NCAA Football 08

"NCAA 08 is a fun football game, but it's too glitchy and threadbare to be a great one."

It's the end of July again, and as any college football fan knows, that means one thing: football is almost back. Over the course of the next few weeks, you'll see players dusting off their playbooks, coaches breaking out their whistles, and fans cramming in a half-million different sources of preseason information about their favorite pastime. The dog days of summer are dwindling, and with them go the last remnants of football's unbearably long offseason.

As with any football season's commencement, EA Sports has now released the latest edition of their exclusive college football game, NCAA Football 08. Developer Tiburon Studios' focus for this year's release seems to be on adding depth to the existing gameplay content of last season's next-gen debut, rather than expanding the number of available play modes and options. As a result, NCAA 08 feels extremely similar to its predecessor, despite a number of well-implemented improvements.

Visuals:

Upon starting up the game, the first thing you're presented with is a new feature called ‘My Shrine.' Essentially, this trophy room-like area occupies the background when you're in NCAA 08's myriad menus, displaying all of the various awards and trophies you've collected during your time with the game. Additionally, it plays any highlights you've saved from your past gridiron contests seamlessly as well, which is probably both its neatest wrinkle and its coolest technical feat. While it's not much, the ability to easily showcase your accomplishments from the menus will certainly resonate with fans of the series.

Beyond the menus, though, not a whole lot has changed in the visuals department from NCAA Football 07. As usual, the graphics during gameplay are very technically sound, with slowdown practically a non-factor. Field surfaces such as grass still look phony, and the players seem to have a glossy, reflective sheen on sunny days, but otherwise the models are very realistically detailed, and they maintain the types of body proportions you would expect for each of the disparate positions. Animations for actions such as tackling are about as fluid and dynamic as you could hope for, but you'll still notice plenty of little robotic movements amongst the players on the field, as well as an ever-present clipping problem.

Once again, Tiburon has spent a significant amount of time modeling actual stadiums in the game, and as a result more than 40 new buildings have been accurately re-created. The greatest compliment that can be afforded here is that many college football fans will easily recognize most of the environments they'll play in, and the immersion factor of having your team's actual stadium to host games in is still great. It's too bad, though, that the actual atmosphere in those famous locales doesn't really capture that of their real-world counterparts. Yes, the crowd looks nice and frenzied, but little else of what makes the college game so exciting – the cheerleaders, the deafeningly thunderous noise, the sidelines packed with alumni – are anywhere to be found. There aren't even referees during gameplay, which makes the look just seem very barren.

NCAA 08 is still a great-looking game of football, but it just can't convey the game's electric atmosphere with its in-game aesthetics. It at least does a good job on the tradition aspect, though, thanks to the ‘My Shrine' feature.

Score: 8/10

Sound:

The smattering of school fight songs that have comprised the soundtrack to NCAA Football games in the past are back again for 08. They still do a solid job of engrossing you in the ambiance of the college football experience, and fans who know their schools' tune will again be able to sing right along after a score during home games.

From an effects standpoint, NCAA 08 is very strong. Each and every little noise on the field sounds just right, from the sound of the kickoff to the quarterback's cadence. Hard hits on defense are rendered especially bone-rattling by the accompanying thud, which can almost make you feel sorry for your little digital opponents. On the other hand, the crowd seems a bit mellower this year, and as a result it rarely factors in to the game – something any college sports fan can tell you is rarely the case.

And then, we have the commentary. The much-maligned trio of Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso are back once again, and not much has changed in way of the sound bites they employ during the course of a game. As always, they'll repeat themselves or mix up commentary clip every once in a while, and you'll often encounter noticeable lag from the time a play occurs to the time they begin or complete their synopsis of the action. It's worth noting, though, that none of these slip-ups can be charged to the men in the recording booths, who seem to always do an admirable job that gets butchered in production.

While NCAA 08 manages to hit most of the right notes with its sound production, the commentary continues to be a problem – although, thankfully, an easily rectifiable one.

Score: 7/10

Gameplay:

Year after year, gameplay in the NCAA Football series maintains its stature as arguably the most accessible and enjoyable football sim available for game consoles, while incorporating new control and A.I. tweaks that further enhance its playability. Last year's NCAA 07 marked the franchise's debut on next- (or is it now current-?) gen systems, and while that iteration was missing a good deal of the refinements present in the previous editions of the game, it still demonstrated that the development team had done an excellent job of capturing the essence of what had made previous releases so successful.

