NCAA Football 2003

"Great Game, Get's Better"

Gameplay:
The game plays like the previous Madden's and NCAA Football games. If you like this format, and you've come used to it, there will be almost no adjustments to this game. If you don't like the way Madden or NCAA works, you probably will have to look elsewhere for a College Pigskin game.

Menus are actually better than last years and are easier to navigate around. Dynasty and Season are right there for you to play, or go straight into an Exhibition. There's also practice mode to test your option skills. You can also select your favorite college team to become the kinda of template for the game [So if you choose Washington, you'll see their mascot and their cheerleaders at the menu screen more than just other teams or mascots.]

They added more mascots, and the feature to play mascots vs. mascots at the get-go, so there's no need to unlock them all.

Story:
Um...there is no story...so...yeah. It's college football, you create your own cinderella team.

The Create-A-School feature is great, you get to choose uni's, stadiums, cities, background of the stadiums, logos [already used college logos, or alphabets] and type of team you're having...and what division you play in.

Audio/Video:
I really don't like Lee Corso...he's dumb. The dialogue is pretty much the same from the first NCAA, so they keep repeating themselves and it get's pretty damn annoying. All you can do is pause the game and then unpause, that will skip anything they have to say...or you could just turn the announcers off.

They added the school fight songs...so if you know all the school fight songs, i'm sure you'll be very impressed. Sounds is pretty much the same...more crowd noise. They get louder depending on whether or not your home or away.

Game runs smoother, looks like they added some more pixels to the players, but that also means they look a little meater than they did in last years version. Nothing that would make you puke or lose focus on the game at hand.

Replayability:
Great replay value. There's about 20+ rivalry trophies to win, plus a trophy for each bowl game. The individual awards at the end of the season too [Heisman, best WR, RB, QB...etc.] And you get to look at all of them in your trophy room when ever you like. Very cool.

There's also the Campus Points, they're back too. Really great for the cheats, like Fumblitius and such.

To buy, or to rent:
I would buy this game if you don't have NCAA Football 2002. The game is just as good, if not better, but not enough to have two of the same game. If you're saving money and can have only one football game, I would hold out for Madden 2003.

Definitely worth renting anytime if you don't have the game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/24/02, Updated 07/24/02