Fact and Opinion: GCHD Reviews NCAA Football 10

It's in the game...

Extensive look at this year's college football title reveals answers, but even more questions.

GCHD Staff |

July 13, 2009

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As a conscious effort not to degrade and disregard any momentum or forward thinking that has gone into creating NCAA Football 10, it should be noted that reviewing and breaking down sports titles in a logical manner is extremely difficult. It’s almost impossible for a single individual to predict and understand what makes others become drawn to a product. One person may love high-scoring, arcade-style affairs with very little realism, while another may want every aspect of the sport replicated in the utmost realistic manner. The main point is no two people are exactly the same, and not only will they view the big picture differently, they will often times see a separate image altogether. No one can predict this, not even EA Sports.

With that in mind, it should be dually noted that the above statement is in no way, shape, or form a justification that some of the problems found in past or present NCAA Football titles should be overlooked. Think of it more as a reminder, a guideline if you will that one company cannot please every sector that makes up the entire marketplace. You may notice inaccurate color tones in jerseys, poor cornerback play, and generic stadiums, while the next person may label Season Showdown, TeamBuilder, and Road to Glory as must have features. So in order to be fully fair to everyone and remain objective, this review will contain both facts and opinions, both of which will be labeled appropriately. Hopefully, this method will provide hardcore, casual, and all users in between with the information needed to make a well educated purchase, or hold out for something better.

The Longest Road to Glory

Fact: It's perfectly clear that EA's Road to Glory is one of the features that received the most attention this year. Much like last year's Campus Legend mode, Road to Glory allows the user to create their own prospect from scratch and follow his journey from the high school playoffs all the way through his college career. With a flashy new presentation, Erin Andrews and Kirk Herbstreit will chime in occasionally with milestone updates and reflect on any standout performances that may have occurred. Also new is an updated dorm room complete with trophies, photos of past games, and quicker access to online leaderboards, menus, and highlight videos.

Opinion: To be perfectly honest, I wasn't the biggest fan of last year's Campus Legend mode. Overall the feature felt shallow compared to Dynasty mode, and the lack of presentation and extra features ultimately kept me from experiencing a second season with my prospect. Sadly, this year has been no different for me. I absolutely loved and respected the work that went into the videos offered by Erin and Kirk, and really enjoyed the fact that my highlight photos and videos were one click away. In fact, just for nostalgia purposes I would occasionally watch old highlight tapes from my state title game, wondering why the actual on-field atmosphere wasn't as exciting as the visual hype that surrounded it. The somewhat boring camera, and lack of sweeping angles did little to immerse and convince me 80,00 fans were mere feet away screaming their heads off. Teammate chatter and sideline cues are nowhere to be found, when instead I should hear coaches yelling and other players screaming to change packages or adjust defenses. There's also virtually nothing to do in the off-season, and all recruiting info has been left out. I do like the fact that my player can be exported into Madden NFL 10 after he graduates or leaves school early, but thanks to the generic roster issue I'm not sure the hardcore fan will consider this.

(The new Broadcast Style Presentation in Road to Glory)


Rise and Fall of a Dynasty

Fact: Probably the most famous and robust feature in the past is now also one of the most neglected. For the most part Dynasty Mode lacks real innovation this year, and convincing past users to upgrade may be tough. The most notable additions include importing TeamBuilder creations into selected conferences, and the ability to recruit against your competition during the season. A few other tweaks like improved menus, a streamlined recruiting window (offering scholarships, making promises, and scheduling visits are now one click away) and virtually the same ideas translated to Online Dynasty pretty much wraps up this year’s list. From a strictly feature standpoint, NCAA Football 10 doesn’t provide a huge leap forward in this department.

Opinion: The good news is that at around the halfway point of my second season in Dynasty Mode, I’m still playing and enjoying myself. The bad news is I’ve definitely reached the point where the commentary and animations are starting to repeat themselves rather frequently. I’m also seeing the same headlines, camera angles, band formations, and game intros repeated too often as well. This isn’t always a problem, but this year the troubles seem two fold due to an otherwise lack of new content. Even the new recruiting options – streamlined window and the ability to recruit against your opponent – are already growing stagnant. You can only recruit and scour the stat sheet for so many weeks before the experience loses its appeal. Perhaps unique magazine covers, random team intros, Road to Glory style presentation, or any of the other incredible features found in the last generation iterations is needed to help add life to this mode, because as it stands I’m not convinced I’ll stick it out another season. Of course, there are three features hidden deeper into the menus that require purchasing in order to use - Recruit Adviser, Pitch Improvements, Pipeline State, and Recruit Reports are available. While most are rather simple and less appealing, the Recruiting Adviser is actually useful, and would've been a solid feature to promote, especially when taking into consideration the rather paltry list of new additions this year. Overall, it feels too much like a clone of 09 to fully recommend.

(Dynasty Mode menus and style remain largely unchanged from last year)


The Ultimate Showdown

Fact: By selecting your favorite team and competing against the cpu or other players online, users can participate in Season Showdown, a four month long competition to see which school is # 1. Players can earn credits in up to 12 categories, which include Skills, Strategy, Sportsmanship, Loyalty, Trivia, etc. You will also be rewarded for taking on opponents much tougher than you, or by having one of your games designated as an ESPN Instant Classic. While the season won’t officially begin until August 31st, any credits earned before that time will factor into the preseason rankings – a perfect way to help assure your favorite team has a shot at the championship. Once the actual season begins, each user will play their team’s real life schedule, and will also have a total of five votes each week to use in the online application Allies & Rivals – a web poll that allows you to vote for your Rival's opponents, therefore assuring they lose that week in certain categories. Once the regular season draws to an end, the top 32 teams will then compete in a single elimination tournament to decide the Season Showdown Champion.

