Final Glimpse: All that’s missing is NCAA sanctions…what? They’re in here too? Man, it really is in the game.
Year after year, EA Sports’ NCAA Football franchise continues to separate itself from EA’s other football franchise, Madden NFL (a few… million of you may have heard of it). What began as Madden with college teams has slowly been molded into a unique beast that captures all of the great things about college football. For the 2005 version, EA Sports is really going all out to make it the ultimate college football experience, from every facet of the sport. Huge hits, exploiting defenses and individual players, and a true home-field advantage are just a few of the newest additions to this franchise, and when the game ships in July, it’s sure to be all the rage while the wait for Madden 2005 continues. But then…if NCAA Football 2005 is as good as previous editions, why is Madden even needed?
NCAA Football 2005 will feature all the usual options from EA – from basic exhibition games to a full-fledged Dynasty that’s already renowned for its greatness, and of course, full online support for PS2 and for the first time ever, Xbox (though the pair will not be able to compete against each other). The Dynasty mode gets even deeper this year, with new options and scenarios to make building a serious winner a bit tougher, while keeping all the good stuff intact (like Sports Illustrated covers, etc). While you can’t do any kind of ‘under the table’ deals to sign a recruit, you can get into trouble and face NCAA sanctions for violating certain rules like being below grade requirements and things of that sort. If you swiftly deal with these issues, the NCAA will leave you alone, but let the violations occur unpunished and you might be screwed out of a bowl game or face a loss of scholarships. Players themselves have a ‘happiness’-like meter (similar to the one in MVP Baseball 2004) – if they feel like they’ve been underplayed or not given enough chance to shine, they become unhappy and could transfer to another school. So if you sign that young recruit with him expecting plenty of playing time, and he sits his entire freshman season…he just might skip out to a school that would play him. In many ways, this is a method of making you actually use different people instead of just playing the same players again and again. Unfortunately, it seems that one of my favorite ideas from Madden 2004 – being able to create your own stadium to replace an older one, is not present here – it would have been awesome to be able to take a small team, make them a powerhouse, and make enough revenue to build a bigger facility to house their growing fanbase.
However, on the field is where the big additions arrive. The ‘hit stick’ from Madden 2005 will be here, only this time, it’s actually adjusted to be used by a trigger button. That’s because NCAA has its own use for the right analog stick, in the Matchup Stick. Basically, the Matchup Stick is a way to read the players, to see how they’re doing, and to see if you can exploit them. For instance, if you have an All-American wide receiver up against a freshman cornerback, it’s easy to rattle him with crowd noise (more on that in a second) and take advantage of his inexperience. On the other end, a super-powered defensive player against an unseasoned offensive lineman can out-smart them and kick some quarterback ass. It’s an interesting concept that will be fun to toy with when the game releases.
As mentioned, crowd noise plays a major part in this game, just like the real college game. EA took the time to rank the toughest places to play, like the Swamp (Florida University), Michigan Stadium, Ohio Stadium, etc. This does apply to all stadiums, but these are the foremost. Basically, when you’re the home team, you can pump up the crowd, and actually make the screen shake like crazy to rattle opposing players into making mistakes, or not being able to hear plays being called out. However, it can adversely affect your players too – if your player can’t hear, it will run its normal route instead of a planned hot route. When you’re on the road…the opposite happens, and you’ll be the one struggling with the shaking screen that can throw off stuff like field goals and stuff like that. However, it’s all relative; score a touchdown early and often, run up the score and hammer the home team, and the crowd will be dead silent unless a comeback is waged. I’d figure that a neutral site game (like a bowl game) is like a tug-of-war, with both teams riling up their fans to throw off the others.
