NCAA 2006 Game Review (XBOX Version)

College football videogame: EA's new game, NCAA 2006 is truly a step up from their previous titles. They've included enough changes and tweaks to make this game a truly outstanding game, unlike the 2005 title. They kept everything that made 2005 good and fixed everything that made it bad. Then they added more stuff to make it even better, the biggest being the Race for the Heisman mode.

GAMEPLAY
The recievers are actually competent enough to catch the football this time around. There is a good balance between the effectiveness of the wide reciever and the defensive back. Unlike the 2005 title, NCAA 2006 wide outs don't drop every single pass that is thrown to them, even if they're wide open! There is really no need to adjust the sliders to make them catch more passes. This, however, does not mean they will catch every single pass thrown to them either. The defensive backs weren't made "dumb" to compensate for last year's mistake. Instead, both skill positions are balanced out very well. If your wide out is double or triple covered, most likely he won't catch the ball.... that is, unless he's an impact player.
The impact player is a new addition to the NCAA franchise. In terms of the Madden franchise, they would be the equivalent to the playmakers. Each team has three impact players that are available to them. During the course of the game, they will become "in the zone". At this time, the white circle that is underneath all impact players will begin to pulsate. Offensive impact players are harder to tackle and can make some spectacular plays. Defensive impact players are hard to block, are more aware of their surrounds, and just plain hit harder. This adds a whole new aspect to the game. 3rd and long and nothing seems to be going your way? If your impact wide out is in the zone, send him out on a fly route and just lob it up for him. Being in the zone does not gaurantee that they will always make the play for you, it just heightens their stats making it more likely.
EA also tweaked the quarterbacks a bit too, making them more realistic. They aren't always pinpoint accurate. The farther they throw, the less accurate they become. Planting your feet has become very important as well, probably more important than the previous titles as your quarterback can become extremely inaccurate if he throws on the run.
The AI is much smarter this time around too. If you run a play more than twice in a row, they'll catch on and they'll adjust accordingly even if you run a different play and then go right back to it. In some cases, this awareness will last for almost a half, making you really think and pick apart their defense.
Another change they made was the inclusion of packages. This is great because now you can substitute positions with a touch of a button instead of having to change your whole depth chart. If you want your running back in the slot position, just push a button and he'll be there. Want, your backup QB in instead of your starter? No problem. This also makes it easier to place impact cornerbacks on impact wide outs, which is high recommended. It's also recommended to double cover him whenever he's in the zone, too!
The biggest change for this year, the change that makes this game a whole new game, is the Race for Heisman mode. In this mode, you take the role of a freshman player and you play out his NCAA career. Unlike the Dynasty mode, your goal here isn't necessarily the championship, it's the Heisman Trophy. You start out as a high school prospect, running drills for the position you want to play. After evaluating your performance, you're offered three scholarships. You can choose to accept any one of those, or you can walk on. There is no difference whether you walk on or you get a scholarship, you'll start your freshman year no matter what.
The menu for Heisman mode changes in that it is your college dorm room. There you can check you stats, the trophies you win, run some drills, check fan mail, and even look at a picture of your girlfriend! One thing you cannot do is all the coaching abilities you had outside of a game in Dynasty mode. This mode truly restricts you to a player. Of course, you reassume the position of the coach when you play your games, but that is the only time when you can make any adjustments to position or depth changes.
The Race for Heisman mode tries to make it as realistic as possible. When you first start off, you have to choose from a wide range of positions that you want your player to be. Positions included pocket QB, scrambling QB, running back, wide receiver, linebacker, and a few others. Each position has their own drills, some are point based and some are either pass fail. QB positions are point based, you get a set number of points for completing throws, scoring touchdowns, etc. Running backs are pass fail, you run your drill and either you pass it or don't. Of course, you have to run it ten times to gauge your skill level. Even if you pass your drill perfectly, you won't get a player rated as a 90's or above player. The highest rating that I've seen, testing out all the positions, is an 84. That would be for a running back that has succesfully passed all ten reps. I have also realized, through trial and error, that after a certain point, your stats do not improve. As with the running back, if you pass at least 8 of the 10 reps, you will start off with the same stats as a running back that has passed 9 or 10 of his reps. The same is for the QB, after a certain amount of points, you'll receive the same stats as a QB who achieved the maximum amount of points.
The fact that your player is not even a 90 really adds realism to the game. If you play him all the time, he'll get smacked around like a rag doll. He won't have the composure of veteran palyers and his effectiveness will be very dependant on his performance. Of course, as is with any NCAA game, if you find the right plays, you can exploit the system and make your player the best player out there from the get go.
After your four years are up, you can go pro and transfer your player to Madden 06 when it comes out and continue his career there. Or, you can accept a coaching position as the player if you don't have Madden 06 or don't plan on getting it. Obviously, you'll probably end up with a very bad team but then where's the pride in continuing a winning tradtion instead of building one?
The other modes that were in the previous NCAA titles are still here for 06. You can still play the Dynasty mode as you could in the previous titles. A change they made is now you can do in season recruiting. Instead of having to wait for the season to end, you can scout out prospective blue chips and try and sign them early. To those who just simulated the season to play the recruitment part, this gives more insentive to play out the season and it also expands the recruiting process.
Other modes, such as mascot challege, are back as well. They've also kept the stadium noise, the home field advantage, and the match up sticks; all key elements in the college football experience.
One thing that really brought down NCAA 05 was its speed, not only gamespeed but also load time. In NCAA 06, the load time is just incredible. It loads faster than any NCAA game I've ever played and loads faster than most games in general. The actual gamespeed has been sped up too, clocking it somewhere between NCAA 04 and NCAA 05. It's not too fast, but it's not too slow either.
The controls have changed once again for NCAA 06. This time, it's a more darastic change than 05 was to 04. This can be very difficult for veteran players because the biggest changes are on defense. They've switched the "sprint" and "switch to nearest defender" buttons, causing confusion in the middle of gameplay. This shouldn't concern players though because the gracious people at EA has offered the option to make the controls like the ones in 05. In addition to being able to change the controls back to 05 settings, you still get to reap the benefits of the 06 controls such as using the right thumbstick for the hit stick or juke moves.

SOUND
The sound hasn't changed much from the previous titles. The comments of Corso and Herbstreit are re-hashes of the 04 and 05 titles. They pretty much say the exact same things except for a few new comments here and there, included are the commments of how the wide out is "in the zone" or the running back really wants the ball.
One change they did make is the excemption of fight songs during menu screens. Like all their other sports titles, EA has gotten rid of the fight songs and replaced them with "real" songs instead. This isn't a big deal and it's sort of nice to get away from hearing the same fight song over and over and over again every time you load up a menu screen.

GRAPHICS
Not much can be said about graphics except that it is a lot better than the previous game. There is a noticeable differnce from the graphics of NCAA 06 and NCAA 05, which couldn't be said of 05 and 04. Everything just looks crisper. However, you still run into the problems of players walking through line judges during after-play sequences, but that's not a big deal. All in all, the graphics are the best in NCAA history.

Sports games are the hardest to consider purchasing because a lot of the times they are just roster updates and that's not really worth $50. NCAA 2006 however, is a completely new game. Sure, it offers the same mechanics of the older versions, but the inclusion of the Race for Heisman, in season recruiting, impact players, and packages, NCAA 2006 really makes you feel like you're in the middle of a real college football game. The Heisman mode will last days if not months, add the days and months of Dynasty mode you got yourself a game that will last you till NCAA 2007 comes out.

My Rating: 9/10
I Would Pay: $50 for this game.