NCAA Football 2004

GamePro (US) (5 out of 5)

NCAA Football 2004 kicks off with a roster packed with cool new improvements and an absorbing college atmosphere. While the competition for top honors in NFL games is often a heated contest, EA Sports college-football series has dominated the gridiron, swatting aside other games like flies. NCAA Football 2003 was so impressive that it would’ve been easy for EA Sports to rest on its laurels this season especially since Sega and Visual Concepts have bowed out of college football for at least this year. But NCAA Football 2004 kicks off with another tear-down-the-goalposts performance that’ll engross fans of the sport.

UGO (UnderGroundOnline) (A)

There is only thing I can really say about NCAA Football 2004, go out and get it NOW! This is by far the best football game ever made. There are still some minor things that could be improved, but those can be overlooked for now with strides this game has made from last year. If you are a sportsfan, you owe it to yourself to get this game. Don’t forget about that little feature called Online Play either. So what are you waiting for? Go get the game.

Lawrence (A)

College football fans, rejoice! Not only does NCAA Football 2004 outdo the wonder that was last year's edition, but that small school your cousin went to that he thought would never appear in a game is more than likely here this year.

Nintendojo (9.9 out of 10)

Most of the Dojo Disciples know how much I respect the game that Madden brings to the table. Well NCAA does a knockout job of bringing the college game to your GameCube. If you’re a Madden fan you are definitely going to love owning this game. It offers a faster play clock, fast pace, more action, and a lot less emphasis on possession and clock management. It’s fire wagon football and it’s a total blast to play and dig through the many different play modes. I can’t stress enough that I think you should own this game as a partner rather than a compliment to Madden. The only gripe I have is that the players and crowd could have more of an audio personality, but that can always be overlooked. NCAA Football 2004 is a must own title for any gamer.

Mygamer.com (9.6 out of 10)

No videogame fan, let alone a college football fan, should miss the experience of this complete game. Not many sports games recently can say they have all the simulation must-haves and all the fun arcade elements that make a sports game fun to play. Do yourself a favor and try out NCAA Football 2004.

Armchair Empire, The (9.4 out of 10)

NCAA Football 2004 brings every possible feature to appease college football gamers (short of Keith Jackson’s legendary college football announcing talents). Without any reservation, it’s easy to proclaim NCAA Football not only the best college football game of all-time, but also one of the best football video games period. This game is so good, it’s almost impossible to think that there’s a possibility that the NCAA Football series can improve. NCAA Football 2004: this is college football gaming at its best.

IGN (9 out of 10)

NCAA Football 2004 is a game so good, it has no competition. That's right, Sega backed off of this year's college football race, so if you're a fan of amateur athletics, this is the only game available this season. Not that that's a bad thing. In fact, even if there was a choice, there really wouldn't be a choice, NCAA Football 2004 is just that damn fun. From creating schools to recruiting players to fighting for your shot at number one, every aspect from the gameplay to the gridiron has been improved over its predecessor and once again takes the series to that next level.

GameZone (9 out of 10)

EA Sports has added some new features that bolster the playability of the game. The new teams make it exciting, and the play is still incredibly enjoyable. Fans of the sport will thrill to the graphical quality, the variety of teams, the options package and the peripheral elements that make college football thrilling. This is a terrific game.

GamerDad ( )

GamerDad believes sports games are among the best to play with kids. Competition and complexity intertwine beautifully in video-Football and EA Sports does everything possible to teach the game to new players. Parent and child can even play co-op versus friends or the AI, and bond throughout a long season of play.

Game Vortex (90 out of 100)

Overall NCAA 2004 is a great improvement to an already excellent series. The game provides enough depth to keep you busy well into and beyond the college football season and manages to capture the unique atmosphere of a game day.

GameSpy (86 out of 100)

If you only ever played the GameCube version of NCAA Football 2004, you would think it was an awesome college football game. The play is tight, the AI competes well, and the control is spot-on. If you have played either the PlayStation 2 or Xbox versions, though, you start to notice a few things missing. Online play isn't an option here, and the training mode is nowhere to be found. While the core game is still fun, there is little reason to choose the GameCube version unless the little purple box is your sole game system.

Kombo.com (8.5 out of 10)

NCAA Football 2004 is authentic to the game and doesn’t stray from reality much at all. What sports fans will find is a refreshing representation of football that has a solid AI. In terms of simulation factor, the only nuisances I have found are in the passing game. Long passes look great, but the short passing game can sometimes be frustrating. As a result, deep passing almost seems as if it’s more successful. Short passes to receivers will often result in dropped balls or interceptions. While this, by itself, isn’t too unrealistic, I sometimes find myself screaming, “How did he drop that??” Hitting a wide-open receiver that’s looking straight at the quarterback should result in a catch, but instead it seems to result in a fifty percent completion percentage. The running game is one of the best I’ve ever played. Overall, this makes for a pretty balanced representation of the game of football that will result in many late nights and lost hours for me.

Game Informer Magazine (8.5 out of 10)

Although Dynasty mode is back with some new wrinkles, the game’s lack of online hurts this verson. It’s simply a dimension that I know will ignite the PS2 fans. Yes, this game is solid through and through and the new animations are nice, but the changes for this year aren’t the kind which make you alter the way you play the game. For a long-running series, this is what’s needed to keep it fresh.

64 Power / big.N / N Games (85 out of 100)

Unbedarfte Europäer dürfen sich über einen wirklich gelungenen Practice-Modus treuen, der mit Englischkenntnissen recht leicht zugänglich ist. Ansonsten gibt es grafische Kosmetik und leichte spielerische Verbesserungen. Online ist leider nur die PS2-Version spielbar, die augenscheinlich als Hauptentwicklungsplattform diente. Dennoch macht auch die Cube-Version eine ordentliche Figur. PAL-Release ausgeschlossen.

Game Revolution (B+)

So the new NCAA Football 2004 isn't bad by any means; it's only the best college football game ever (with last year's NCAA Football 2003 coming in a close second). With tons of teams and more dynasty options, there's definitely a lot under the hood here, though the Gamecube and Xbox versions fail to offer the awesome online play of the PS2 version, leading to slightly less thrilling experiences.

GameSpot (8.3 out of 10)

If you're a hard-core fan, then you will certainly enjoy all of the new features that EA Sports has added to make an enjoyable game even better.

Digital Entertainment News (den) (8.2 out of 10)

All the constructive criticism aside, NCAA Football 2004 is more than simply “the only college football title out this year.” It’s also pretty darn fun. In some ways, it’s to Sega’s advantage they didn’t put out a college title this year; the bar has been set pretty high and perhaps taking a season off to re-tool is exactly what Sega needs to come back next year and really give EA a run for their money. In the meantime, no one who buys NCAA Football 2004 from EA is going to feel they’re getting an inferior product due to the lack of competition; Sega version or no, EA Sports would likely still be “the best college football title of the year.”