NCAA Football 08

EA Sport’s NCAA 2008 Football is a fun excursion into college sports excellence. I try not to get releases of franchise titles every year they come out. That way, I am not “cursed” by the knowledge that the annual upgrades were too minimal, or otherwise make comparisons to last year’s title. Having not played EA’s college football game in a couple of years, it is fresher to me, and I am not jaded from having that point of view already in my head. The 2008 version, to me, has all of the fun and tools that I’d expect in a game. Though it is still structured around older technology, I believe they have provided a fair version for the phased-out original Xbox. 

The newest release contains some nice enhancements to the quarterback movements, and ability to move receivers out of their route and into better position. The latter move is done with some button trickery, but as long as you can think quickly and react to your window of opportunity, you can save some otherwise hopeless plays. That mirrors real life, wherein receivers can spot a hole and if the QB can manage the time, a huge gain can be had—from nothing. Against a sharp human opponent, your move is betrayed by the circle that appears at the receiver’s feet, so you must pass it fast and pray hard. That may be a good time to yell something as a distraction—so you can complete your thumb stick mojo.

Some of the enhancements that don’t affect gameplay are within the University’s history. As your success builds, you can record your progress with viewable trophies, pennants, photos and clips. There’s a virtual hall of accomplishments you can retreat to-- when you feel the need to bask in the glory days of yesteryear. It starts empty, but as you grow, so will your showcase. In addition, there is the familiar Dynasty mode, in which you can build your… dynasty. You can create and maintain your organization just like real life—including player recruiting, testing, tweaking your squad (such as benching a injured player as a red-shirt to save his year), and other details for long-term playability. I don’t engage in that level of play, as I am not into recruiting and micro-managing my team in that way, but true aficionados of the game will enjoy doing that. It really makes the game more personal, and allows you more control than some random fantasy league online. Again, using the Blue Devils as an example, I could build a history that probably will not exist in real life. To someone that in-tune with the sport, that’s a huge attraction. It was fun just being able to beat teams that they never beat in the real world—building a legacy on that would have been even sweeter, but it’s optional. I’ll just rest on my imaginary conference title and not push my luck.

On the less demanding side, you can play games against real-life conference rivals with accurate stats, or suit-up your mascots and play your Tigers against Turtles. That’s not new, but just funny to see. Since the players are generic amateurs, anyway, why not have fictitious, giant-headed characters running around in the snow?

With pseudo-exciting commentary by Brad Nessler and Lee Corso, the audio delivers some hit and miss enhancements for the game. Though the play by play gets predictably repetitive, I wasn’t too bothered by that. It didn’t happen quickly, but maybe it was luck. After a couple of days of bad plays, I did roll my eyes then they gave their same Monday morning quarterback analysis for the 6^th time. The game affects and environmental sounds were very nice, and the crowd can really help a game develop.

For the now aging Xbox, the graphics look great. Yes, there are plenty of shakes and digital anomalies to go around, but the overall appearance is smoothed and detailed. The weather (effects) looked good. My first game was mild with clear blue skies. The second match was driving rain and cold. Good thing my next opponent was a deep south not used to that weather (even if the advantage was all in my head). The faces were not especially detailed, but they’re generic college players, so I don’t care. It would matter if it was cheerleaders, but I digress. The plays are easy to read, which is nice since the manual is…. lacking. 95% of your help is within the game, so being able to see everything well is crucial. Not a problem, here. I think, considering this unit is phased out, they could have taken short cuts as when the PSOne was fading. They didn’t, and I appreciate that effort. The last sports games for the Playstation looked terrible.

Standing on its own merits, NCAA 2008 is a great game. It plays nice, and even though kicking caused me some major headaches with the multi-finger dexterity challenges, I had some serious fun. It is a great diversion to work with your favorite team—even if you have moved far away from their territory in real life. You can play against any opponent you choose, or let the game flow like a real season and follow that structure. No matter what angle you enter it, you will find something to like. Even the mascots were fun to play with if you want to try something non-standard. With the depth of the Dynasty mode and the ability to Recruit—you’ll have plenty to do—for the whole season.              

Gameplay: 8.5
The game requires some serious control memorization. There are several ways to practice within the game, so that’s not a problem. I tend to jump in and figure it out the hard way, but unless you’re totally new to using that controller, you will adjust pretty easily. Not so with the kicking, which required many visits back to the instructions before I could get close to making it straight. Picking a play and getting the ball in motion also took me some practice I was busy browsing the many selections and got a “delay of game” call more than once. The players react well to subtle movements, and the new features like quarterback avoidance are easy to learn.  

Graphics: 7.5 
The game looks very nice for an expiring console release. I don’t see shortcuts, and if there were no next-gen versions to compare it to, I’d say it holds its own against any sports game out there. There is typical blurring and lack of detail for appropriate things like crowd shots, but who wants to see a group of drunken alumni close-up, anyway? Where it counts, in the player movements and field view, it looks nice and very clean. Throw in some fog and rain, and the experience makes you reach for a jacket—even indoors. A far cry from the last gasps of gaming for Sony’s PSOne sunset. Those looked as bad as they played.   

Sound: 8.0
Commentators aside, the sounds never got stale or too recycled. This is an asset that can easily be overlooked. If you want a shortcut, the audio is a great place to do it, but you don’t feel that with this game. The hits and whistles are crisp and enrich the game immensely. The crowd noise and band music made everything more festive and real. It is a very proportionate accent to a game that already has so many other positives.  

Difficulty: Medium
The game is fairly challenging to learn, but straight forward once the basics are down. Aside from user-error button mashing, the game is easy to get to the level of comfort in which you can really have fun. The cursing is still there, but less so for poor design.  

Concept: 6.5 
Although there are some enhancements with the long term lifespan via Dynasty options and keeping your trophy case current, it is like many other football games before it. There is a nice Recruiting feature to allow you the immersion level beyond normal play, but just straight forward football matches are familiar and simple. It’s not a game that allows much room for creativity—in the way it is played. Mascots don’t count    

Overall: 8.0
I think this is a very solid game that offers a long life of gameplay. It is not limited in making you play one certain way. It is a sports game, and a way to immerse yourself in modes that will last—as long as you want them. You can take a player and walk him through every year of his collegiate history. Red-shirting, tests and etc—all part of the experience. Or, just play one on one games to get revenge on schools that might otherwise pound your favorite into the turf in the real world. Is your favorite team having a bad year? Solve that problem by developing their doppelganger within your home. I’m personally proud that I am able to lift Duke to levels of dominance—if only in my world. I have banners and trophies to prove how great they are—in my world. Thus is the escape provided within games like these, and their appeal to playing them openly at home. This may be the last College football game for the Xbox, but it won’t be the least. It has gone out with a nice touch, and has nothing to regret. I know that I have the ability to jump into a conference rivalry any time I want—and not have to leave my home.