NCAA Football 06

A lot of things have happened since the release of the last NCAA Football game. The most significant one is that EA Spots has obtained the exclusive license to create college football games. That means this year if you want to get your college football fix you only have one source to do so: EA’s NCAA Football. This puts a lot of pressure on the developers at Tiburon to create the best college football game they can. Did they live up to the challenge they set up for themselves? Read on to find out more.

Players will notice they are in for some changes the moment they boot up the game for the first time. When you first load the game you will be introduced to the newest and most addictive feature in NCAA Football 2006: Race for the Heisman. You are a star at your high school football team, and the college scouts are out and what to see what you are made of. So you will start by typing in your last name and then picking a position. After the drill is over you will be offered a few scholarships or you can walk to any school you want.

After you select which school you wish to enroll in you are taken to your dorm room, which has fan mail, campus newsletters, current girlfriend pictures, and many other things that make it looks like a typical dorm room. This doom room really acts like the main hub for this particular game mode, because it keeps track of the different things that you will need to do throughout Race for the Heisman. Also in this dorm room, you can choose to fully customize your character by putting in your first name, style of the uniform, and other personal traits that can be made to make the player in your likeness.

Once players exit the doom room they will go to the normal game hub and see the options that they have become accustomed to seeing. As always, the Dynasty mode for this game is one of the best things since sliced bread. Players can take any team, a real one or one they created, and see if they can take them all the way to the National Championship. Players are in charge of everything to make this happen, from hiring the right coaches, working the schedule, getting all of your strategies down, and many other things. When you are in off season, you can get rid of players, recruit new ones, train, cut, and do many other things to get ready for the next season. One of the new features for this mode is that you can now recruit players during the season, so this will present some very interesting things for you during the course of the game.

Besides playing a few scrimmages, the Race for the Heisman, and the ever-fulfilling Dynasty mode, players can participate in a few other game modes. First there is the Spring Training which allows you to test your still on a variety of drills for both offense and defense. The next is the popular rivalry games, and almost every school has a few of those. See if you have what it takes to beat your toughest opponent. Another mode is the Mascot game, and this is one of my favorite things that is even more mascots then in previous games. There is just something funny about seeing a team full of mascots playing to see who is the toughest. Finally there is the practice mode which allows you to prepare for the games by running though your playbooks.

Another big feature that NCAA Football 2006 has is the impact players. Just like in real life there are certain football players that can make or break a game, because of a superior quality that they might process. These players are identified by a big white circle that is placed underneath their feet. You can tell when these players are completely “in the zone” because the white dot will begin to pulsate, and that is your queue to hand them the ball so they can do their thing. The computer AI will start to react to these players because they will start to double cover them, and do many other things to help prevent them from getting the ball. On the flip side if you are on defense and your impact player starts flashing he might be more likely to cause a fumble or get a sack against the opposing team. It is all very interesting to see and a great new addition to the game.

The graphics for NCAA Football 2006 are really well done. Everything seems to have had a slight upgrade. The texture use on the players clothing seems to have gotten a slight facelift because everything has a sharper look and feel to it. One of the biggest areas of improvement is all of the player animations. Everything from the running to the tackling has redone and looks ultra realistic when it is being preformed.

I really liked the music selection for this game. The only thing that I wish is that the developers went ahead and added support for the custom soundtracks, as nothing can beat playing a game with your own music jamming in the background. The use of in-game Dolby Digital really makes this game feel that much more realistic and better to play. I really liked how the crowd interaction, which makes the screen rumble with all of the noise from the fans, and really helps break down the concentration of the visiting team. It is little touches like this that help make this game memorable.

If you have an Xbox Live account you can play this game online and it is a real pleasure to do so. If you are sick and tired of beating up on the computer and you can’t find anyone to come over to play, all you have to do is sign on and get your game on. All of the matches are really smooth online and I rarely ran into any sort of lag.

NCAA Football 2006 is rated E for Everyone. If you want to use your memory card it will take up 185 blocks. The game also supports multiplayer for up to 4 players.

Gameplay: 9.6
I have been a staunch PS2 sports gamer for quite a long time, and I still think that the PS2 has the best controller to play sports games with. Now that I have stated that, playing with the Xbox controller is just as responsive and tight as the PS2 one. The gameplay in this is extremely tight, and the game overall goes by with more speed emphasized. It doesn’t seem like you are a always in the huddle but it feels like you are actually placing the game more, in comparison to previous years. The gameplay is just extremely well done and it will captivate you for hours on end.

Graphics: 9.5
It seems like everything in this category for NCAA Football 2006 has been redone for the better. The players have better texture use and the character models looks sharper and more realistic. The best thing is that the animations have been tuned up, so to speak, so it looks better than a lot of other football games out on the market.

Sound: 9.4
As always the game supports Dolby Digital, which brings the game closer to realism. The commentary is still extremely really well done and doesn’t get old or repetitive. This year there is a lot more crowd interaction, fight songs, and over things that give the feeling that you are sitting in a football stadium. The music used in this game is really good, but it is a shame that you can’t use customize soundtracks though.

Difficulty: Medium
The game will be hard to any beginner, but as time progresses, players will be able to adapt to how the computer AI plays. The AI keeps getting better and better, but it really cannot beat playing against another human.

Concept: 9.3
It truly amazes me that the developers can keep coming up with new things to add to the game to help keep it fresh, unique, and a great game to play. Everything that was in the game last year has been heavily improved upon, which makes this a really great game. I really liked the new Race for the Heisman mode and how the impact players can make the difference between a win of a loss in a game.

Multiplayer: 9.6
I am so grateful that Microsoft and EA have put aside their differences and allowed us to play this game online. This game is one of the best games to play online if you need to get your college football fix, and you can’t find any friends to come over and play against you.

Overall: 9.5
If you like college football games then the purchase of this game is a no-brainier for you, especially since it is the only one in town now. The good thing about this is that NCAA Football 2006 is a really great game that has so many features that it will keep you occupied for months on end.