NCAA 2004: I know it's been said before...

[Nza]

Never played 2004 Started playing NCAA with 2005 (the year I got my xbox chipped, as I am in a PAL region). Might try to get it off ebay one of these days to see how it goes.

[sadams33]

I picked this up about a month ago and i think it is the best in the series its a keeper for me along with inside drive and espn 2k5

[theaub]

If you were just going to pick up a game and play it, NCAA '04 may be the best football game ever. If you wanted to play a dynasty, with the recruiting and mid-major bugs, its not really close.

However, the gameplay was magnificant. Before NCAA '07 came out, I decided to go back to '04, since I really hated '06. I just started playing random games: Auburn vs Alabama, Texas vs Oklahoma, Ohio State vs Texas Tech (Klifffffffff Kingsbury FTW), and I was shocked at how much worse the gameplay had gotten in '06 (I didn't play '05). I could play 10 minute quarters and have a 17-7 slugfest where each team still had 300+ yards, but couldn't capitalize. I don't want to think about how many games of '07 I've played (I'm sure I've gone north of 200 just in my dynasty), and I've had exactly ONE low-scoring battle, and that's with only 7 minute quarters.

The one thing I also really liked about '04 was the commentary. I harped about this in a couple topics last year, but the commentary for me made NCAA '04 that much more enjoyable. I liked hearing how the Iron Bowl "divided the entire state of Alabama for three hours," or how Jordan-Hare Stadium was "the fifth largest Alabama city on gameday." It made the game feel that much more...well..."real-er." Now, we just get some half-baked "Its a rainy day as *Team 1* takes on *Team 2*...this game should be fun." I'd love to see a true pregame implemented next year.

The other thing I liked about '04 was the realism. Its come to the point in '07 where I sort of have to force myself to make bad throws in order to punt, since I can run any slant/out/deep route and the quarterback always puts the ball on the money, regardless of what the QB Accuracy slider is at. In '04, I'd get to a 3rd and 10 and make the 3-5 yard dumpoff for field position. In '07, I'd never do that, as it would just be a waste.

So yeah, in conclusion, '04 was one AWESOME game...I don't think it was the best in the series overall (since I'm a dynasty guy), but gameplay wise it just destroyed every game in the series, and its not even close.

EDIT: Also, someone on ncaastrategies.com (even though I hate that site with a passion) brought up a very good point: has NCAA come to the point where people want features taken OUT of the game? I mean, everyone here has said how momentum sucks (which it does), and how the new punt return camera sucks (which it does), and it gets to the point where I wish they'd just take those out, or at least give us the option to turn them off. I don't think I've ever played a game where I want stuff taken out to make the game better. It makes me wonder how this leadership thing is going to turn out. Heck, HFA was horribly done in the first year, and impact players was poorly implemented in '06. Ironic for a company like EA that does little, I actually wish they did NOTHING this year except tone down momentum, and fix a couple bugs in the game (hello field goals) instead of creating some new feature that will probably screw up the game more.

[J-Unit40]

Great post Aub. Couldn't have said it better myself. I just popped in '04 yesterday and I had a great time with it. Then, I thought, "Maybe I'll start a new dynasty with '04". Not a good idea, since the conferences are outdated and you couldn't only carry 22 man rosters.

Anyway, it was still a great game '04 then and is still fun now.

[MachoMyers]

'04 also was the first year of the SI weekly covers. I still remember the first time one of my players made the cover, great stuff.

