A Trip Down Memory Lane - NCAA Retrospective

[Mizzou23]

Let's face it, nobody has a great handle on how good NCAA '08 will be. Nobody has the final copy, and I'm sick of reading about new features and tweaks, so here are my thoughts on all the versions of NCAA that came out for the PS2/Xbox generation. I bought a 360 last winter, so this is almost like a current gen obituary for me.

NCAA 2002
I remember the first time I played NCAA on the PS2, I was shocked. At that point (senior year of college), I never really followed video games on the internet, so I don't even think I was aware that NCAA even existed. It was great fun for sure, especially running the option with Nebraska, but there were plenty of gameplay flaws. The passing game was almost automatic. Defensive back AI was truly awful.

I remember I had never seen anything that allowed you to accumulate pride stickers on your players' helmets over the course of the season. I thought that was a really sweet feature. Oh, and as much as I like the band music NCAA offers now, I really liked the NCAA theme song on this release. Generic, but very good.

NCAA 2003
This was the one with Joey Harrington on the cover. I really felt that EA fixed most of the flaws that were there in '02, and made an extremely solid game. If '04 hadn't improved in virtually every aspect of the game, this would be the best version of NCAA on the current gen consoles. I definitely logged more hours on this version of NCAA than any other. I probably played around 20 dynasty seasons by the time it was said and done.

I don't really have any specific memories that stick out about this particular year, just that I played the crap out of it. You can't really argue with that.

NCAA 2004
For most on this board, this is considered the best version of NCAA. Off the top of my head, the only thing lacking here is 70 man rosters in dynasty mode. Gameplay wise, the only weakness is that out routes are a little too easy to complete, and the offense overall is a little too easy. I managed to tweak some Heisman sliders to compensate for this, and ended up with a very solid experience with this game as well.

This was the year that Madden's draft class import feature was broken, until EA fixed it later on. I returned my Xbox and PS2 copies of both games for the PS2 versions. While the Xbox had significantly better graphics, I thought the PS2 version played better. This was the first year that inexplicable dropped passes popped up, but it seemed to be an Xbox only problem. The PS2 version was nearly flawless.

NCAA 2005
Well, after '04, it's a shame that we all had to have such a letdown this year. We saw the introduction of composure, home field advantage, and dropped passes crippling the passing game. How many times was your QB line 8-30, 250 yds? This became a problem over the next few years, and was never really fixed until NCAA '07 came out.

If all this wasn't bad enough, there was also a TON of slowdown, at least on the Xbox version. The only redeeming quality of this game was this was the year that 70 man rosters were introduced. This one went on the shelf, quick.

NCAA '06
This probably could have been my favorite version of NCAA if not for the dropped passes problem. It was just bad enough to ruin my enjoyment of the game. Why did EA let this problem go on for so long? Anyway, this was kind of a down year with NCAA for me. I played it, but I didn't enjoy it very much. It was nice that the slowdown that plagued '05 was nowhere to be found, but overall, this one was a disappointment. Race for the Heisman did nothing for me.

The major grip of this incarnation was that the deep ball was insanely easy to complete. It had never been overly challenging before, but this game turned into a lob fest all too often.

NCAA '07
Last year, it was basically one step forward, two steps back. Gameplay was great, but momentum and jump the snap killed the game. Both were tremendously overdone, and with no way to adjust their effectiveness, each game you were at the mercy of the CPU if it decided to screw you with "excellent jumps" by the CPU line every other play.

Also, I don't know who programmed the momentum swing logic, but there was no reason for a +5 shift for scoring first. It tended to make games lopsided from the get go. Once you fell into the momentum hole, it was too difficult to dig out.

Well, those are my thoughts. I would love to hear everyone else's.

[HokieB]

Oh man, I easily played 2004 more than any other game I ever owned!

Beyond the tight gameplay, they added the SI covers which made for such an emersive dynasty experience. And the cheerleaders and fan cutscences helped give it such a great college atmosphere.

2005 was such a PoS. I will never understand how <30% completions by the CPU ever made it through debugging. It's never been the same sense.

