Perhaps I was expecting too much from VC's first attempt at college football. NFL 2K1 went right up against Madden 2001 in every department, and in some cases did it better, despite running on less powerful hardware. I can not say the same for NCAA 2K2. I would be lying to you if I said NCAA 2K2 showed any vast improvements over its NFL brethren.

The overall speed of the game is almost doubled from NFL 2K1. That causes some problems with the otherwise well-done running game. It's almost impossible for holes to develop with the game on the "normal" setting, and it doesn't get much better when cranked down to "slow." The signature balance between sim and arcade gameplay shifts to the side of the latter in NCAA because of the blistering speed. If you thought the NFL series should be slowed down, you're in for a rude awakening.

The speed problem carries over onto the other side of the ball as well. Play action passes are often stopped before the Quarterback can look up because of lightening fast linemen and blitzing linebackers. As a fan of the NFL 2K series, I can honestly say that Madden does it better when it comes to the speed of the game. If Visual Concepts was trying to capture that "college feel", they should have spent more time on atmosphere and fight songs rather than NFL Blitz style speed.

I heard Greg Thomas say over and over, in interview and interview, that the focus of NCAA 2K2 was the "college feel." And you know what? I believed that they would come through and really nail it. So why, oh why, am I hearing "Hail to the Victor" after a Notre Dame touchdown? Around 11 fightsongs are recycled for each of the 100+ NCAA teams. That doesn't quite capture the atmosphere of college football that Visual Concepts was shooting for.

On the positive side, somehow VC crammed in an astonishing amount of plays in each playbook. Every playbook the hardcore college football fan can think of is in there, including the oh-so-tricky T formation. The deep, unique playbooks are something EA's NCAA Football 2002 can't touch.

NCAA features all of the game modes you would come to expect, like exhibition, practice, season, and franchise. Like NFL 2K1's franchise mode, NCAA 2K2 isn't in the same league as EA when it comes to depth. It is bare-bones, but it does the job adequately if you are into the gameplay. Hopefully, next year VC will add more meat to off-season recruiting and stat tracking.

The overall tone of this review may sound negative, but in reality, NCAA 2K2 is far from being a bad football game. I was expecting much more from VC, considering their track record, and it seems like the game could have been great with a few more months in development. I was very surprised by the improvement of the A.I; most notably the defensive A.I. Out routes are no longer automatic first downs. The corners do a much better job of jumping on the ball. Safeties still stand there like statues far too many times a game for my tastes, but they will do a much more admirable job of supporting than in the NFL 2K series. Playing the standard 5 minute quarters usually produce some great defensive battles.

Sega Sports' move to the next-gen consoles is coming just at the right time. The NFL2K engine is really showing its age. Animation is not even NFL 2K1 caliber, and the "polygon warp" on the player models is back, and worse than ever. The textures on the players will sporadically warp and pop almost every play. It's a lot more noticeable than in NFL 2K1. Faces, helmets, and leg pads will literally change form.

If you can look past the average visuals and underwhelming "college atmosphere", you will enjoy NCAA 2K2. However, unless you are a fanatical college football fan, there is no reason to own both NCAA 2K2 and NFL 2K2. NCAA 2K2 is merely NFL 2K1 with A.I. improvements, and a new coat of paint... Sorry, Greg.