While not an evolution in the series, NCAA Football 10 provides a solid experience.
Tradition is what college football is all about. Showing your school pride, wearing the colors, and rooting for the boys is all well and good, but the true blue bloods who live and breathe the game knows that a team history goes far beyond the current year. The developers for NCAA Football 10 know this as well, so they aren’t out to break the mold. Instead they have added to what has already been created, which is a great college football experience year is in and year out.
I’m not going to waste your valuable reading time going a great deal into the whole game play mechanics, visual effects, commentary dos and don’ts and whatnot as I prefer to really focus on what EA has taken from previous years and has built upon. I’m doing this, as to be honest, if you haven’t been a fan up to this point, NCAA Football 10 isn’t going to change your mind and make you into a fan.
To get the little things out of the way first, the visuals have been tweaked, but not overhauled, and little things like presentation such as half-time highlights, new and improved stats overlays, field goal nets, camera flashes, banner and flag waves from the crowd, and a better frame rate and number of animations have been implemented this year and make the game look more polished than in previous efforts. The audio remains insightful, but not as adrenaline boosting and sounds mainly canned for the majority of the game. The addition of Erin Andrews adds some sideline and injury personality, but honesty nothing drastically revolutionary from what we’ve heard from other games in the past.
As far as the nitty gritty of the game is concerned, you have a ton of new additions to each game play mode that will not only enhance your experience, but expand it as well. For Online Dynasty mode you will find custom conferences, the ability to recruit against opponents for prospects including trash talking other schools to make your school sound better, and even a status update on phone calls you’ve made that shows what kind of interest a prospect has in your school.
In Road to Glory Mode, you can expect a dramatically changed presentation which is hosted by Erin Andrews and is presented in video form. Your dorm room is now an interactive 3D interface versus the old point and click universe from days gone by. You also have your personal highlight reels integrated into discussions related to you, and your legendary status is now posted on leaderboards online.
A new mode called Season Showdown takes place over a four month competition that can be played online or offline. It will begin on Aug 31st and it is up to you to earn as many credits toward your school as possible to make it to the Season Showdown Championship. You earn credits in many ways including, Trivia, Playing Online, vs CPU, playing Allies and Rivals, and playing vs a Showdown participant. You can earn extra credit points by showing off great skills, strategy, sportsmanship, loyalty by playing as your school as much as possible in competitions, playing as the underdog, or even playing an ESPN Classics match up. Of course for those cheaters out there, if you try and quit a match, you will lose 50% of the credits you earn in your next game, so play fair!
Lastly, the create a team is back in the form of Team Builder mode. The mode this year allows you to customize everything from the team logo, colors and uniform style to the rosters and stadium, and it even provides the ability to choose which era they belong in. Once there you can also upload your team to EA’s website for others to use or abuse.
All in all the best of what fans have loved about the NCAA Football series has honestly only gotten better with age. As mentioned earlier, NCAA Football 10 isn’t going to make you a fan of the sport if you haven’t been thus far, but it is very rewarding to those who do love it. For this reviewer, it’s a practice game for Madden, but to many others, this is the game to own. The choice is yours, but you’ll be pleased nonetheless.
