NCAA Football 2005

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http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/n...05/review.html


Summer has barely gotten into full swing, and Electronic Arts has already released its newest college football game, NCAA Football 2005, out of the gates. The developers at EA's Tiburon studio have added a number of interesting new features to NCAA Football 2005 that help distinguish the game from Madden. Unfortunately, the added effects these new features have are tempered by the fact that the game has failed to evolve in other important areas--namely presentation. The Xbox version in particular is also plagued by some noticeable technical problems. All in all, NCAA Football 2005 is still a great college football game, but longtime fans will have trouble shaking the feeling that the series isn't quite living up to its awesome potential.



NCAA Football 2005 is a great college football game.
The biggest new changes in the game this year revolve around the implementation of home-field advantage. More so than in the pros, the effect of home field in college sports is huge. The developer of NCAA 2005 has made a great first attempt at modeling this effect into its video game. In the game, when you play in a hostile stadium, you'll hear the crowd start roaring as your offense approaches the line of scrimmage. This adds a great deal of ambience to the game, and it even affects the composure of your players on the field. In particularly rowdy venues (the game includes a ranked list of the nation's "toughest places to play"), your controller will actually rumble, the screen will shake, and your quarterback will have difficulty calling signals and audibles. Move the ball effectively and the road crowd will quiet down somewhat. Falter in your offense and you'll incur the wrath of 100,000 screaming fans. If you're the home team on defense, you can pound on a button to rile up the crowd and incite them to make more noise. If you're controlling a linebacker or a defensive back as you do this, he'll wave his arms in the air to ask for more noise.

NCAA 2005 also attempts to model the composure and poise of players on the field. You can see your current players' composure levels via the "matchup stick." Prior to the snap, you can toggle the right analog stick in different directions to see how your men stack up against their opponents on the other side of the line. Hit it to the left and you'll see comparisons between receivers and defensive backs. Push to the right and you'll see offensive versus defensive lines. Pull it down and you'll see how the linebackers fare against the offensive backfield. You'll also see how the composure ratings are affecting each player's relative skill level. In practice, this is most noticeable in the passing game. If you toss a string of incompletions, it becomes all but impossible to complete a long pass. Either the passes will sail far off target, or, more often, the receiver will inexplicably drop an easily catchable ball. Conversely, if you can string together several completions, good quarterbacks can get very hot and will start threading passes into really tight quarters. You'll be tempted to rush eight men at the QB to try to disrupt his rhythm if your opponent goes on a hot streak.



Though the game has some new features, the core gameplay is largely identical to that of last year's entry in the series.
Aside from these new features, the core gameplay feels largely the same as that of last year's NCAA iteration. Veterans will notice a handful of changes, such as new tackling animations that give NCAA 2005 a somewhat more solid feel. On defense, you'll now be able to press a button when tackling to try to apply a big hit, which can force a fumble or cause an incomplete pass. The artificial intelligence of blockers seems to have improved somewhat, thus enhancing the running game. As a result, sweeps and counters feel more viable this season than in last year's game, although running and wide receiver screens still don't seem to work all that well. On the downside, it's more difficult than ever to complete a pass, especially with the composure ratings that affect the game. At times it seems as though defensive backs bat down far too many balls. To be effective, you have to be very precise with your coverage reads and your timing, and you must make certain that your quarterback's feet are set before trying to deliver the ball. Stepping up in the pocket also helps a bit, so those who like to drop back 15 or 20 yards before heaving the ball will have a more difficult time than ever.

One of the biggest strengths of last year's NCAA Football was its excellent dynasty mode. The recruiting process was surprisingly deep and fascinating, at least for college football junkies. EA has evolved its dynasty mode this year, and though you'll still enjoy weekly Sports Illustrated covers, there are now even more options in the offseason portion of the game. You'll set a budget for recruiting, training, and discipline prior to the recruiting season. So put more points into training and your current players stand to gain more skill before the start of the next season. Spend more on recruiting and you'll have added points that can be used to woo incoming freshmen.

OVERALL RATING: 8.5

My bro's friend was playing that at my house earlier and i thought the home field advantage thing was pretty sweet and how you can pump up your players if you keep doing good.