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NCAA Football 2004 Review for PlayStation 2 (PS2)
Posted on Thursday, August 07, 2003 @ 10:03:16 pm E.S.TI hope your ready for some football because this year the games are better than ever, especially those from EA Sports. EA took something that was already great, and made it greater with lots of new features. This game is not quite Madden, but then again, what is? There still are great features in this game that most likely will not be in Madden this year. For example, after a huge victory the crowd just may charge the field and begin to take down the goal posts, I don’t think you’ll be seeing that in the next Madden.
Graphics: The DVD screens for this game look fantastic. The screens are short movies of college kids and mascots from different universities shouting and screaming EA Sports. It’s nothing that great, but still fun to see college kids shouting for this video game. The players themselves look great, and the cheerleaders are also well done. The only bad thing about this games graphics is that they can be a little choppy sometimes.
Design: With the best design for a football game, how can you go wrong? EA Sports made no mistakes with this game. There is a new Owner Mode which includes; staff, ticket prices, concession prices, stadium building, luxury boxes, scoreboards, and accounting for the team. There is also a new playmaker control, which allows you to control players without the ball a lot easier. You can pick plays while watching replays and celebrations. The only bad part to the design is all the loading and saving that takes place when playing can get annoying.
There is also a new EA Sports Bio. This Bio tells you about the games you play. With this feature you also score points for other EA Sports titles. Your memory card is key here, so make sure you have enough room for two EA Sports games. This also gives you the gamer level in which you have reached in this game. After a certain number of games you level up. Playing NCAA Football 2004 is not the only way to score higher gamer levels, playing other EA Sports games earns tokens as well. The time you spend playing the game will also increase your gamer level. This is one of the best new features added to this game. Along the line of your records, you will have a greatest games list, record book, pennant collection, campus challenge, and a trophy room.
The variety of game modes is also nice to have. There is a Dynasty Mode, which allows to you play as your favorite team or the team you have created. There is also College Classics Mode, which allows you to play the classic games that took place within the last 20 years, Rivalry Games, which have the biggest rivalries in football, and the Mascot Game that lets you take the field as your favorite school mascot. You can also create your own school and players.
Online play is probably the best feature added to this game. You can now use a headset (Broadband Users) to communicate with other Broadband players. There is a rating system, which allows you to see the top 100 players in the country, and you can view by points or by statistics. The rivalry games in Online Mode are also very fun. There was no lag for me (a 56k user), which was surprising. The only confusing part of this mode is how they made game rooms, there are rooms for every section of the country.
Sound: Think of your favorite college teams signature song. This game has them all plus some extras if you create-a-school. The crowd sounds more authentic. For example, when running down the field on a break away the crowd gets louder and louder as you get closer to the end zone. Player moans and groans are at their best with this game and sound close to authentic.
Addiction: The game can be very addicting depending on your interests. Gaming with friends is fun. Single player can also be fun and even extremely challenging if you put the game on the hardest gaming level. The dynasty mode is addicting because you can see how well you actually do running a school with a good football team. The most addicting part of this game is the online play, especially if you have a headset to talk to other gamers. The online play also adds on to your gamer level, which is great. Review By: Mike Bellovin - 1745 Reads
NCAA Football 2004 Review Scores for PS2 :
| Gameplay |
| 9 |
| Graphics |
| 8.5 |
| Sound |
| 9 |
| Replay |
| 9 |
| Overall |
| 8.9 |
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