Where NCAA 07 attained its gameplay sweet spot, though, NCAA 08 merely perpetuates it. This is, by and large, the same game as last year once you get onto the field – which is not, by definition, a bad thing. Playbooks have been greatly expanded, and now offer a larger variety of team-specific plays that give each school's gameplan a more organic feel. Trick plays, such as the Statue of Liberty play made famous by Boise State in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, are now a part of many teams' repertoires as well, although these tend to be pretty much worthless against CPU-controlled opponents. At least the controls are as tight as they were last year, and once more are fully customizable, for those just now upgrading to the new wave of consoles.

As with last year's game, though, there are numerous chinks in the armor for the overall experience of playing the game. The A.I. is the worst offender – you'll spot plenty of instances of poor pathing and decision-making by individual players, as well as a curious habit by the CPU to seemingly let valuable time run off the clock as it attempts to drive down the field at the end of either half. Dialing up the difficulty setting to Heisman alleviates this somewhat, but that won't much comfort players for whom the highest challenge level is too much. There are also a number of smaller problems, including the fact that option pitches still rarely fail, no matter how many players are draped on a quarterback's shoulders, and that accuracy on passes never seems quite right, even with sliders adjusted accordingly.

Most irritating, though, are several small glitches that you'll likely encounter during your time with the game. One such glitch that you're likely to face on numerous occasions involves your quarterback, who, when holding for an extra point, will inexplicably set himself up to receive the snap while facing away from the direction of the ball; this problem can be extremely frustrating in close games, as you are forced to either burn a timeout and hope he resets into the proper configuration, or watch as the ball sails past your kicker on the ground. Little annoyances like this riddle the gameplay, and although the majority of them don't have much of an effect on the outcome of your matchups, their sheer concentration will make you wonder just how long the project actually spent in bug testing.

When these blemishes are coupled with the reality that little else has evolved, or even been elevated to the standards of the earlier-gen games, the general experience of playing NCAA 08 can get a bit stale. Despite the on-field problems, though, the gameplay still manages to find a way to feel like a breath of fresh air for the series, thanks to an element that actually takes place off of the playing field. For this year's release, Tiburon has created a tool dubbed ‘super sim.' This grand little apparatus allows for direct simulation of any chunk of a game, from single plays to the entire meeting, while still giving players the choice to return to gameplay at any time. The uses here are readily apparent: offensive-minded players can skip only playing defense, or vice versa, or quickly access the final quarters if they prefer to attempt a ready-made comeback or hastily end a blowout. Fans of Dynasty Mode will probably appreciate super sim the most, as it seems perfect for fitting multiple Dynasty games into a single evening. Regardless, it's a well-needed addition that finally levels the playing field for casual fans without much time to devote to playing their team's games.

Overall, NCAA 08 plays and feels a lot like its predecessor, with the commendable appendage of the super sim feature adding even more accessibility to the already-sturdy existing content. It's just too bad that the game can't shake the impression that it spent too little time being fine-tuned.

Score: 7/10

Features/Modes:

Where NCAA 07's lineup of game modes was sparse, NCAA 08 plugs one of its ancestor's gaps by introducing Campus Legend to 360 owners. For those who haven't played the game on last-gen systems, Campus Legend simulates the existence of a single player over the duration his college career. You'll start in your home state's high school playoff tournament, where your performance will determine your ratings as a recruit, and you'll then choose which school you wish to sign with. From there, you'll embark upon life as a student-athlete, replete with a tightly regimented schedule of events ranging from classes in the morning to multiple-choice decisions for what to do with your evenings. With many teams, you're not likely to be a starter right away upon arriving on campus, but it's extremely easy to work your way up the depth chart in practice, and impossible to lose your starting job once you've acquired it.