With that said, it really sounds like we may have ourselves a gem on next gen this year. I usually don't let myself get too hyped up for NCAA anymore, but I've chugged the koolaid this year

[VTPack919]

Quote: Originally Posted by HokieB

Oh man, I easily played 2004 more than any other game I ever owned! Beyond the tight gameplay, they added the SI covers which made for such an emersive dynasty experience. And the cheerleaders and fan cutscences helped give it such a great college atmosphere. 2005 was such a PoS. I will never understand how >30% completions by the CPU ever made it through debugging. It's never been the same sense. With that said, it really sounds like we may have ourselves a gem on next gen this year. I usually don't let myself get too hyped up for NCAA anymore, but I've chugged the koolaid this year

Chalk me up as one of those that chugs that same kool-aid year in and year out. I guess it's just the optimist in me.

[MachoMyers]

I played the PsOne versions up to '98 then I switched over to Madden and NFL2k on Dreamcast. '02 was my return and it rocked. NCAA actually helped me learn to love college football more than the pro game.

'04 blew me out of the water and is probably my favorite video game ever. Everything worked so well and it was always in my PS2.

'05 was bunk...Lets leave it at that.

'06, I thought was great. The impact player bothered me and made things silly at times and the computer sim numbers in dynasty were WAY off for the Qbs (I'm talking 29-31, 395 yards, 7 tds). I felt good though to have the series return to being the best football game of the year.

'07 was the reason I bought a 360 and I enjoyed it, for what it was. It was missing a lot of things though and hopefully '08 completes it.
I did buy the current gen version of '07 early this summer and thought it was great. Much better gameplay then the 360 version and kind of my swan song for the current gen version of NCAA.

Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Cardot]

Interesting thread. Here is my college football gaming history:

NCAA 1996 (Sega Genesis)- It was cool in that it had all D1 teams, and an option to do a playoff. But there were some major gameplay issues. If I recall, throwing deep was easy, and the running game almost impossible.

NCAA 1998 (PC) I can't remember too much, put I played it more than 1996.

NCAA 2K2 (Dreamcast) - Not a real popular game, but I enjoyed it. In my experience, the tough teams played tough, and the cream puffs played like cream puffs. One issue was the limited fight songs. If your teams song is not in, another will play for you. Strange playing with Iowa hearing Boomer Schooner after a score.

NCAA 2003 (Xbox) - To me, this was the true renaissance. The fight songs, cheerleaders, drum cadences and great announcing. Fantasitic atmosphere. Mix in all the licensed bowls, pride stickers, trophy case etc....wow, great game.

NCAA 2004 - A nice incremental improvement in all areas. The SI covers were a cool addition. I agree that this was the best in the series.

2005 & 2006 didn't excite me in the hype phase, and OS reviewers didn't help either. I didn't get either of these.

2007 (Still XBOX) - Still playing '04, I was ready to upgrade. I really enjoyed the new physics, animations and features, but the "Momentum" feature pretty much rendered this game an exercise in frustration for me.

[Village Idiot]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mizzou23

Well, those are my thoughts. I would love to hear everyone else's.

I agree with your OP almost word-for-word. Well done.

[bgeno]

All current gen xbox:

03... DDE's completely frustrated me and I got rid of the game and opted for NFL2K3(I think)

04... I think my profile had a record of like 150-70. I played this game SO much. Looking back, the out-routes were too easy to complete and there were a few money plays overall. Definitely one of my top two of the series.

05... God-awful... I tried to play this... I really did. The only time I could make the game enjoyable was running a double-wing/flexbone option offense and only passing 10 or 15 times per game.

06... Big upgrade over 05. Superman DB's REALLY killed this for me though. I didn't log much time with this game.

07... My favorite of the series. Reminded me a lot of 04 but with some more features and improvements overall. The momentum sucked, but for some reason it was never as much of a problem to me as it was to others. JTS never really bothered me either. I didn't use it agains the CPU and never seemed to have a problem with the CPU doing it. Had my xbox not crapped out, I would have probably logged close to as many games on 07 as I did on 04.


Now we just gotta wait and see what 08 has in store. I pretty much bought my 360 to play NCAA 08, so I'm hoping it was worth it.

[ASB37]

Let me just add to the 2004 love, easily the most i have ever played one single game. I actually spent over 100 dollars on 2004 because my original disc got scratched so i bit the bullet and spent another 50+ bucks to get it. I normally wouldn't have done something like that especially when i was younger and wasn't working and didn't have 100 bucks to blow on a game but 2004 was THAT good.