Xbox

NCAA Football 2003

NCAA College Football 2K3 and NCAA GameBreaker 2003 were still in training camp at press time, but this NCAA’s game is so strong that you can safely make it your number-one pick. Even if one of its competitors turns in stellar performances, NCAA Football 2003 is the kind of fine game that sports fans will be happy they bought.

As for control, it is fluid and precise. You'll never feel that you bungled a play because you lost a fight with the controller. There is one complaint with the control scheme, though. The sprint button is different when playing on offense and defense, and this takes a little getting used to. You might have to put up with unintentional spin moves on offense or unplanned player switches on defense when you first start playing the game.

lowly but surely, EA Sports’ NCAA Football series is gathering a following not unlike its Madden NFL counterpart. The birth of the current generation of consoles has allowed Tiburon and EA to expand and refine the PlayStation series into something much deeper and time consuming – something always welcome in a football simulation. NCAA Football 2003 for the Xbox (along with PS2 and GameCube, of course) continues that trend. While this Xbox version really isn’t much more than a prettied-up version of the PlayStation 2 version, it packs all the punch of the other versions (plus that handy Xbox hard drive gives you plenty of room to do all kinds of cool things that a memory card probably would hinder).

There are several "extras" as well that add to the experience, but they are mostly silly, such as all-mascot teams, though buffs will definitely enjoy the classic teams (such as All-Time Buckeyes, etc.) The main portion of the game, however, is meaty enough to satisfy any college gamer. If you enjoy football, much less college football, NCAA Football 2003 is the best out there, and worth a look.

Despite its niggling flaws, NCAA Football 2003 for the Xbox takes the managerial aspects of college football to new, unexpected heights and solves the PS2 versions graphical dilemmas. There's just a ton of stuff to fiddle with. A great game, all around.

NCAA 2003 comes with a brand-new create-a-team mode that is as in-depth, if not more, than any other comparable feature in console sports. Options aren’t solely limited to the basics like naming your team, designing uniforms and coming up with a custom stadium chocked full of endless options.

EA still has the competition in pigskin territory, both in sales and actual quality. Though EA could have easily gotten away with releasing a rehash of last years game, they tried new things. Although it's true that what they did add (Mascot games among other things) are nothing more than diversions it's still nice to see developers trying new things. Other than adding new, zanier modes developer Tiburon has also heavily tweaked the already stellar football gameplay. If you're a sports game fan, and think you'd like to play as the Ducks instead of the Cowboys, then go ahead and buy this game. You won't regret it. Promise.

Personally I’ve always preferred the football gameplay of the NFL/NCAA 2K series to the Madden/NCAA series of the last two seasons. But NCAA 2003 was an enjoyable experience and is a solid title for diehard football fans everywhere and may rekindle a little of that old college pride in you. Online Xbox Live connectivity would have made NCAA 2003 unbeatable, but even without it this game really captures the excitement that is major college football. With the incredible amount of options at your fingertips and years of EA’s college football game designing know-how behind it, NCAA 2003 receives its fair share of votes in the battle for this year‘s best Xbox college football game crown.

NCAA Football 2003 is arguably the best football game on the market. It will probably keep that title after the other football games come out. It is hard to compare college games with NFL games so that is left for gamers to debate. However, unless NCAA 2K3 can make a vast improvement from last year’s Dreamcast version, it will not have a chance to surpass EA Sports’ title.

Challenging and satisfying is the only way to describe NCAA Football 2003. Sports games in general already have built-in longevity since no two contests will ever be alike, but with the create-a-school function, trophy case and wonderful Dynasty Mode, NCAA 2003 has set a new standard for value in a videogame.

NCAA Football 2003 is a crisply rendered game that sports terrific animation and appropriate sound. This game bounces off the tackles of would-be console contenders and sprints past the first-down marker toward the endzone. This is a wonderful game.

There's isn't much of a selection of college football games on the Xbox at this point, but that really doesn't matter because NCAA Football 2003 offers the complete football experience. The rivalry games are incredibly entertaining, and the dynasty mode adds a tremendous amount of replay value to an already great game.

I won't bore you with details on the dynasty mode as most reading this review are familiar with it already, what I will say is that it is deep. This is not an understatement, you can literally spend hundreds of hours coaching your team to victory. There are also trophies to win, rivals to conquer, and cheerleaders to...uhhh well I will leave that one up to the imagination. In the end if you are a football nut, especially a college freak then this is your wet dream. Do not hesitate get your asses to the bookie and bet on EA Sports' NCAA Football 2003!