NCAA College Football 2K3

The best ESPN game ever? That?s not too much to ask for, is it? Sega gives it the old college try, and...

One of the charms of the college game is that it?s more raw and emotional than the pros, and Sega?s NCAA College Football 2K3 does a good job at capturing those qualities. Amateur pigskin fans are in for a great game, but it's one that doesn?t quite overtake its main competitor.

New Partners
Sports gamers felt a collective shudder go down their spines when Sega announced that it had acquired the ESPN license a few months ago. No game brandishing the ESPN logo has lived up to what fans of the high-adrenaline cable channel would consider an awesome sports game, that is, until now. Sega?s NFL 2K engine is one of the best things to happen to football fans unhappy with Madden?s brand of simulation. This year?s NCAA Football is based off the core of NFL 2K2 but with many improvements in almost every category.

The most obvious upgrades are in the graphics, including a wider range of player sizes and appropriately expressive faces under helmets so shiny you could eat off them. Both the PS2 and Xbox versions look great, and the differences between the two are pretty minor. Player animations are fluid, although bumping up an older engine seems to have created a few imperfections in how collisions and transition movements look. It doesn?t affect the gameplay, but it does take away from the otherwise perfect TV-style presentation.

Strike Up the Band
The 2K games have had fantastic play-by-play, and NCAA is no different. You won?t find any ESPN personalities during the game this year (although Dan Patrick makes a quick video appearance in the opening movie), but you do get hours and hours of entertaining and insightful banter, especially during replays, between the fictional commentators. You get marching bands and fight songs, but it all seems more low key than what you?d hear at a real game, and the same goes for the crowd decibel level, too.

Anyone familiar with Sega?s NFL games will have no problem with the controls. The PS2 version feels slightly more responsive than the Xbox version, but again the differences are nothing to get in a stitch about. The overall pace on both platforms is speedy and friendly to twitch reflex gamers.

The Best ESPN Game Ever
NCAA is feature heavy and includes all 117 Division I-A teams and stadiums, a select group of I-AA teams, 25 bowl games, and a comprehensive Legacy mode. Legacy is pretty much a modified Franchise mode that enables you to create a school from the ground up, putting you in the role of a coach for up to 30 consecutive seasons. You don?t have to stay with the same school, and you can even draft seniors you?ve developed into the upcoming NFL 2K3.

While all this is great, it still comes up a tad short compared to EA?s NCAA football game, especially in the college atmosphere category. EA just has the whole look and feel nailed down, although loading times are much shorter and players' heads are better proportioned in both 2K3 games.

If you?re a 2K fan, there?s no question this is the game for you. Even though the overall presence of the game?s big-name license is light this time out, NCAA College Football 2K3 is the best ESPN game ever, except for maybe NFL 2K3.

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