Opinion: What initially started out as “fluff” or possibly even a “gimmick” for me has surprisingly engulfed much of my time recently. The more I consider the complexity and logistics of this idea, the more impressed I become. Sure, like most simulation style players, I would have loved to see this type of hard work and dedication be placed into Dynasty Mode instead, but I’m starting to really enjoy Season Showdown, at least so far. Seeing the visual indicator for earned credits appear on the screen is completely addicting, which are very similar to achievements in a sense. So far nothing seems to be broken or contain game-ending bugs, and the feature itself really does make you want to play a better, more legit game of football. Hopefully, the community embraces this challenge, and takes it seriously throughout the season. If so, we could have an unprecedented, surprise new feature on our hands.

(Get used to this screen, earning credits in Season Showdown is addicting)


There's no "I" in Team (Builder)

Fact: Via a slick and intuitive web based application, NCAA Football 10 owners can create and share the team of their dreams. Every aspect from jersey styles, color patterns, stadiums, field turf, rosters, prestige, to logos can be customized. Players can also use generic logos and uniforms if they prefer, or select from any team already in the game for a quick solution. On top of that, those who aren't willing to devote the appropriate time to creating their own team can browse and download other creations from around the world.

Opinion: From top to bottom TeamBuilder is a solid application, and overall fairly easy to use. There are a few problems that keep it from being perfect, though; Importing custom logos can be tricky at first and may take a few tries to perfect, and the ability to use text is not currently supported, unless you create a jpeg of the text, but even that isn't a suitable replacement. You also cannot further edit any of the schools you previously downloaded onto the console from the web based application, except for editing roster names. So if you make a mistake, or aren't fully happy with the team you downloaded, then you must log back onto the website and either fix the problem or browse for another team to use. Honestly I would've preferred the disc based create-a-school found in the last generation of consoles in order to keep internet access from being a requirement. But overall, TeamBuilder is a solid feature with only a few minor annoyances.

(The TeamBuilder application provides almost very tool needed to create your dream team)


On the Sidelines/In the Trenches - Presented in HD

Fact: Adaptive A.I., Strategic Gameplay, and updates to the Presentation round out the remaining major features in NCAA Football 10. Adaptive A.I. is mostly self explanatory - throughout the duration of the game the cpu will change and adapt their style based on your performance. Choose too many running plays and your opponent will stack the box, while airing it out repeatedly will cause the defense to play mostly in a zone or dime package. Strategic Gameplay is actually made up of multiple parts; Game Planning allows you to customize your tendencies on offense and defense across 11 categories, while Set Up Plays allow you to link together similar plays in hopes of fooling the opposition later on in the game. On-field band formations, filed goal nets, and a new, slightly lower perspective camera angle wraps up the atmosphere tweaks.

Opinion: This first part may seem initially harsh, but it's important to clear the air. Hardcore players should understand one thing very clearly; This game has multiple problems out of the box that will no doubt cause serious frustration. For starters, multiple teams still have generic stadiums, several schools have wrong colored jerseys, some teams like Alabama for instance still don't have numbers on their helmets, and formation subs are still missing from the game. Most of the gameplay sliders are broken out of the box or at least only partially useful, and somehow a problematic roster file found its way onto the retail disc as well. I've seen players run through walls while celebrating, Super Sim still only dwindles mere seconds off the clock during usage, and the new camera makes it hard to see receiver separation down the field. And the only real improvement to the atmosphere in my opinion are the pre-game band formations, which in no way compare to the incredible team introductions from years past.

Having said that, there's still plenty to like and enjoy if you can overcome the initial problems. I've seen receivers make incredible over-the-shoulder catches in the endzone, quarterbacks now have more realistic drop steps, and pursuit angles have been mostly fixed(except on Heisman difficulty). I've seen my halfback take a jarring hit, stumble and recover only to finish with one of the most amazing runs to date, and I've seen my fullback actually break free from numerous tackles and cruise into the endzone for the score. Linking my plays together feels natural for the most part as well, and seeing your opponent bite on that play action pass is beautiful when it finally happens. And so far the Game Planning feature is both fun, easy to use, and for the most part works appropriately. I also love the pre-snap defensive keys that allow me to target individual receivers or commit to the pass or run, but to be honest the fast cpu snap rate makes it difficult to audible or perform more complex moves on defense.

(As part of the new animation set, expect to see lots of deflected passes by the d-line)


In the end NCAA Football 10 is a decent, if not encouraging step in the right direction. On one hand you have tons of new animations, along with several new well executed features like TeamBuilder and Season Showdown. However, glaring issues with rosters, gameplay sliders, and an overall lack of innovation in Dynasty Mode and to the Presentation may ultimately indicate which direction the series is headed. As I stated earlier, pleasing both the hardcore and casual player is going to be difficult for EA Sports to accomplish, but after spending quite some time with NCAA Football 10, it's clear that the casual market was the intended buyer this year. That's not to say the longtime core player won't find certain parts of the game enjoyable, but fully recommending this year's version to them is rather difficult.