Top notch football game. Enjoyable for novices and experts, with another layer of depth for those serious enough to try
User Rating: 9.1 | NCAA Football 06 XBOX
Well, as someone who's been playing NCAA games since the early 90's, I've a fan, so I'm going to start by admiting that my review is pretty biased ! Everyone wants to know about the game, so let's start there. By in large, it is infinitely smoother than it was last year. Faster loading times, and very little slow down. The biggest gripe last year, one I had as well, was receivers doing nothing but dropping balls. It was a huge concern, and it made the game extremely difficult to play. I've seen less of it this year, in fact, I think passing is pretty solid. I've seen people saying that they are still having the same problems as last year with it. I'm fairly confident that those are the folks who do nothing but throw bullet passes at WR's. I ran the Pass Skeleton mini-game for a couple of hours to hone my skill, and to really learn when to throw, and more importantly HOW to throw a pass that a WR can catch. This is coming from someone who back in the '90's loved running a run-and-shoot offense. All I can say, is that the practice paid off, year 1 on All-American level, I threw for 3600 yards, and completed 62% of my passes. That's running mostly a 10-20 yard passing game. In the run game, you really notice breakaway speed, and backs heading to the outside. However, my biggest disapoinment, was the AI not mounting serious rushing attacks against me, and moreover, running ineffectively. What else can I say about gameplay ? New controls made sense to me, and I like them, but a couple of friends prefer the '05 style. The AI learns reasonably quickly what your favorite plays are, and does make adjustments to counter them. Deep passing is still an issue, as it's almost too easy to do, and one of my complaints about the online community, but that's another story. The home field advantage effect is great, however I tend to wonder if it's not too much, that's how potent it can be ! Presentation The game looks good, new animations are stellar. The pre-game show is nice, but the toons of Nessler, Herbstreit, and Corso could use some work, and I'd like to get a bit more out of them. Their in-game commentary has some new voice work over past years, but just not enough, this is a place I'd like to see some more improvment in for next year. It's not enough to really seriously complain about, but when EA is fine tuning the product, it would be something to look at. Race For The Heisman Nice feature to dovetail with Madden's new "star player" mode. However to me, it lacks depth, and is not a reason to continue to play the game, I'll probably go thru it one time, and that'll be it. I'm sure some people will like it, and if it brings in some new folks, great ! Dynasty Pretty much the same dynasty we all know and love. Athlon lends it's name to the preseason cover, but that doesnt mean much. In season recruiting is nice, but it's not as indepth as I'd expected. You start recruiting 10-12 players ( cant think as I write ). As the weeks go by, you and the time you spend with them, they eliminate some schools from consideration. At somepoint, if interested enough, you can invite them for an official visit, and you'd better win that week !! If they like it, they'll commit, or they can give you a soft verbal. Dont think they are a sure bet, I've had 'em give me the soft verbal, and the next week go on another visit, and commit to that school. I've gotta say, I do enjoy this aspect of the game. Added Features I love the mini-games. Passing Skeleton, as I've elaborated on earlier is a great way to really learn how to pass in NCAA '06. People who spend some time with it, and watch what's going on, how to time routes, and how to feather a pass in should reap some nice rewards when they are playing. I'm not a big fan of option attack, since I dont run it, but it is fun. Oklahoma is another RB drill, and it's pretty much run to the blocker, juke right or left, and head to the endzone, depending on the LB. Nice, but not a whole lot. Rushing attack is always a blast, pretty much the same as Madden. Online Most gripes are opponents take Virginia Tech for Marcus Vick, or Texas for Vince Young and then just scramble and throw the bomb, and can be pretty efficient doing that. That's kind of a bummer, but it probably is to be expected. The deep pass is over used, and overly effective. Things I'd like to see If you've made it this far, I may as well. I'd love to see dynasty be playable online. I've got friends in other states, and we'd love to be able to get together, and have a dynasty, recruit, and everything else. Have a set-up for an online league, so it's not done offline, and played online, EA, make it easier ! More commentary, and a longer pre-game show. Talk about the offense, be it pass heavy or run heavy, I'd believe that they could do something pretty generic, that would give a semi-vague scouting plan. See if someone runs more than passes, or is balanced, if they blitz heavy, what offense they use, what defense they run, and so on. 9.1 scoring from me. Well worth it, and I'll be playing it for quite a while. While each version seems to get a little better ( not including '05 ! ) EA still can take some steps to bump this game even further, and make it legendary. 
