With new additions and minor tweaks, NCAA Football 2005 shows why it is king of the sports games
User Rating: 9.3 | NCAA Football 2005 XBOX
With each passing summer, I wait expectedly on the latest edition of EA Sports’ NCAA Football franchise to go gold, and each summer, my wait is rewarded. This year was no different, and combined with the new innovations that were added to this years edition, it was certainly worth my wait. The largest additions were XBox Live Support for the XBox version (Sorry Gamecube fans, still no online support) as well as the Matchup Stick, and the implementation of home field advantage. Minor additions to the game include more pennants, additional Division I-AA schools and one interesting tweak to recruiting and the dynasty mode – player violations. The Matchup Stick allows you to use the right analog stick to check your matchups against the defense, specifically the matchup between the receivers and secondary, backs and linebackers, and the offensive line and defensive line. Use this function to decide whether a hot route to run the ball off the other side of the formation will run you against a weaker line, or to find a good machup between your receiver and a weak safety. With home field advantage, your team, while on offense, can try and get the crowd roaring so as to confuse the offense on any audibles that might be called. Simply press the white button repeatedly and watch the decibel meter increase. There is a Top 25 Stadium list set at the beginning of each season in a dynasty, so the better you play at home, the higher your stadium will go on the list. The depth of the dynasty mode is the real joy of the game as you can take your favorite team to a National Championship or simply try and build a small school into a perennial powerhouse. The tweaks to this years dynasty mode are minor, but will change how you recruit and how you handle your team. With the addition NCAA violation you have to be sure to recruit athletes of high moral character as well as athletic prowess. If not, your starting cornerback might get caught skipping class, or even worse, forging checks. As the coach you will decided how severe the punishment (games missed) are, but be careful because if you are too strict then your players will turn on you; if you aren’t strict enough then sanctions from the NCAA might be in your future. One last tweak that improved the overall gameplay is the experience a player has. This tied into the new homefield advantage might determine if your freshman receiver drops a pass, or if your senior quarterback can handle the conditions of a hostile environment. NCAA Football 2005 is a real treat, and will bring hours of playing enjoyment via the dynasty mode or online play to both casual fans of college football and the sports genre to the die hard fans as well.
