[Spectre]

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.

Well said- the gameplay for 04 (and 03 for that matter) was leaps and bounds better than anything we've seen since then. I played the hell out of those games, far more than 06 and 07.