NCAA Football 2004

"Greatest college football game to date!"

When I first saw this game, I was a little bit iffy about buying it because I played NCAA 2003 and it wasn't the greatest (to me at least.) I finally bought this game because I've heard nothing but good things for it and college football was always fun to play.

GAMEPLAY 9/10:
It's great, the running game is as balanced as the passing game. You have to have a good running game for the playaction to actually work. And you have to have a good passing game to open up the lanes for the running game. There isn't anymore set up a long bomb and your reciever will magically come up with it in double coverage, it usually results in a pick. Throwing across the middle of the field is now harder (as it is in real life.) Options are very fluid and work well once you master them and the new camera for playaction is very awesome, many a time it has fooled me. When you do playaction when the QB fakes the hand off the camera follows the HB as if you actually are doing a running play, but then it cuts back to the QB and the passing icons appear. Also, the gameplay is very fast paced! I love it! When the computer blitzes you feel that you have to find a reciever quickly because your pocket collapses. The recievers actually look in passes. Also QB ratings actually matter, in the old NCAA games the QB ratings weren't much of a factor as the player could play well with almost any QB, now the stats matter. The overall 70-80 QBs aren't as accurate under pressure and can't throw bombs that are on target. Defensively the AI has improved very much, the LBs react well to run and pass and the QB spies (which I found useless in the last game) actually swat down passes and try to intercept...The only gripes I have about gameplay is that you'll find that your wide recievers drop the easiest passes, especially when they're wide open, but then when you have to thread the needle they come up with it but then drop it because of a jarring hit. But this can be fixed with the sliders. Most of the times the WRs catch the pass, but you'll get frusterated more than once when on 3rd and long your WR is wide open and your QB throws a perfect pass and it bounces off his hands. I know in college they drop passes but not as many as this game simulates.

GRAPHICS 8/10:
The graphics are good, but they aren't the best we've seen (especially on Xbox.) The grass is pretty average looking and certain stadiums look very very nice but others just look pretty ho-hum. The player models are pretty well done, you can see glare off the helmets and jerseys get dirty depending on how many times he's been tackled. Pants shimmer in the sunlight (if they're supposed to, like the Florida Gator's uniform.) Overall it's just pretty above average graphics but nothing more than that.

SOUND 10/10:
Drumlines, bands, chants, crowd reacting to what's going on the field (crowds will actually get louder as your WR or HB runs towards the opposing teams goal.), commentary that's spot on (for the most part). Very good stuff, it really captures the feel of college football.

PRESENTATION 9/10:
Very well done, there are cheerleaders, mascots, cannons, the running with flags when you get a touchdown. They show the mascots reacting to certain plays and the cheerleaders cheering if you get a touchdown. Also, the commentary is great for the atmosphere.

EXTRAS 9/10:
They let you relive some of the College Classics and let you play rivalry games to earn trophies and mascot games. You earn tokens to buy pennants that give you a boost or unlock new stadiums. There is so much more customizing that goes on once you turn on the game that makes you feel like it's truly talored to you.

OVERALL 9/10:
NCAA Football 2004 is simply the best college football game to date. The gameplay is balanced, graphics are solid, sounds is outstanding, and enough extras to keep you well equipped till NCAA 2005!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/28/03, Updated 07/28/03