stadiums, you’ll find all of the college vibe here, not to mention the hundreds of teams and wily mascots. You’ll have to note that because of NCAA restrictions, players and other elements of the individual schools cannot be accurately represented. This is due to rules and regs. of the collegiate system and I find that perfectly acceptable. You can always “create” your team and change the names, because, like the mighty Montreal Canadiens, the players names may change but the tradition always remains. Go Hurricanes baby!! Sorry.

Let me get on my soapbox for a moment here. What I don’t like is that apparently the NCAA stepped in and removed a presentation idea that EA Sports had developed for NCAA football 2004. EA Sports wanted the crowd to run on the field and tear down the goalposts after a big game and the NCAA denied them saying that they didn’t condone that behavior. It’s funny that an organization that receives national television coverage and millions of subsequent dollars in profits while exploiting (more importantly-not paying) young athletes would feel that a goal post animation in a video game would be harmful. Smarten up NCAA; lose the attempt at a “polished” façade and allow EA to do what they do best. Stay out of their video games and sit back to collect your royalty checks.

The entire front end of the game is ergonomic and functional. Unlike last year’s Madden, which required a toolbox to navigate, this front end is simple and very VERY effective. You can create a school from the color of the helmets right down to the stadium set up within about five minutes. Well done.

Regarding the in-game graphic representation. I find that the play calling menus are done like its Madden counterpart in a clean and organized fashion. You’ll be able to locate that power option play in no time. The pause menu screen also offers a bevy of options to work through, all in an easy format.

In comparison to its pro cousin I can’t say that the animations are as diverse as Madden. Even the “after play” animations seem a bit sparse. However, the size of the players, the speed of the players, the pace of the game in relation to the players is excellently done. In real life, these are young kids who are much smaller than NFL players, with a varying degree of skill and a tonne of “get up and go” energy. EA sports has done a great job adapting the Madden engine to graphically convey that.

I found the in-game visuals to be well done and they manage to support all of the wild reverse, option, and trick plays in the college playbook without a hitch.

audio

Did you know that the only innovation in music that Americans have brought to the table is the four-string banjo and “marching music.” Well the drum and horn thunder of college football stomps out tune after tune of marching music for each of the different schools. All of the songs are performed with excellent sound quality.

The sounds of college football are fairly well represented here but they lack life. During televised games you’ll be treated to well crafted commentary, and in non-televised games you’ll get that distinctly devoid feeling of hearing the stadium announcer call out the events on the field over the PA system. It’s been a long while since I played a game without commentary and I have to say that it really does bring the game play into focus for the player.

One thing that I wish EA Sports would take a cue from Sega on is the on the field/crowd “chatter” in order to give their football games some “life.” In the NBA 2K series you hear all kinds of court talk. While NCAA Football 2004 has its share of grunts, bone crushing collisions, and other sound “effects” there are no players’ voices to bring the game to life. I don’t hear any type of after play trash talk that would liven up the school rivalries a bit more. Not even the coaches are screaming at the players which I am certain happens in school games. I had enough of that myself!

I don’t expect trash talk at the line because you need to hear the play being called by the QB, but wouldn't it be amazing if the A.I. remember the last time you played that school and a comment came out in reference to that? Something like “we’ll beat you like we did last week, fool!”

Even the crowd (who’s a huge part of the college game’s atmosphere) rises and falls with the play, but they could be hollering so much more. Again, in NCAA basketball by Sega the crowd calls out “brick….BRICK” during free throws. But here, with the potential to hear all kinds of jeers and school pride out of the crowd, it just seems silent. I think the audio portion of this game can improve immensely to bring the gameplay more “humanism.”

gameplay

Admittedly I’ve only recently gotten into collegiate sports video games. My dad bought me NCAA basketball from Sega a month ago when he flew to San Diego (NCAA games are non-existent in Canada because of NCAA royalty fees) and I was amazed at how much more “real” the play was. Missed shots, wacked passes, sloppy play, giveaways. It all looked a lot more human and real to me than the supernatural precision of the “pro” counterpart video games. I found myself relating to the gameplay in the college video games. What is more I found myself believing the gameplay more than I do the pro games because of the “human” nature of the players.

I know enough of college football to know that the ball control aspects of the pro game go right out the window. Sure, you want to pound the ball but a lot of the game revolves around airing it out and running way more options, play actions, and trick reverses than you’d ever see in the NFL. The brightest point of NCAA Football 2004 is that it does all of these plays to perfection. The execution of some of the most creative playbooks I’ve ever seen is seamless and provides a rich new experience for all of you coaches out there. This isn’t Madden with different uniforms, it really does feel like the college game. From the aforementioned playbooks to dropped catches, fumbles, incredible broken tackles, and unbelievable runs.

Where this game gets plain stupid (in a good way) is the “create-a” meets dynasty option. I couldn’t believe that I created my own York University in Toronto, Ontario Canada (thanks for including Canada as a State, eh!) in about 20 minutes with these wicked red and white unis and an accurate field. I set up my playbook from an incredible selection, picked a coach, and added them to the Big Ten with the Wolverines as my school rival. All of this took minutes and was a blast to do.

Now, I went to the game modes option and started a Dynasty which is basically a franchise mode whereby you earn school penants, trophies, traveling trophies, totally manage a school roster via red shirting/recruiting etc. and are graded as a coach and…and…and…amazing friggin’ depth man. You can even send your top players to the draft in Madden!!! Just unbeatable stuff. Now marry this with the idea that all of the historical events in your profile are added to an EA Sports Bio which tracks your overall sports skills across all EA Sports titles…wow. Just like Madden; depth depth depth. You’ll get the most enjoyment out of this game if you take a school or build a school and run a dynasty on it. It takes a lot of memory on your card but it’s worth buying a new card in order to get max. enjoyment out of NCAA.

I haven’t even mentioned the “scenario” mode of classic games. Rivalry games, exhibition, practice and so on. NCAA 2004 is deep and a lot of fun for sports fans. Definitely worth owning on the gameplay alone.

multiplayer

How about running a school college program with a “vice principle.” You and a buddy can run through your dynasty mode together. Or even just play a rivalry game against each other. Lots of football fun to be had here.

overall

Most of the Dojo Disciples know how much I respect the game that Madden brings to the table. Well NCAA does a knockout job of bringing the college game to your GameCube. If you’re a Madden fan you are definitely going to love owning this game. It offers a faster play clock, fast pace, more action, and a lot less emphasis on possession and clock management. It’s fire wagon football and it’s a total blast to play and dig through the many different play modes. I can’t stress enough that I think you should own this game as a partner rather than a compliment to Madden. The only gripe I have is that the players and crowd could have more of an audio personality, but that can always be overlooked. NCAA Football 2004 is a must own title for any gamer.

9.9/10