The college life
For the technology we have in the year 2005 for the powerhouse console's (PS2 and XBOX) we as gamers normally expect high graphic detail in all of our games. Especially when it comes to sports. But don't think I am going to get nitty-gritty and tell you I don't like the way one fan in the crowd looked, but the simple fact of the player’s shadows bothered me. All the players had these straight and edgy lines to their shadows. Next time you play, look at your offensive line and QB before the snap and you'll understand what I am talking about. That was a major disappointment to me because I don't want EA Sports to take for granted the fact that they essentially "own" the video game football sim industry. My next attention to graphic detail is on the road of repetitiveness of the players emotions/celebrations. I honestly saw the same celebration after every game with the same players doing their personal "cheer". Only different time was when it was a close match and the victor would have a longer celebration for their close win. But for goodness sakes this is an easy way to make the game boring and monotonous.
Moving on from the graphics department to the sound department...it was easy for me enjoy the commentary by Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herstreit because I am a large college football fan myself. I enjoyed listening to their commentary at the beginning of the game as well, during the pregame warmups and it was a good plus to hear them make real predictions. As my seasons went on and UCF became more prestigious the crew then started to warm up to the idea of us actually winning games. Essentially, they stayed up to date with all the stats and information from that season. Major plus.
Another major plus in this addition of NCAA Football 05 is the dynasty mode itself. It is amazing to see how in-depth the game can really take you. From the Heisman Race to off-season recruiting, I was very impressed by the attention to detail. Plus there is nothing better than seeing your created players face and name on the cover of SI.
Online mode never really did anything for me for I was also very involved in completing my four-year term with UCF and then continuing on in Madden 05. But from playing at least five games, there was a lot of lag and in general disturbance. Although, when I did play with my cousin everything was a lot smoother than other games with random players (not as smooth as one would enjoy, but smoother than I what I was previously working with). So that just left me confused. Online mode is a toss-up.
So now that I am done and have moved on to Madden 05, I found this game to be above average but not spectacular. I recommend it if you are up to the task of completing the full four-year term, because it is truly rewarding to draft yourself in the NFL.