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NCAA Football 2003
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Graphics & Sound:
NCAA Football 2003 for the Xbox is much like a redshirt freshman: the series has been around for a year, but wasn't played on the Xbox last year. Regardless, things couldn't look better for the best college football gaming series. The player models look amazingly realistic, and the body types vary from player to player. The running backs look small and athletic, while the O-linemen look huge and overweight. And don't expect to see too much of the same faces, because there are plenty of different looks to go around. A couple of the add-ons from last year are the cheerleaders jumping around on the sidelines, and the 50 different mascots that represent their respective teams. Let us not forget about the amazing detail that is put into the stadiums of each and every college football venue. Yeah, the crowds are little blurred from up close, but regardless, things couldn't look better. Although, we say that every year, and every year, we look like morons because we are proved differently. Also returning for a second season are the trio of commentators: Brad Nessler, "the coach" Lee Corso, and "the quarterback" Kirk Herbstreit. Some of their stuff is used from last year's version, but so much has been added that you really won't care. With the way they call the game, it really is almost like watching the real thing on TV. The rest of this section is just as solid. NCAA Football 2003 provides the most realistic college football atmosphere around. There are over 200 fight songs, the crowds go nuts the second a big play happens, and you'll start to hurt after hearing the bone-crushing tackles that are constantly made. Speaking of the crowd, I was playing at home with Alcorn State (the next big football powerhouse) when I realized something: I didn't hear the crowd cheering me on. Then I looked up in my stands, and saw that only twenty people went to the game. No wonder I could hear the announcer better than the quarterback! Truly, EA Sports knows how to create a football ambiance.
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Gameplay:
Following a winning gameplan from the previous year, along with a Madden feel, NCAA Football 2003 has all the makings to be this year's "College Football's Game of the Year." Running plays are even better this year with blocking schemes and breakaway tackles. Passing plays are great with your receivers trying to stay inbounds with one-foot toe drags. On defense, strafe with your cornerback to swat down the incoming pass. This game has it all... including the Create-a-School mode. Choose how good or bad you want your new team to start out as, along with the look of the uniforms, the fight song, and stadium. Once you've created your "Powerhouse Football Program-to-be," play with them in a number of different modes. You can Practice, Play Now (exhibition), play through a Season, or everyone's favorite, Dynasty mode. Take your team through the season and beyond for years, recruiting blue chip prospects in the offseason. At the end of the year, try to win as many awards as possible like the Heisman Trophy, or other offensive and defensive awards. After you win those prestigious honors, store them all in the new Trophy Room. This is where you collect your awards and trophies from over the years, allowing you to look back at what you accomplished. Another thing you can keep there are Rivalry Trophies. With the all-new Rivalry mode, try and win all 23 archrival trophies. Me, I'm all about winning Paul Bunyan's axe for the Golden Gophers. I hate those Badgers! Other things you can do in NCAA Football 2003 are collect College Pennants, which can enhance your team's ability, or unlock other cheats and teams. Plus, if you're in that I want to play football, but I'd rather play with the team's mascot mood, you can. Play with 50 different mascots in an actual game. Now that's wild! |
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Difficulty:
There are four different levels of difficulty, and I recommend starting from the bottom up. There's not much challenge with Junior Varsity, most should start at Varsity, things get tough with All-American, and good luck with Heisman. I'm not going to discuss too much about the difference between the levels of NCAA Football 2003, but more the computer's AI. At times, I really think it's right on the money, and at other times, it's not. For example, in last year's version, the computer couldn't miss a field goal unless it was extremely far away. With this year's, it's not uncommon to see a botched extra point. This is the good AI, the stuff that actually happens. The bad is when the computer is in its two-minute drill offense, and it takes its sweet ass time getting down the field. I'm not talking about brilliant clock management, I'm talking about it looks like it doesn't know what it's doing. For instance, when they are deep in their part of the field, and get stopped on first down, the computer then takes a time out, and then runs the ball the next two plays, finally punting on fourth down. My question is, if the computer was planning on punting after first down, why call the time out and stop the clock? Another scenario is when the computer is actually driving the ball down the field, goes into the no-huddle offense, hurries up to the line of scrimmage, and then sits there as five to ten seconds tick off the clock, then finally hikes the ball and spikes it into the ground, stopping the clock. Again, if it planned on spiking the ball anyways, why did it let those five to ten seconds go by? These few things with the AI are just a few minor tweaks away from perfection. |
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Game Mechanics:
I was a little concerned about the controls since I was used to the PlayStation 2, but I found no problems whatsoever with the Xbox controller. I did find things to be a little slower to react when on defense when I was trying to switch my defender before the pass. But once you get the timing down, you should be ok. I really like how NCAA Football 2003 has a custom menu for each user. When you first turn on the game, it will ask if you have a favorite school (Minnesota for me), and then it starts playing the fight song with the mascot and cheerleaders dancing around. The game menus themselves are easy to figure out. And following every game, you will always be asked if you'd like to save the game. The loading time is present, but it's not that bad, and don't worry about memory space, since there's almost too much room with the Xbox. Hopefully, EA will provide us with the online capability for next year's version, when I can take everyone online to school. (cough, cough) Thank you, I'll be here all week! Bottom line, if you still haven't had a chance to play the NCAA series, go out and get NCAA Football 2003. You won't be disappointed. |
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-Red Dawg, GameVortex Communications AKA Alex Redmann |
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