NCAA Football 2003

"A beautiful game with such poor A.I., it is totally unenjoyable."

Introduction:
It's truly a shame that I had to give this game such a bad rating. Don't get me wrong, I tried to like it. In fact, I genuinely did like it for the first three months. Unfortunately, it wears down on you and you begin to see its downfall. Man, oh, man, is it one huge downfall, too.

Graphics/Visuals:
Great! All players are very smooth and everything is done in extreme detail. Unlike its PS2 counterpart, the majority of the jaggies are no more, replaced with crisp polygons. The occasional polygon merge is annoying, as players tend to run through each other, but I blame that on poor collision detection as opposed to graphics. There is, however, some significant slowdown during redzone confrontations, as all 22 players are so close together. This does become annoying, but if you lift the C-Stick, I found that it returns to normal. Quite odd, if you ask me.
GRAPHICS SCORE: (8/10)

Sound/Audio:
Slightly above average. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same thing every sports game does these days:
not enough rotation in play commentary and color. I love Lee Corso and the gang, but how many do they need to emphasize that my I-back ''came to play today''? The audience is realistic, and chants accordingly. Fights songs rarely show up, but are still effective. You can even hear the crunch of two linemen sandwiching a poor QB. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied.
SOUND SCORE: (7/10)

Control:
Everything is responsive and works well. Pressure-sensitive pass icons and run commands add a great degree of
control to the system. Sure, the Cube's controller isn't suited for sports games, but you'll soon get used to it after
two games. And if there is any fault in the controls, it is due to the oddly-shaped GameCube controller. Very well done in this category.
CONTROL SCORE: (9/10)

Gameplay:
Here's the sole reason I gave this game a poor rating, but not for what you think. First off, the basics are
very nice. The rankings system and navigation are as perfect as one could expect. The passing game and running game are both extremely fluid and flow as well as Madden. Nice play selection, and a great audible system. During the game, you'll experience some ''bouncing'' between characters when tackles should be made, and this happens too often. However, I'm still not to the reason I hate this game. Here it is:

This game has the cheapest A.I. in any videogame I've EVER played....ever! This even beats Super Smash Bros: Melee and its ''random'' bombs that coincidentally always land on you! Even while playing on some of the easier difficulties the game offers, you'll find that your team will fumble the ball infinitely more than your opponents, even when your team is ranked #1, and you're facing Rutgers or Kansas. In my experiences, I even had a fumble quota I had to meet, in which the I-back, QB, and Fullback were required to fumble at least once a game. Yes, it's that sad. Miracle drives on the computer's part are far too frequent. Many times, you'll watch a replay of a big pass play done on your defense, and your secondary will just stand there. I kid you not. They just stand there. And this also happens at the most inopportune times ''coincidentally''. Other times, your QB will pass through the wrong window of the field, even when you press no directions, and the result will oftentimes be an interception. 3rd down and 20 for the computer? Too bad, their I-back will break 7 tackles, and somehow power his way for the first down. It's just that terrible.

What else can I add? Oh yes, the CPU's linemen will always school your line on 3rd down, when it really matters. You'll always get penalized for holding in the redzone...always. But that's not all, the computer's CBs will grind with your receivers during your whole route, and then tackle you before you touch the ball, and ''amazingly'', they won't be penalized! The out-of-bounds detection for receptions is a bit too forgiving. After all, you can't challenge calls in college. As soon as a CPU opponent gets a single play off successfully, they have momentum, and you can never stop them--never--when that happens. Up by 4 points with 20 seconds left, and all you need to do is prevent them from getting a TD to win? Too bad. You lose. No matter what you do, they'll get a long pass play, then power their way into the endzone. And the worst part is it happens every time that situation occurs, and all you can do is cry. And you will, too. Every play is like Russian Roulette. When will you fumble? When will the game make your defense die? When will the ball bounce off of your safety's hand, your CB's hand, tip off of your LB's foot, and bounce up into the CPU receiver's hand? When will the ball be caught by the CPU receiver, drop it, have it bounce off of your CB's hand during the tackle, only to be caught by a second receiver in the endzone? Or better yet, when will your receivers do that? Sadly, the answer is never. Don't expect your #1 ranked team to come up with miracle plays, because only the computer gets them. You'll wait, wait, and wait some more for the CPU to fumble when within their own redzone, like your team does frequently, but it'll never happen. I'm serious. Occassionally, you'll get an interception--but make no mistake--that's only to make up for the additional fumble you're likely to have later on in the game. And even still, you'll be thankful for that interception because during most games, you won't even get that.

A couple times, the game clock runs out, at zero seconds, yet the computer still gets to choose a play and go for one last Hail Mary, and has actually ended up scoring the winning touchdown because of this. Once, I scored a TD, but for some reason, my score remained the same (no penalty either). Then the computer had the third miracle drive of the game, scored, yet the game did the same for them. They went for two points, failed, and confused as heck, I ended up starting my drive from my own 3-yard line! So, even more confused, I called a dumb passing play. I thought there was no way they would be able to get a safety since I would just tuck and run forward. Guess what happened? That one play, for the first time in the game, my entire line gets pushed back on top of me and I fall in the end zone. Coincidence? Maybe. There was still hope, for I was ahead by 5 points. With 39 seconds left, I got the ball back and was ready to just run out the clock. The game had other plans. My I-back fumbles on first down on my own 20! Just in time for their team to get yet another miracle drive to score with 2 seconds left and win the game. Coincidence this time? Not likely. My team was ranked #3 and they were 110th in the league. That's how utterly pathetic this game is.

I could write a novel about how terribly this game plays. But, I'll spare you. In summary, the programmers of Halo would cry if they saw this horrific A.I. Truly a travesty.

The A.I. turns an otherwise amazing game into a frustrating, unenjoyable yell-fest. I have two friends that bought this game as well. One broke a controller out of rage while playing this game, and the other sold it because he was tired of yelling at the T.V. I did the latter as well. The worst part is that you will not notice how terrible the game cheats you until about three months of playing it. First, when you get cheated out of a victory, you'll pass it off as the fact that you just aren't good at the game yet. But, months later, you'll realize that you have developed skill and still get cheated. The way the CPU plays is maddening (no pun intended), and is reason enough to avoid this game at all costs!
GAMEPLAY SCORE: (1/10)

Rent/Buy?: NEITHER
Really, this is a good game at heart. In fact, it's nearly perfect. But like I mentioned above, the A.I. destroys it. And what it boils down to is not how skilled the player is, but how bad the game will cheat to win. What is truly sad about this game is that I can find no other faults in it, but that one big problem completely loses what enjoyment a player gets from this game. What do I recommend you do then? Stay away! Unless you want to severely raise your blood pressure, and you don't mind if the people in your house give you odd looks for yelling at a TV, don't ever play this game. Ever. What could have been a great game is lost in execution. To give you an idea to judge just how completely unenjoyable this game is, I'll even give it the coveted title of ''THE WORST FOOTBALL GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED'', and I have been playing Madden and such all the way back on the Sega Genesis. This is truly a terrible game. Maybe someone should tell EA that games are supposed to be fun?

FINAL SCORE (not an average): (1/10)

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 03/11/03, Updated 03/11/03