For many, the beginning of another year of college means a chance to enrich their minds with 9:00 am classes, drunken reverie in dorm rooms of debauchery, and freedom from the evil clutches of parents.  For the hundreds of thousands who fill the monstrous athletic facilities ritually, the return to campus means one thing: another season of NCAA Football is beginning. 

To the folks at EA Sports Tiburon Studios, the new college football season means another chance to improve on their excellent NCAA Football series.  EA was fortunate enough to have continually built on a franchise that was nearly flawless since its inception on the next-gen consoles and follow through in their latest version, NCAA Football 2004. 

With both NCAA Football and the Madden franchises heeding the old adage of “If it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it”, many of the football sequels in the EA lineup have been mere polished versions of their predecessors with refined graphics and gameplay, added animations, and updated rosters.  While this is great for die-hard fans of the games, casual sports fans don’t need to buy the latest edition just for some extra tackling motions or more chiseled facial features.  This year’s version of NCAA Football 2004 epitomizes this trend.  There’s very little added to the game, but thankfully for EA, last year’s game was simply awesome. 

Back from last year is the rich Dynasty Mode that allows players to take control of a program from the ground up.  Everything from recruiting and red-shirting to conference games and national championships is governed by players over several playable seasons. This year’s Dynasty Mode allows up to 12 user-controlled programs to compete together in the same ongoing seasons, a great way to decide football dominance against your friends.  Other modes returning are the hilarious Mascot Mode (players are replaced by school mascots) and Rivalry Mode, a great way to settle age-old scores once and for all.

Every Division 1 team, several Division 1AA teams, and new classic teams are in the game and at gamer’s disposal, but the real treat comes in creating your own school and players and throwing them into a juggernaut conference to duke it out with existing programs.  Not only can you pick the conference, strength, and schedule of your team, but NCAA Football lets players decide uniform colors, stadium design, and logos.  It’s a great way to get involved in the college game without worrying about academics, just like the ACC. 

The gameplay has been slightly tweaked for more realism, and it is noticeable to veteran EA football gamers.  Perhaps the greatest addition to the game is the change to the play-action plays.  The AI has been reprogrammed to bite at the fake handoff more often, and the ball carrier cursor (the star around the player who has the ball) actually sticks on the running back for a second to fool even the sharpest of human players.  This causes defenses to bite on the run, and leaves receivers with a little more space to catch the ball.  If you played last year’s EA football games, you’ll no doubt remember the frustration of the play-action plays that often led to a 10-yard loss. 

There are several other smaller adjustments to gameplay to make this year’s version more complete.  The AI is much better at exploiting weaknesses in 2004.  If your offensive line crumbles like a cookie, the defense will blitz more often.  If your defensive line can’t stop the run, the CPU will run all day.  The computer also does an excellent job of stopping repeated plays, forcing players to call a more realistic game.  Returning kicks looks more authentic with special teams forming a realistic-looking wedge (send in the 4^th string linebackers!).  Running plays are harder to alter mid-play.  For example, running a HB Blast up the middle is harder to bounce out to the outside.  Instead, your HB’s momentum will take him up the middle forcing plays to be run as they were called.  The passing system seems to think that college players have iron hands.  Several short passes to wide open players will result in more incompletions than a Pee-Wee league game.  In the game’s defense, the CPU drops just as many passes, but it is none-the-less frustrating. 

EA did add a few items worth note.  College Classics mode pits gamers in some of college football’s most defining moments.  Whether it’s finishing the job with Miami in last year’s championship or re-creating “The Play” with Cal against Stanford, it’s your opportunity to rewrite history or show that it was no fluke.  Sports Illustrated has joined with EA to offer magazine covers highlighting the season’s most noteworthy accomplishments.  It’s mostly a gimmick, but seeing your player on the cover of SI is awfully satisfying.  NCAA Football 2004 is the first of EA sports games that use the EA Sports Bio, a system of rewarding gamers for playing EA Sports titles.  As users play more of the EA games, they can unlock different powerups, see major accomplishments, and actually see how long they have spent playing the game. 

The graphics of this year’s edition are once again fantastic.  Not much has changed except a few more cutscenes and plenty more player animations.  Close-ups have been sharpened, particularly on referees.  Other than that, expect the same quality graphics that EA has continually provided.

The audio in the game is, just like the rest of the game, slightly better than NCAA Football 2004.  The commentary has been improved in this year’s game, but only marginally.   College football gurus Lee Corso and company call the game (if your team is worthy of a televised game) and quip about the contest very fluidly.  All the school fight songs are back and fill the game with college spirit, crowds have specific chants for situations (they love going for it on fourth and short), and cheers erupt during big plays. 

When all is said and done, NCAA football is an improvement over last year’s version, but not so much better that football fans should rush out and buy it, especially because Madden 2004 comes out next month.  However, with its improved gameplay, graphics, and authenticity, it will satisfy the pickiest NCAA Football fans.

Gameplay: 9.0

EA has addressed some gameplay issues in this year’s version, particularly the play action, and the result is ultimately positive.  Only people who played 2003 for days on end will notice the differences, however.

Graphics: 9.3

Once again, little improvements here and there add depth to the look of the game, but no major changes.

Sound: 8.5

No significant leap in any direction for the sound.  It’s nearly identical to last year’s version.

Difficulty: Medium

There’s really something for everyone here.  The difficulty levels range from incredibly easy to incredibly difficult and everything in between.   

Concept: 8.0

With very little added to the game this year, there’s not much to laud in this category.  More of the same of college football’s best video game.

Multiplayer: 8.5

The only change to multiplayer on the Xbox is the multi-user dynasty mode.  Only the PS2 version allows for online play.

Overall: 8.8

NCAA Football 2004 is definitely a solid title and a must for NCAA Football fans.  Other than that, I don’t recommend purchasing the title for the casual football fan.