[Sportsforever]

Quote: Originally Posted by theaub

If you were just going to pick up a game and play it, NCAA '04 may be the best football game ever. If you wanted to play a dynasty, with the recruiting and mid-major bugs, its not really close. However, the gameplay was magnificant. Before NCAA '07 came out, I decided to go back to '04, since I really hated '06. I just started playing random games: Auburn vs Alabama, Texas vs Oklahoma, Ohio State vs Texas Tech (Klifffffffff Kingsbury FTW), and I was shocked at how much worse the gameplay had gotten in '06 (I didn't play '05). I could play 10 minute quarters and have a 17-7 slugfest where each team still had 300+ yards, but couldn't capitalize. I don't want to think about how many games of '07 I've played (I'm sure I've gone north of 200 just in my dynasty), and I've had exactly ONE low-scoring battle, and that's with only 7 minute quarters. The one thing I also really liked about '04 was the commentary. I harped about this in a couple topics last year, but the commentary for me made NCAA '04 that much more enjoyable. I liked hearing how the Iron Bowl "divided the entire state of Alabama for three hours," or how Jordan-Hare Stadium was "the fifth largest Alabama city on gameday." It made the game feel that much more...well..."real-er." Now, we just get some half-baked "Its a rainy day as *Team 1* takes on *Team 2*...this game should be fun." I'd love to see a true pregame implemented next year. The other thing I liked about '04 was the realism. Its come to the point in '07 where I sort of have to force myself to make bad throws in order to punt, since I can run any slant/out/deep route and the quarterback always puts the ball on the money, regardless of what the QB Accuracy slider is at. In '04, I'd get to a 3rd and 10 and make the 3-5 yard dumpoff for field position. In '07, I'd never do that, as it would just be a waste. So yeah, in conclusion, '04 was one AWESOME game...I don't think it was the best in the series overall (since I'm a dynasty guy), but gameplay wise it just destroyed every game in the series, and its not even close. EDIT: Also, someone on ncaastrategies.com (even though I hate that site with a passion) brought up a very good point: has NCAA come to the point where people want features taken OUT of the game? I mean, everyone here has said how momentum sucks (which it does), and how the new punt return camera sucks (which it does), and it gets to the point where I wish they'd just take those out, or at least give us the option to turn them off. I don't think I've ever played a game where I want stuff taken out to make the game better. It makes me wonder how this leadership thing is going to turn out. Heck, HFA was horribly done in the first year, and impact players was poorly implemented in '06. Ironic for a company like EA that does little, I actually wish they did NOTHING this year except tone down momentum, and fix a couple bugs in the game (hello field goals) instead of creating some new feature that will probably screw up the game more.

Great post, and while I agree that it would be nice if we could take the Dynasty aspects of 2007 and meld them with the gameplay of 2004, I had a blast with the Dynasty mode of NCAA 2004 (I played 12 years). I didn't have a problem with the recruiting, smaller rosters, or North Texas becoming a National Power (heck, in the 1970's if you had told folks this school down in South Florida would become a national power they would probably laugh at you. I just viewed it kind of like that). I really miss the defensive games. I still get them with 07, but a defensive game in 07 is a 21-10 game. I have actually had 3-0 and 7-3 games in 2004. Anyway, it's a great game and it has a permanent spot in my library.

[Cardot]

2003 was a great game, and 2004 was a nice incremental improvement. It seems that with 2005, rather than continue to tweak and add things, they got carried away with the features that messed with the foundation. And they removed some great things like the tunnel entrances.

I think 2007 (current gen) does some things well: jukes are toned down a bit and there are some nice new animations. And I like some little touches like being able to view the schedule of games by conference. But the overdone Momentum, JTS, Kick meter and cpu fg perfection definately made it a challenge to enjoy ´07.

The other problem I had with ´07 that I didn´t have in ´04 was a complete sense of randomness to games. I understand upsets can happen, but my results were just too bizarre. With Auburn, I easily beat Fla in the swamp, and thumped an 11-0 Alabama team. However I lost to an unstoppable Tulane squad at home, and later lost to a Missouri team who put up 56 on me in a bowl game.

[Clark13LLC]

I just started a Dynasty with USC on 2004. You wanna talk about the future of the NFL with this team. Lots of BAMFS on this team, almost unstopable. And I will agree with everyone else, this was the best gameplay of any NCAA game. Im goin to go tear it up with Reggie and LenDale now.