Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: NCAA GameBreaker 2003

Written by Adam Woolcott on October 02, 2002

Review: Whoa Nellie, that Keith Jackson makes Summerall seem like a youngin'

Like its older brother NFL GameDay, the NCAA GameBreaker series hit hard times upon the release of the PlayStation 2. While never as popular as the NFL version, GameBreaker was a respectable and enjoyable NCAA game that lacked the pizzazz of EA Sports' NCAA game, but was great for GameDay fans. After a lackluster GB 2001 for PS2, the game took a year off, returning this year with hopeful renewed energy and determination to topple the EA NCAA juggernaut.

And like GameDay (get used to this reference), GameBreaker is a much-improved game of college football Ц but still has a very long way to go to catch NCAA Football 2003. It lags behind GameDay even, with a much more incomplete, rushed feel to the game. No doubt GameBreaker is a decent venture into the NCAA world, but nagging flaws and inconsistencies make for a lackluster game of football.

Players familiar with GameBreaker will be at home with the features Ц the usual exhibition, season, and tournament modes make an appearance (no online playЕif 989 was thinking, online play could have been a benefit in competing with EA, even if the game isn't in the same league as NCAA 2003 quite yet), along with the real meat of the game, the unique Coaching Career mode. Basically, the coaching career works like this Ц you start off as a lowly assistant for some bottom feeder cupcake, and you work your way up the ranks by taking the team to certain goals in the season. Do well and you'll eventually earn a chance to coach one of the big-time collegiate programs like Florida State or Nebraska (even if Nebraska looks like a cupcake this yearЕ). It's a neat concept that works for the most part, even if it doesn't take a lot to work your way up the ranks from assistant to the waterboy (not real) to the head coach.

Of course, all the major bowls are included in the game, including the big BCS bowls Ц the only exception is the Sega Sports Las Vegas Bowl (for obvious reasons, dolt). As you work up the ranks, your bowl games too will improve. The problem is, in the season modes, the Top 25 poll is done very poorly, with rankings based more on win-loss records (How can Tulane be ranked #10 after beating Houston, Memphis, and East Carolina?) than voting. It's too easy to go unbeaten and be ranked #1 with either a cake team or a creampuff schedule.

A neat feature in the game is the УMy Team PageФ that sorta looks like a webpage for your team. It lets you track records, rankings, stats, and whatever awards the player is up for. The awards are actually more in-depth than NCAA 2003, with All-Conference awards and such, something NCAA 2003 sadly lacks (probably in next year's game, hopefully).

However, in order to really see all these goodies, the game has to be worth playing. For the most part, it is, but it disappoints in a lot of areas. Where GameBreaker first hits its problems is in the pace. NCAA football is much faster moving than the NFL, yet why is it that GameDay runs at a slightly faster pace of play? Despite the 25 second play clock, and all the quirks that come with it, it feels like a snails pace.

For the most part, the game plays exactly like NFL GameDay. The running game is just as easy, if not easier to rip big yards through, and the passing game is pretty much spot on Ц only the wide receivers tend to drop way too many passes. Defensively though, the computer AI feels retarded, and barely puts up a fight on any difficulty level, unlike GameDay, which might cheat at times, but still puts up a good game all the time. Also like GameDay, penalties are a rare occurrence. The same creative kicking game returns, giving GameBreaker a true bright spot Ц shame it's such an irrelevant and semi-important category.

On the whole, it seems like Red Zone slapped the GameDay engine on GameBreaker, didn't really bother to alter the style to resemble the wide open college game, switched the NFL teams and stadiums for the 117 Division 1 teams and stadiums of the NCAA, dumbed down the AI (since most college players aren't even going to get close to the NFL unless they buy a ticket) and put the game into production. Back in the day of the PlayStation 1, the GameDay and GameBreaker games looked the same, but played very differently when put side by side Ц not the case here. I'd suppose it was time constraints, but the similarities are eerie.

Also, the playbooks, like GameDay 2003, are terrible and badly mapped out. It's made worse by cryptic names for many of the plays to confuse those who really don't have any idea. Looking at the play patterns helps on offense, but the defensive plays are just really weird squiggly lines and funny names. The obscure references and names would confuse even the hardest of the hardcore football fans here.

Graphically, GameBreaker 2003 is (ahem) basically the exact same thing as GameDay (cough). Only with a slight twist Ц instead of the smooth 60 FPS in GameDay, GB 2003 runs at a choppy, slow 30 FPS (perhaps explaining the slow feel of the gameplay). The stadiums are again gigantic, with fully animated crowds and the usual PS2 graphical flaws like jaggies and flicker. The players themselves are detailed the same way as GameDay (by now you'll be sure to read the GameDay review to understand most of this if you haven't already, right? No need to get redundant here), right down to the funky helmets and slapped on faces. The tons of animations return, though they don't look as good with the choppy frame rate. In motion, the game looks pretty good, but not as sharp as GameDay, nor anywhere near as sharp as NCAA Football 2003.

The audio is the weakest link here Ц it's a mess. The Midi sounding fight song samples are tinny and weak (and that's disappointing since the intro music to the game is great), and aren't even played during the game, instead you get generic band music that does little to entertain or pump up your team after a big play. The sound effects are mostly non-existent, since you really don't hear the fans much, unfortunately.

The biggest problem though is the play by play Ц while GameDay's is solid and fun, GameBreaker's is awful. Legendary (but ancient) ABC and Pac-10 announcer Keith Jackson returns, and now he's joined by some moron named Tim Brant. Brant is energetic enough, but also fairly stupid, and Jackson rattles on in incoherent mantras that sound really bizarre. Hell, the game has such old samples that they couldn't be bothered to update, calling University of Louisiana Ц Monroe by the old name of Northeast Louisiana, while Brant calls it UNL like it's supposed to be. It really comes off as amateurish.