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Platform: NGC, PS2, XB

Developer: Tiburon

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Genre: Sports

ETA: July 23, 2002

NCAA Football 2003

On August 22, Colorado and Virginia will square off and the 2002 NCAA Football season will officially begin.  There are many questions that will be answered throughout the next five months.  Who will win the national championship?  Who will win the Heisman?  Will my favorite team have a successful season?  That unpredictability is what makes college football so great.

However if there is one thing that we as college football fans can count on, it's that EA's NCAA Football series, not Miami, Tennessee, or Florida State, will reign king.

After a successful inaugural showing on the PS2 last year, EA Sports will also bring their NCAA Football series to the Gamecube and X-Box.  With the potential for a broader audience EA has gone to work on improving on the game's weaker points.  

One of the major gripes with last season's game was the run to pass ratio.  It seemed like the CPU would abandon the run as soon as it was losing.  For example in NCAA 2002, a traditionally a run-dominated team like Nebraska, would pass the ball 40 or 50 times a game.  In our AE exclusive interview with Jeff Luhr, who has worked on every NCAA Football game since the 1998 version, simply said the problem had been fixed.

Passing was an enjoyable gameplay aspect in NCAA 2002, but both the CPU and the human player usually abused it.  The main reason for that was the effectiveness of the "out" and "corner" routes.  In this year's game the defenders will break on the ball sooner and will play smarter.  Although this enhancement will make the game more difficult, I think that all NCAA gamers will rejoice as it makes the game even more realistic.

Fans of a ground attack will also be pleased.  The NCAA crew has worked on improving the effectiveness of the stiff arm, juke, and spin move.  In last year's game I rarely used a special move (especially in the rain) because they didn't work very well and caused too many fumbles.  From watching a few of the downloadable movies at easports.com, the spin move animation has definitely changed for the better.

There have also been significant strides made on the defensive side of the ball.  Due to a faulty CPU run/pass ratio, as mentioned above, many times a human gamer would lead the nation in run defense and be dead last in pass defense.  Defending the pass will be made easier by a new swat button. This button will probably work miracles, as the only way to deflect a pass last season was to jump at the ball.  This tactic worked only sporadically.

The most anticipated defensive improvement has to be gang tackling.  The collision detection in '02 left much room for improvement.  Let's just say there were too many "shoe string tackles" on the ball carrier.  I believe gang tackling will improve the game drastically, but whether or not the stat will be tracked correctly (Will there be assisted and solo tackles tracked?) is another story.

If NCAA '02 nailed anything dead-on last season it was creating the college atmosphere.  From reading the fact sheet, it appears it will also be the game's main strength this year.  Over 200 authentic school fight songs will be in the game (I think there was around 60 in last year's game).  Even the fight songs from last year's game have been improved on.  I am a big Florida State fan and last year's war chant was pretty generic.  After hearing it this year on NCAA Football 2003's official website it sent chills down my spine.  Gone is the sterile, elevator music-like quality of last year's effort – a chant that screamed "GO FSU!"

There will also be school-specific entrances in NCAA 2003.  Although the Miami Hurricanes' entrance is the only one I have seen to date, I would think there would be more than just one in the final version of the game.  EA has also added 3D animated cheerleaders and added more 3D mascots, as well as 25 new mascot teams.  They also added a Create-A-Team feature, but you will have to replace a current team. 

The much-enjoyed Dynasty feature also makes a return appearance.  You will be able to play as many as 60 seasons with your favorite teams.  Improvements have been made here also.

Any experienced NCAA gamer can attest to the extreme success of the mid-majors throughout a dynasty.  Within two or three years, teams such as Ohio, Ball State, TCU, and UCF would not only be national championship contenders, but national champions!  Luhr admits in our interview that this has been a problem since the '98 version, but promises that there has been significant improvements made in the sim engine.

The most enjoyable aspect of the Dynasty game mode may be the recruiting.  The improvements made for this year are a friendlier interface and the addition of regional recruiting (see interview for more details).

A feature included in NCAA 2001 on the PSOne and left off the following year on the PS2 was the ability to customize your schedule.  The schedules last season went through a three or four-year cycle, so this feature will receive a warm welcome back.

One feature I was hoping to see included, the ability to see where your players were drafted without importing your draft class to Madden, was left out of this year's game.  All 28 bowl games and 117 Division 1-A schools, including 27 1-AA teams, will make appearances in NCAA 2003.

In short, NCAA Football 2003 looks to be one of the strongest arcade football games on the market.  Although it will lack a few bells and whistles of its NFL counterpart, the Madden series that has online play and a Create-A-Play, the game should be stocked enough that even the most demanding gamer will enjoy.

NCAA Football 2003 is set to be released on all three consoles July 23.

- Tim Martin

(June 17, 2002)

Our Q&A with Jeff Luhr all about NCAA Football.