shpankey said:

This game will rule them all. btw... EB Games has a special going. You can trade in *ANY* Xbox, GCN or PS2 games (no matter how old or shitty) for any future upcoming game (NCAA 2005 in our case) and they will give you $20 credit. This is a great deal.

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Biff Hardbody said:

Its simple, but SI coverage made my dynasty 10000000X more fun), and a bigger dynasty mode.

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Homefield Advantage does a great job of recreating the benefits of having a massive crowd behind you. When on defense, the home team player can try and bring the crowd into the game. Tapping the "Homefield Advantage" button repeatedly increases the pumpitude of the crowd. In a giant house known for rabid fans, like Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium, this can cause your opponent's controller to rumble frantically and the screen to shake like an epileptic bobblehead.

This goes beyond a visual and actually has an effect on a player's confidence (which I'll get into in #3) and can make audibles impossible. In fact, I gave an audible a shot when I brought the Wolverines to Wisconsin. My receiver heard the wrong route and wasn't there to catch the ball. He wasn't even close. Fortunately, neither were any Badgers. The effects of this are much less intense at say, the home of the Chattanooga Mocs, who's fans only get up on Free Viagra Day. In that scenario, the pump meter is tougher to fill and the effect is not nearly as severe.

Of course, this all sounds good in theory, but if it did nothing in reality, well, what's the point, right? No worries. The Homefield Advantage is pretty cool. The first few games it seems a bit gimmicky. A cool gimmick, but a gimmick nonetheless. But once I started going to different fields, I realized that the sound levels were unique for different crowds and intensities and that heading to Tennessee was much more imposing than going to see UAB. And that's the way it should be in college football.

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Celebrations last year were handled by slapping the Thumbstick in different directions after a score and about 50% of the time forced a flag. This year you can still celebrate after a TD, but you can also celebrate after any good play on offense or defense. Following a positive play, squeeze either the Left or Right Trigger (for mild or extreme) and choose to have the player, the mascot and cheerleaders, or the fans celebrate. We've yet to receive a flag, so celebrate on.

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Though the overall look of Dynasty hasn't changed, a few new additions will make for a deeper experience than in previous seasons. The Sports Illustrated covers return, but they are a little better put together in terms of the images used and the variety in headlines. They've also seen the addition of a 25 Toughest Places to Play section, which ranks the toughest houses in the game. This is dynamic and will change depending on how teams do throughout the seasons of your Dynasty. Can you turn Qualcomm Stadium into the most feature place on Earth? Please stop laughing.

This season player management will be a lot more important. Team discipline is going to matter and if you're not careful, you may end up in some heat from the NCAA. In an attempt to mirror real life, players may commit infractions during the year. Some are minor, like missing curfew or getting some bad grades, others might be more severe. If you ignore the infractions, the NCAA will eventually shut your ass down, but you have a limited number of discipline points to spend throughout the year, so you may only want to sit your party-hardy halfback for the first half of a game instead of benching him for the week.

Along with disciplining your kids, you'll also need to keep them happy at the school. Deny a talented kid playing time and he may try and transfer to another school at the end of the year or even try and go pro early. You can attempt to talk a wayward student from leaving your program early, but your attitude and the team's discipline (and likely it's ability to win games) are all factors in the player's ultimate decision.

Recruiting and training are also important and expect some greater details on the offseason soon enough. But it's player management that's made the biggest Dynasty splash. Some other new features will help make Dynasty better, even though they aren't exclusive to being in the franchise mode. For the first time you can create your own playbook. Now add that to the ability to create a school, better player creation tools, and creating a stadium that is designed to shake the rafter, and you can truly make your own team from top to bottom. Time for me to make Team Hangover with Captain Morgan at QB and Bud Draft at wideout.

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Best Sports Game of E3: This is a hard one. Do you take the classic game that already plays great (Madden), the game that has a bunch of innovative features that you can't play yet (ESPN NFL), or a game that blows you away visually but is nowhere near complete (ESPN NBA). NBA Live was greatly improved, as was NHL 2005 and ESPN NHL at that, but for my money, the best sports game at E3 was NCAA Football 2005 . Home Field Advantage is awesome, the camera shakes, players get rattled, receivers who can't hear the play are throwing their hands in the air, I even saw a video where the quarterback lines up behind the guard by accident. Not only that, but the tipped passes and aggressive tackles over the middle really put the fun back into playing defense. Could this be the best version of the series yet?

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Homefield Advantage does a great job of recreating the benefits of having a massive crowd behind you. When on defense, the home team player can try and bring the crowd into the game. Tapping the "Homefield Advantage" button repeatedly increases the pumpitude of the crowd. In a giant house known for rabid fans, like Wisconsin's Camp Randall Stadium, this can cause your opponent's controller to rumble frantically and the screen to shake like an epileptic bobblehead.

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Fifty said:

(home field advatage) means nothing if it doesn't work online. I really hope it does.

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Guileless said:

But its online mechanics raises some questions. Everybody is going to want to be the home team, and if the challenger is always home then there will be lots of challengers and nobody willing to accept a challenge. They should make it random or something.

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WhiteWaterM00se said:

NCAA 2005 is my personal GOAT. (All of gaming). Better than LTTP, Mario 64, BOTW, Half life 2, etc.

It is amazing to look at the power and quality of EA titles in this era and compare it today. Truly sad.

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