NCAA Football 2003

"My Personal Favorite Football Game Ever...!"

I am a huge sports fan! I like pro and college sports and play sports on a competitive level as well. Not only do I watch and play sports, I also like sports video games too! NCAA Football 2003 is not only a great game, it raised my knowledge of college football in real life. I know more teams mascots, stadiums, and songs after enjoying this must-have game!

Graphics 10/10: I was in total shock when I saw how detailed the players in the game were. The jerseys, the players, and the pride stickers are on ever single helmet for teams that have them. In NCAA Football 2003, the player is allowed to Create-A-Team and Create-A-Player and add visual effect after visual effect to the game. I'm not saying the graphics are perfect, but I would be surprised if they can get any better than they are right now.

Sound 9/10: I believe there are 117 Division 1-A schools but I'm not 100% sure. Most of them have their fight songs in the game! It was so amazing that I could Create-A-Team and choose whatever fight song I wanted to be recognized with my program. Some of the other great sounds in the game includes part of the College Gameday crew of Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit along with ABC broadcaster Brad Nessler. They offer different opinions to the game and I always seem to hear something new no matter how many games I play. The only negative in the game in my opinion is when they complain about passing the football in the 4th quarter when the player has the lead in the game. Sometimes you just have to keep the drive alive by passing the ball and the EA sports crew shouldn't have put that in the game. That is my only complaint and it is a very minor one. The in-game sounds get a 10 for me though. The precipitation, tackles, audible's, and crowd are done very well by EA sports.

Game play 10/10: This is by far the best thing about the game. There are so many options to choose from ranging from Exhibitions to Seasons to Dynasties to Mascot games! Along with all these choices, the player can also compete with friends or the CPU to earn school rivalry trophies to put in the trophy room. If a create-a-Team option is chosen, the player make himself the head coach and create the uniforms, school mascot, fight song, stadium size, type of school(Academic, Powerhouse,etc...), playbook, and how aggressive or passive a team is on offense and defense. I also found there are plays-after-plays to choose from in the game to mix up the play calls.

Control 10/10: I found the controls very easy to use and so do most people that I have asked and know. I recommend the D-Pad for choosing plays and the joystick for playing the game. Primarily, the player gets to be whoever has the ball on offense and the player can be whomever he or she pleases to be on defense. On offense, receivers are chosen by the letters that appear on the television screen and then pushing either L1, R1, square, or circle. Triangle will throw the ball away and L2 will make the quarterback scramble. Audible's are difficult at first to learn but going to in-game strategy when pausing the game should clear up any problems that may arise.

Replay 10/10: There are many good things about replaying this game. First of all, the game is just too addicting to put it down after a few football games. Second, there are pennants the player can receive for completing ''Challenges'' in the game like getting 4 tackles in game or most difficult ones of holding a team to 0 yards of offense and forcing 2 safeties in a game. In Dynasty mode, the memory card keeps count of the coaches record, the trophies the teams have received, including heisman trophies, offensive MVP's, coach of the year, or bowl trophies.

Overall 10/10:If I haven't convinced you yet, then I'd be surprised you were a football fan. NCAA Football 2003 is the best football game to come out that I can ever recall. If I recall, the price for this game is not too expensive and it is up there as not just as one of my favorite sports games, but one of my favorite games overall period.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/03, Updated 03/05/03