Complete. No other word describes EA Sports’ NCAA Football 2004. The game is packed with new features such as College Classics mode, which allows fans to play out famous college football scenarios including Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary and Cal’s "The Play." The game also includes the best online gaming experience found in a sports title to date. These new features coupled with improved game play, a deep dynasty mode and a ridiculous amount of teams (even old school teams complete with leather helmets) make this title a proverbial "Must have."
Interface:

Grade: 9.6

NCAA Football 2004 is so packed with goodies that it would have been easy for developers to overlook the game’s interface, but EA was able to incorporate all of the game’s features into a smooth and easy to use format. Saving and loading profiles, dynasties, rosters and created schools is very simple and it can be made even simpler with the use of the AutoSave feature. This feature is handy and even though the game automatically brings up the save screen for you, it will ask you if you want to progress with the save. This is especially useful if you want to try out rosters and settings without saving over your previous configuration.

Also, game load times are relatively short considering the amount of information being processed. The only gripe I have with the interface is that after every try at a certain scenario in the college classics mode, the game forces you to go back to the main menu, and this can become rather tedious during some of the harder challenges.

Graphics:

Grade: 9.5

Graphically, this game is ridiculously great. Players are extremely realistic looking and this year’s game even includes the long hairstyles worn by some players. All the official jerseys are here as well (as well as most alternate uniforms), so yes, you can use those horrible Highlighter yellow uni’s worn by Oregon.

Stadiums accurately capture the environment of their real life counterparts. Every D-1A stadium is included in the game as well as many of the D-1AA team stadiums. The only big omission in the game is SBC Park, which is substituted for with Safeco Field, as the site of the San Francisco Bowl.

Weather effects are also very well done and my jaw dropped the first time I noticed players breaths during a cold game.

A useful new camera trick allows users to fool opponents. Now on draw and play action plays the camera will follow the fake thus allowing human opponents to think one thing is happening when it’s the opposite that’s taking place. For example, on a draw play, the camera will pan out as it does on normal pass plays, complete with button indicators above receiver’s heads. Just when an opponent thinks its pass, the QB hands the ball off to the RB. This is very useful in 2-player games and I even fooled myself the first few times I ran those plays on offense.

Gameplay:

Grade: 9.2

Ahh yes, the meat of the game. The game is just a flat out blast to play, and is completely customizable thanks to the many sliders provided. The gameplay is smooth and for the most part realistic outside of a few aspects that I will get to in a bit.

A noticeable addition to this year’s game is the inclusion of short passing sets. The short passing game is excellent and gamers who use timing and patience to pick apart defenses will be rewarded in this game. The game also does a good job of giving elite receivers the ability to make plays deep while less talented wideouts have a more difficult time catching bombs. However it is still rather easy to air it out once one gets a feel for the game.

Another great addition to this year’s game is the ability to get sacks. In previous versions of NCAA Football it was nearly impossible to get to the quarterback without using elaborate line shifts, overload blitzes, and ruby red shoes (There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home!) Now with the use of good angles and well timed pass rush moves, gamers are able to put consistent pressure on the quarterback.

One area of the game that could really be improved is the running game. Not that it’s bad, it’s just not up to par with the running game available in ESPN NFL Football. In that game running backs plow forward and drag tacklers. Also, when running backs encounter their own offensive lineman, RB’s will give the big guys a push, keeping their forward momentum going. In NCAA Football, especially on Heisman difficulty, your own offensive linemen are your own worst enemy.

I don’t know how many times I have witnessed my own O-lineman randomly disengage from a block or just flat out miss their blocks. Again, this isn’t that big a deal on the lower difficulty levels but on the Heisman difficulty the problem is magnified. Furthermore, I don’t like boosting the human run ability settings up because then my backs go from chumps to making Jamal Lewis look like Rich Gannon, and that feels cheap.

I know many gamers love to air it out and could care less about having a deep running system but the unrealistic running game is something for the developers to take note of.

The Dynasty mode on the other hand is superior to anything seen before in a college football game.

The meat of this feature rests in the off season period where gamers can recruit players during a five-week period. New this year is the ability to use certain strategies in recruiting players, such as promoting your schools prestige, or playing the location of your school ("Come to scenic Waco, Texas!") While this adds another aspect to recruiting, whether a player buys into your scheme really comes down to luck, and this feature could have been developed further.

New this year in Dynasty mode is the Sports Illustrated cover of the week. After every week in the season, the game chooses a standout player and puts his image on the cover of the famous magazine. The different covers are varied enough to not get redundant and it is always cool to see one of your players get national attention.

A very useful tool that allows gamers to improve is the underrated practice mode. While this mode has been mostly unchanged from last year’s version, it’s still the best way to get better. Users can choose to use any team and playbook they want in this mode, and weather and stadium are also completely adjustable. The best aspect of this feature is that you can tell the CPU to call random plays within a certain formation, (for example, random plays out of 4-3), and this really gives players a chance to learn which receivers to go to against certain zone defenses.

Sound:

Grade: 8.8

Trusty Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, and Brad Nessler provide the calls for the game and in NCAA Football 2004 they continue the solid work they have provided the last few years.

The in game sound is decent while one improvement really adds to the realism of this years game. In previous versions of NCAA Football, on long touchdown plays the crowd really wouldn’t get into it until the player crossed the goaline. It was as if everyone at the stadium looked away at the same time and then turned back to the field only to see the player standing in the end zone. Thankfully, this year programmers adjusted this by having both the fans and the announcers get progressively louder as a play develops. In fact, sometimes it seems as if announcer Brad Nessler is going to fall out of the booth in excitement, and this new energy really adds to the fun factor in the game.

The fight songs that provide the background music for the menu screens are very well done and they set the tone for the game’s college atmosphere.

Online:

Grade: 9.8

Usually I wouldn’t make this a separate category but it’s so good it needed it’s own section. NCAA Football 2004 simply sets the standard of how other companies (and other EA games) should create their online modes.

Setting up accounts is a breeze, and the menus are user friendly.

Once gamers choose a room, they are able to chat with competitors and issue challenges. All of this is USB keyboard friendly, and once in the game, players with headsets can exchange pleasantries with each other.

The gameplay is relatively smooth however there is a split second delay that takes some getting used to. Also, there is your usual bevy of pullers (those who quit before the game is over), glitchers (those who take advantage of programming holes to quit), and overall poor sports. However, for the most part players take their losses and will give you a fair game.

Overall:

Grade: 9.5

EA has dominated the college football game market and for good reason. NCAA 2004 is easy to pick up and play, and has enough features to keep you playing well past the real college football season. However, I feel the series is ready to take that next step. The game has pretty much perfected its current engine and while the game is a blast to play, the ESPN NFL series has surpassed it in in-game realism, especially in the running game. NCAA programmers should also take a look at how well the ESPN series incorporates real defenses (separating line calls from coverage calls), and allows users to use countless audibles. But again, I am nitpicking because I know this series can improve on what it already is, the best football title available.

Robert Davis is still a sports junkie and still loves to play video games. Then again, don’t we all.