The best yet, but not the revolution that 2003 was.

The king of college football is better than ever in the 2004 edition of the game that was second only to Madden in football game sales last year. Yes, that includes college and pro games. The strong sales are not without merit, for NCAA 2003 was an incredible game that seemed to capture the essence of what college football was all about while simultaneously fixing many of the gripes that gamers had with the series over the past few years. It seemed as though EA did not have much room for improvement in 2004, but somehow they found a way to do it, even though that improvement may not make 2004 the must have upgrade that last year’s game was.

The boys over at EA and Tiburon kept an “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” attitude in mind when dealing with the controls. Absolutely everything in this category is exactly the same as last year’s game, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Players are still responsive and mistakes are almost always due to the user, not the game. The amount of moves you can make is augmented by the pressure sensitive Dual Shock 2 controller, which delivers even more variety in player control. For example, passing is governed by how hard you press the button that corresponds to the receiver you want to throw to. Pressing it all the way results in a laser beam bullet pass while a slight tap yields a rainbow pass that allows big receivers to jump up and make a grab. This pressure sensitive scheme adds a bit of difficulty to the passing game because it require you to actually press the button in the correct manner to throw the correct type of pass or execute the right juke or spin while running. However, this is exactly what makes this game so realistic. Making the right types of passes in a split second window is exactly the kind of skill needed by real college quarterbacks.

Tiburon also added to the realism by tweaking certain gameplay elements like zone defenses. The zone is no longer taking a backseat to man coverage, as the zone has been made more life-like in design and execution. Even though this may sound trivial, it adds a great deal to the gameplay experience and the strategy that is ever-present in heated NCAA contests. The strategy, of course, is where this game truly shines, for every offensive game plan has a defensive counter. Any strategy that would work in real football to counteract a certain play or strategy will succeed in this game. It is truly amazing and it is what sets the EA games apart from any other football game on the planet.

NCAA sets itself apart from its EA brother Madden through the college game itself. This includes more pageantry, tradition, and my personal favorite, more playbook variety than you can shake a rivalry trophy at. This game has everything from the wide open Florida Gator “Fun ‘n Gun”, to the ram it down your throat option attack from Nebraska. The college atmosphere has been turned up a notch this year with the addition of (gulp) over 150 teams, more rivalry trophies, fight songs, additional player entrances and better crowd reactions. The crowd will now roar louder as you get closer to the end zone and seem to react more appropriately than last year. In addition, users can even control what their players do after they score with the 8 end zone celebrations that will prove just how meaningless an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty means on an extra point attempt. Feel free to relive the magic of the Desmond Howard heisman pose.

The core of any sports game released in today’s market has to be franchise mode. NCAA calls it dynasty mode, and I call it the most improved aspect of the game. Sports Illustrated has joined the party to chronicle your drive for the national title. Every week there will be a number of covers with headlines and lead in sentences that chronicle the big news of the week. The variety in covers is amazing, and every angle that is present in modern college football is (here comes a pun) covered. For example, Louisville, a team in a mid-major conference, may be running the table with a 10-0 record but also finding themselves shut out of contention for the national title game. The headline on the Bowl Rankings section may be “Are they for real?: Louisville fights for national respect”, and then if they lose the next week to Colorado State (enforcing the SI curse) the headline might say “Upset in Fort Collins: CSU shatters Lousville’s dream of a perfect season”. There are headlines for each section of the dynasty, from the Top 25 polls to the post-season awards, and even pre-season predictions and mid-season bowl projections. Trust me, when you take over a bad team and finally see your team on a cover the sense of accomplishment is deep, and reinforces the idea of rising to national prominence.

Other small tweaks to the franchise mode are present in recruiting and coaching contracts. The 3-year deals are still here, but job security ratings now give you a good barometer on whether or not you’re safe from the pink slip. You can now get fired early or be offered a contract extension for a job well done. Recruiting remains largely the same, with the addition of pitching a certain aspect of your program to prospects. If you are a team that passes a lot like Florida you may want to pitch your coaching style to a wideout, but if you are recruiting a running back you may want to emphasize program prestige. Overall, the dynasty mode makes you feel even more like a coach than last year.

Graphically, the game has undergone minimal change. Player faces look a bit more detailed with improved expressions, but their overall appearance hasn’t been altered much at all, and it would have been nice to see them a bit smoother. Tiburon added tackling and catching animations and improved the collision detection, which cuts down on the number of replays confirming the ball went through your defender’s helmet and into the hands of your opponent for a touchdown. The only gaffe seems to be a bit of slowdown on kickoff returns and when players break from the huddle to run up to the line of scrimmage. The slowdown is annoying, but it doesn’t happen during crucial moments so it isn’t a hindrance in terms of gameplay.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of NCAA 2003 was the improved commentary. Unfortunately, most of the same phrases return with a few new situation-specific insights that round out the package nicely. Even though it was great to hear Lee Corso say, “he ate up that defender like a barbecued pork sandwich” once again, the variety that the commentary provided in last year’s game becomes old and tired the second time around. The fight songs have been improved and the crowd, as I said before, is smarter. So the audio does its job, but doesn’t shine like last year.

The biggest addition to this game may be online play, which is exclusive to the PS2. This exclusivity puzzles me, because Xbox Live would have been a perfect medium for this game, but nonetheless EA offers up the ability to play exhibition games against players from across the country. Normally, this would be a sentence that would describe the other things you can do with this game online. See, there it went and I didn’t describe any such ability, but that is because playing exhibition games is all you can do. No leagues or tournaments (cough, xbox live) or anything else that would enhance the value of online play. Voice chat is there, but you have to buy a $30 headset unless you already have SOCOM. There are leagues offered on the internet, but those are usually run by regular people who schedule games at 10:30 pacific time because their friend from 6th period shop class works the late shift at Dairy Queen.

Online play is available to both broadband and dial up users, and the dial up experience is surprisingly proficient, even though lag time is present, but that should be expected. It should be noted that voice chat is only available to broadband users and that anyone who bought a PS2 when it came out and does not have SOCOM will end up paying $120 to play NCAA online after buying the game, the headset, and the network adapter. That is, in a word, crappy. The fun to be had with online play is immense, but the wide gap in talent between teams at the college level may come into play. If you are playing one of the top 5 teams you won’t stand a chance unless you choose a team that is at least ranked, preferably in the top ten. This means that no matter what your skill level you will only beat Ohio State with Alabama A&M if you are matched up against a paraplegic monkey, so you won't always be able to play with your favorite school if you want a fair game.

Huge improvements to dynasty mode, subtle tweaks in the majority of the other departments, and online play with voice chat make this a better overall game than NCAA 2003. The addition of 150 teams is awe-inspiring, and a lot of people may just buy this game because they know someone that is in it. However, the entire package doesn’t have enough to give those casual fans of 2003 the feeling that they have to go out and buy this game. This is what NCAA 2003 did, for there were so many improvements that even if you had 2002 you had to have 2003. Even though that won’t matter to hardcore fans, it still must be taken into consideration, yet those with a broadband connection and the correct peripherals may find online play reason enough to buy it for another year. It adds infinite replay value and talking trash cross-country is invigorating. This is the best NCAA yet, and it is strange to think that some may be disappointed by it. But in the end this game makes you feel more like a real college football player and coach than any other game before it. For that, it must be deemed "excellent" with the highest rating possible.