Alright, got a little bored on my day off again so I’m writing another review. This one will be pretty short, as it’s a lot like Madden but for college. NCAA Football 06 is what I’ve got for you this time, so enjoy. I originally rented this to try out some of the features on Madden 06 you can use with files off NCAA Football 06, but to my surprise I had found one of the better football games. People had been telling me on IGN that this game was pretty good, and I had basically blown them off saying, “With how good Madden is, I won’t need this game.” Boy was I wrong. Pros It’s a lot like Madden in most facets. The dynasty mode is so in depth you might need a day or two to just get through the off-season mode if you want to do it right. You can recruit players during and after each season. Your team’s performance during each year has a huge effect on what caliber recruits you can bring in. You take the role of your college’s head coach and just like in real life, your job can be in jeopardy with a few key losses. Every now and then after a season, you’ll be given a few options. Either accept a contract extension with your current school, leave them for a new job (can be a high profile school or a lower one that you can bring to a powerhouse) or you can be fired and left jobless. Personally, I’ve never been fired but I know it’s in there. The game play is fast paced just like real college football, and at any moment you can have a huge play broken for or against you. I must say, the game play here is a bit better than Madden just because of that excitement factor. Home field advantage. Unlike most games, your home field does make a difference while playing. The crowd can rattle your opponent, and it can also be a distraction to you if you’re on the road at a big time school. Your controller rattles a lot while on the road, which actually does throw you off. Yet again it doesn’t grow old. The excitement of college ball comes through in this game. You never really know if your teams going to play well or crummy, and at any week you can drop 6 or 7 spots in the rankings because of a key loss. Cons: This game has every single D1 school in it. At first it seems like a great thing, but it is a downfall in the end. Players aren’t named, don’t get what I mean? Well Reggie Bush starts off as HB #5. You need to rename the players manually unless you buy one of those Action Replay drives and download a custom roster file online and import it. Personally I wouldn’t do that, don’t trust those types of things. Running up the score is way too easy. In some games, I started just playing to see how many single game records I could set. My rating for this game: 8/10. The unnamed players are annoying, but there is a choice in the roster screen to Auto-Name Rosters. It gives every player a made-up name which is a bit nicer. If the NFL isn’t your ball game but you still want a fun football game then this is the definite choice for you. Even if you have Madden, this is a nice addition to your collection.