It's nice to finally see Campus Legend making its presence known, but its implementation still leaves a good deal to be desired. When you reach game days, you only get the opportunity to play when your legend would actually take the field, as super sim takes care of the difference. While it's certainly nice to be able to skip through exclusively to your character's time in the limelight, it can be frustrating to watch your team's defense allow forty points against every opponent. The camera is also a bit unwieldy during gameplay, as it focuses third-person-style on your player, which can lead to unavoidable confrontations with players just off of the screen. Finally, the evening segments feel way too random for their own good – there's never a clear-cut correct choice, so you might be tempted to just flip a coin for these, whereas disciplined decision-making is rather simple to figure out in the real world.

Beyond Campus Legend, NCAA 08 returns the three mini-games from 07, those being tug-of-war, bowling, and option dash. These were fun little diversions last year, but they don't have a whole lot of lasting appeal, and they're unchanged in this year's game. The game also includes a full-fledged online suite of play options, which have added a couple of enhancements that affect the game experience outside of competitive play. There's also Play Now, although no playable teams have been added for this year, leaving fans of FCS teams out in the cold once again.

Dynasty Mode is back, and although much of it hasn't changed, what has been altered has been so in a big way. Recruiting, which has been maligned in recent years for being far too limited in scope, has undergone a complete makeover. Where in the past recruitment mostly involved micro- and macro-level budget management, the process now does a much better job of emulating genuine back-and-forth conversation. Most of your time pursuing recruits will be spent on the phone with your targets, feeding them pitches while an on-screen face portrays the player's response to your entreaties. You're limited to ten hours per week for recruiting, though, and each pitch takes a few minutes off your limit, so you'll have to divide your time intelligently among the 35 players you can target.

It's safe to say that this new method is a welcome change, as it presents a much more in-depth interpretation of the year-long rigors of filling your team's scholarships. Of course, this new procedure is much more time-intensive, and so you'll end up spending much more of your real time divvying up your fake time to land recruits; additionally, after a season or two, the glaring deficiencies in this new system rear their heads, as you realize that you've spent hours each year performing the same basic ‘target recruit, randomly make pitches, and hope that your school's strong suits match your quarry's interests' routine. To be honest, the game is still a long way from an accurate recreation of the back-and-forth discourse – but, in spite of this, the new arrangement still does represent an excellent step forward, and it should please even the most hardcore Dynasty fans.

Much of the value present in NCAA 08 is derived from its rather deep and involving Dynasty and Campus Legend modes, and both are highly functional in this year's game. Without the benefit of years of fine-tuning, though, there's plenty of room for improvement.

Score: 7/10

Online Play:

Thanks to the wonders of XBox Live, the online experience of NCAA 08 is an enjoyable and interactive experience. The most welcome features stem from EA's tie-in deals with ESPN and the Weather Channel: you're able to access sports-related news reports, in both text and video form, from the online options menu, as well as turn on automatic ESPN Radio updates every twenty minutes, thanks to ESPN's endorsement deal, while the Weather Channel connection allows the game to automatically tailor in-game weather to the actual conditions in your host stadium's real-world counterpart. It's nice to see that EA is utilizing its annoying corporate partnerships in ways that actually benefit internet-enabled 360 owners without intruding too much into the experience.

On the gameplay front, you're once more able to play in both ranked and unranked games, as well as to compete with other players in those cute mini-games. Once you've actually entered a game, latency is an unfortunate reality, occasionally making the kicking game and hit-stick tackles next to impossible to perform; if you can find a solid host, though, your matchups play just as well as they do offline. Regardless, it's always a boon for any game's replay value to have the instant competitive access to your friends that Live provides.

A few neat tricks available to Live-connected players add a nice layer of functionality to the game's decent online offerings, and can even benefit players who aren't very interesting in head-to-head games.

Score: 7/10

Total Score:

Being an exclusively licensed product, the NCAA Football series obviously has the market for college football videogames cornered. Though this setup has the potential to serve as a kiss of death to originality in the franchise, the developers at Tiburon have thankfully been diligent in making upgrades and enhancements to each new season's product. NCAA Football 08 is undoubtedly a better game than its direct predecessor on the XBox 360, but the numerous glitches and still-paltry lineup of gameplay options would seem to diminish its standing in the overall pantheon of the series. In any case, if you own an XBox 360, and are either a football fan in general or a hardcore college football aficionado, then you can't go wrong with giving this game a try – so long as you temper your expectations heading into the experience.

Score: 7/10 (not an average)

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Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/07