Gaming Target - Xbox: NCAA College Football 2K3

Written by Adam Woolcott on October 29, 2002

Full Review: Just like real college football Ц only with lifeless drones playing.

If anything, college football is a game of emotion. Given that 95% of the players on any given team (even the Miami's of the world) will never see their name called in the NFL draft, they don't play for the eventual pro contract Ц they play for the love of the game. When you have 100 plus NCAA teams with the exact same mindset, the fireworks and emotions are a hundred times greater than a typical Sunday. The fans are intense, the coaches are fiery, and the players are on a football high Ц the rivalries and pageantry can be overwhelming.

Here within lies the problem with Sega's NCAA College Football 2K3. While the game itself is excellent (if not outdated), 2K3 simply lacks a good percentage of the emotion of college football Ц something their competitor, EA Sports, has down pat in NCAA Football 2003. While not as bad as NCAA College Football 2K2 on the Dreamcast, NCAA 2K3 still feels like an NFL game with college teams & stadiums swapped in for the NFL teams & stadiums. Given the differences between the NFL and NCAA football, this is disappointing Ц hardcore fans of NFL 2K3 who don't closely follow college football probably won't notice, but the die-hard college fans will definitely be migrating over to NCAA 2003 instead Ц it's just a better, deeper, and more emotional game.

NCAA 2K3 isn't short on options Ц it includes the usual exhibition, season, and practice modes. However, the mode that you'll probably be spending the most time in is the revamped Legacy mode. Legacy mode lets you create a team, or pick one of the existing 117 teams, and take them through to multiple seasons, complete with recruiting, training, and all the big bowl games, along with the top 25 polls and the BCS (called the Sega Championship Series here).

Typically, you'd think that Legacy mode is a blast and quite enjoyable Ц and for the most part it is. The problem is, while it's not shallow Ц it doesn't have any soul. While NCAA from EA has cool performance measurers like Prestige Ratings, weekly and yearly awards, and a true feeling of building a college powerhouse, NCAA 2K3 lacks basically all of that. It's just too easy to roll off a 10 win season and start recruiting all kinds of top players, when the truth is that building a college football program takes many years, not just one. There's no feeling of building a powerhouse (or a feeling of losing your job if you don't live up to expectations) Ц instead it feels like a by the numbers NFL franchise mode. It's even lacking basic things like knowing that the SEC title game is played in the Georgia Dome, and the Big 12 title game is played in Reliant Stadium in Houston Ц instead of the neutral site, you play at one of the teams' home field. Like EA though, you can import your draft class into NFL 2K3, making the game somewhat useful for football fans.

The one minor, but cool thing 2K3 does have over EA is how the training mode is executed. In EA's game, the training is automatic and only lets you see who improves. In NCAA 2K3, you actually get to pick what things you want to train players to learn, and they then increase in that particular area. While not particularly deep, it is a cool idea that can only be enhanced for later versions of the game.

One of the bigger strikes against NCAA College Football 2K3 definitely is the outdated engine. While NCAA Football 2003 uses an enhanced and adjusted Madden 2003 engine to give it the college feel, NCAA 2K3 is based completely on the NFL 2K2 engine Ц while 2K2 is certainly no slouch, it's not anywhere near as solid as the NFL 2K3 engine. Actually, in some ways this engine works Ц if only because NCAA football is a faster-paced game than the NFL is. However, the game does employ a very arcadey feel Ц players turn on dimes, the hits are pretty unrealistic, and scoring can get pretty outrageous, even on rougher difficulty levels, once you figure out how to beat the computer. When comparing to NFL 2K3, you can see just how much that engine has improved, and how NFL 2K2's engine was great, but still needed a bit of work.

If you were a big fan of NFL 2K2 (as I was), the game will definitely feel the same as I mentioned. However, Visual Concepts and Avalanche Software did mix in just enough college feel to separate it Ц but not enough to be a real, true college game. The option play, which is usually the biggest play in college football, is actually done well Ц but given how atrocious it was in NCAA 2K2, anything better would be an improvement. It isn't executed as well as their competitor sets it, but at least it's there if you're playing as a team that employs it Ц i.e. 3/4ths of college teams.

