NCAA Football 08
Score: 88% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: EA Sports Developer: Tiburon Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 (Online) Genre: Sports (Football)/ Online
Graphics & Sound: NCAA Football 07 was a great next-gen debut for the series though, like its professional cousin Madden, it came up short as far as modes and features are concerned. NCAA Football 2008 makes up for 07's shortcomings, making an already great game that much better. On top of an overall cleaner look, NCAA 08 features a new branching animation system that determines the best transitional animations to use in any given situation. You can break out of an animation at any time, resulting in a quicker pace and fewer unnatural "stutter stops" between animations. With the exception of a few stops when menus load, the game also runs at a relatively smooth 60 frames per second. The new set of animations and framerate are perfect for the new highlight replay system that lets you save highlights and store them in your personal vault. Once again the ESPN Gameday team of Lee Corso, Brad Nessler and Kirk Herbstreit pick up announcing duties. While a few phrases have been added, the overall presentation is pretty much the same as past years. The trio does a pretty good job, though some of their comments will come at the oddest of times. Once, after playing a mostly air-based game, I broke off a twenty yard run on a busted fluke of a play, prompting Corso and Herbstreit to fawn over my "dominating" running performance. Whatever... The only really noticeable change I found in the sound department popped up during the main menu. In past games your school's fight song would begin playing as soon as the game started. It's not a big issue in the long run, but having the Auburn (or worse, Alabama) fight song play in an LSU themed trophy room is wrong on too many levels. In the long run it isn't a big deal, though it is indicative of one of the game's bigger problems - lack of a college atmosphere. College football is all about tradition and pageantry, both of which are missing in NCAA 08. Team intros (which were present in past games) have been removed and though it might seem like a little thing, it something that is really important to college football fans. Sure, the stadiums and uniforms are accurate and will please fans; though the trade-off is a more generic feel.
Gameplay: NCAA Football 08 brings several new modes into play, giving you lots to do on and off the field. The heart of NCAA 08 is Dynasty mode, where you take the reigns as head coach for any of the game's schools or your own created one. The mode doesn't change much from last year, though several areas have been tweaked and polished. The most notable improvement involves recruiting. You begin by selecting from a pool of prospective players and try to get them interested in playing for your school. You can call and sell your school by emphasizing its highpoints. Every player is looking for something different, so you need to pay close attention to what they're looking for; otherwise they'll hang up on you. Your weekly phone time is limited, so you need to manage your time with each recruit. If there's enough interest, you can schedule a campus visit and plan activities for your recruit. Again, you'll have to keep tabs on his interests; otherwise you'll end up losing him. At any time you can offer a scholarship, though they can reject it if the interest isn't there. If you really want to snag a particular recruit, you can also make promises, such as guaranteeing that he'll see immediate playing time or play for a championship. Promises can only be made during the off-season and can get risky. If you make a promise that you can't keep, your integrity drops, giving your reputation a black eye. Recruiting is fun, though it does become a bit tedious once you realize that you're doing the same things repeatedly. If recruiting doesn't appeal to you, you can always simulate through it and hope you get some good recruits. If playing the part of head coach isn't your thing, you can also enter Campus Legend mode. Here you create your own player or follow the collegiate career of an already existing player. When creating your own player, you can start them off in college or begin as a high school player. When choosing the latter route, you begin as a member of a local team playing in your home state's championship playoffs. Here you play as an individual player, so you don't get to call the shots as far as which play is called. Instead, your primary duty is to look good for scouts. Once your high school career is over, several schools will offer you a slot. You can choose to go to a smaller school and contribute immediately or go to a major school and risk sitting out games as a backup, but you'll also gain greater prestige and be in a better position to earn a national championship or even a Heisman. How far down the depth chart you land at a major school depends on your position and your player's skill rating. In order to move up, you need to perform well in practice and earn points. Once you have a rating equal or greater than the next guy up, you move up in the depth chart. Outside Dynasty and Campus Legend, NCAA 08 offers the standard sports game package. You can play a quick game or go online and challenge another player in ranked and unranked matches. You can also play through a series of mini-games that are enjoyable ways to help you hone your playing skills.
Difficulty: NCAA Football 08 offers several ways to tweak your gameplay experience to suit your skill. You can start by selecting from a selection of difficulty settings, which should usually be enough to give you what you're looking for. If not, you can adjust a number of sliders to address particular needs. The A.I. is pretty good, regardless of which setting you're using. The running game plays better since blockers are little quicker to pick up their assignments. While this doesn't mean that your backs will break for 20+ yards every time they touch the ball, you will be able to get a few more yards per carry. Players will also fight a little harder for yardage. The one issue plaguing runs is that players have a tendency to drop the ball. Though it isn't something that kills the game, it is still frustrating to have a player fumble for no real reason. The passing game is a little tougher, though it doesn't feel much different that last year's.
Game Mechanics: Though it isn't represented by a meter, teams have a motivation rating that changes depending on the game situation. Big plays will result in the team's morale going up while poor play reduces it. During a game with Kentucky, I managed to sack or hurry up the QB on nearly every play. This rattled the QB enough that he began to rush his throws, making the receiver's jobs that much harder. Both of these things dropped the team's morale level, causing them to lose focus and give up big plays. One of the few control additions is the new defensive hit stick. When tackling the ball carrier, you can hit up or down on the right analog stick to send the hit high or low. Bigger opponents, like power backs, can be taken down with a low block to the legs while a high hit could send a speedier back down in a hurry or at least knock the ball loose. Backs aren't completely at the mercy of the hit stick. While running, you can use the stick to spin, stiff-arm and juke your way out of situations. However, using the stick while running can get risky since it increases the chances of a fumble, even when protecting the ball. Another useful addition is SuperSim. At any time you can simulate certain downs, quarters or even entire games. This is useful for getting through slow games, especially those early season "rent-a-win" games where you end up dominating 54 - 0 at halftime. NCAA Football 2008 has its set of nagging issues, though these are small when compared to the number of things the game does right. NCAA 08 is a must-have for every college football fan and will certainly make the month or so before the season starts go that much quicker.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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