With that in mind, the rest of the offensive play is pretty easy to execute. Running the football actually varies upon skill Ц if you're running with an average back, he won't really be able to do anything against tougher defenses. When you have a skilled back up against a shoddy run defense, tearing them up shouldn't be a problem, long as you follow your holes. Runners sidestep, get skinny, and even barrel through the lines, but like past NFL 2K games, being able to find a hole and get to it is the only way to gain yards. Going off the beaten path most likely will result in a big loss or barely any yards at all.

The passing game is actually pretty good Ц in order to make catches, the receiver actually has to be open Ц very rarely can you throw it in traffic and get a completion, unless it's the other team picking it off. If they don't intercept it, they'll bat it down and end the play. Thus, being able to avoid the pressure and find an open receiver (as well as master maximum passing for optimal performance) is key. Like the running backs, having a better QB and receivers is necessary to have a good passing game. However, if you notice a lot of option and running plays, it's best to avoid trying to force the passing game, since it will get you in trouble.

Playing defense is definitely the weak point here Ц it's too easy. Shutting down the run is just a matter of breaking the line and stuffing the runner, something that's accomplished far too easily here. In a full season with the horrendous Baylor Bears, I allowed an average of around 35 yards a game rushing Ц but it's not hard when the backs typically run out of their patterns and try to make their own holes. Worse off is the passing game Ц most of the time the quarterback will aim the pass in the wrong direction, or my secondary would just bat the ball down if he was in the vicinity Ц sometimes out of nowhere, arcade style. On higher difficulty levels this gets better, but even then the computer offense is fairly braindead, and can be easily shut down once you get a hang of what works on defense. The NFL 2K series has always been given props for coming out with some challenging football, but that is not the case here.

With all this NFL 2K2 comparing, it's natural to notice that NCAA 2K3 looks exactly like NFL 2K2, thanks to the engine recycling. The players look pretty good, but not as detailed as NFL 2K3 Ц the 2K2 tricks like players with pasted-on faces and extra long arms are here, as well as the bloated sized football that's bigger than most players' heads. The replays are amazing as you might expect, given how great they were in 2K2, complete with impressive lighting effects and lens flare.

If there's one thing Sega does great here, it's the stadiums. They're huge, making even the smallest college stadium look like a monster Ц something EA still can't properly do. Details like college backdrops with campuses, other buildings, even the basketball arena next door, are added on with excellent results. The stands are packed with rowdy fans, who stay until the waning minutes in a lopsided game Ц then disappear without a trace.

The only different thing from NFL 2K2 is of course the ESPN license. While not implemented as well as NFL 2K3, NCAA 2K3's version is true to the ESPN feel. The menu screens and stat overlays are given the ESPN feel, and a constant score ticker on the bottom of the screen is an ESPN trademark. It's amazing how the ESPN license can make a game better Ц it feels like you're playing a game that's televised on the channel.

The audio has its ups and downs, but is typical Sega and winds up being fairly decent. Like NFL 2K3, Sega employed actors to announce, and the result is 2 bogus guys calling the action. They do a great job too, calling plays constantly and remembering past events in the game, and rarely miss a play or repeat a lot. The problem is, they used the exact same script as the NFL guys do, since a good share of the phrases from NFL 2K games are re-used here. In a lot of ways, it goes to show that Sega, by farming out this game to Avalanche, somewhat made this game as an afterthought, just to have an NCAA game for the Big Three consoles.

The rest of the audio is decent, but is an example of how little NCAA feel is actually mixed into the game. The crowds are subdued, and don't really get excited like a college crowd would. There's no good stuff like the bands playing a signature fight song after a first down (think Florida State's tomahawk chop song, or even Florida's Darth Vader theme). The fight songs are there, but are so far in the background sometimes you can barely hear them. Actually, that infamous song that has played after scoring since NFL 2K1 still pipes in the background after a score Ц you know the one. The lack of any sort of college emotion in this department makes the game rather dull and lifeless, and never gives a big-game feel.