College football is all about the experience. There are no multi-million dollar contracts, no mansions full of hot cars, but most of all, no excuses. Players in the NCAA want one thing: to win. EA set out to create a virtual representation of the college football world. But do they stand up to their promises, or is this another clone of past year’s games? Go! Gaming Giant is about to answer that question.

NCAA Football ’10 features the same 119 teams that we’ve seen in the past. And the way you play them hasn’t changed much either. Veterans of the series will know just what to do when they load up a Quick Play game. Where ’10 really hits the jackpot is in its other game modes. First on the list is Road to Glory, an exact copy of last year’s Campus Legend mode. But this year, hosts Erin Andrews and Kirk Herbstreit will be tracking your career from High School to your final senior game, commenting and collecting highlights along the way. There aren’t many changes to this mode, but it does give a great RPG feel to the game.

Next up is Season Showdown, which is my personal favorite. What it basically entails is fanboys picking their favorite team, play games to earn points, and help that team rise in the standings as the most favorite team in the world. Think of it as fantasy football, with you controlling the success of your team. For example, I am a huge Northwestern fan. I choose the Wildcats as my team and start to play some games. Everything I do in those games earns points, which are added to a collective pool. All the other NU fans around the world also add their points to this pool. At the end of a determined timeline, the team with the most points will win. But be sure that you really love the team you choose, because there isn’t any going back. Once you choose, you’re set for life.

Another great mode that will be loved by fans of the online experience is Online Dynasty. You and up to eleven other buddies form a league and fight to the top to win that season. It really adds to the atmosphere of the game knowing that your entire season could be on the line if you lose the next game, and you see that your opponent is on top of the standings. This could very well be the greatest social experience to date in a sports game. There is also an option to transfer your team to an online dynasty, which is exactly the same as last year.

It seems that EA looked to make this years title a little more accessible, and they certainly succeeded with Team Builder. In what is the triumphant return of Create-a-team, gamers can go online and edit or create games from their PC. Everything is customizable, from the stadiums to the jerseys. Always hated the available logos in past years? Upload your own and give your team a picture worthy to represent them. With this modes amazing ease, I really hope EA implements this in future games.

Another thing that EA attempted was to make the game much more user friendly, especially to the younger gridiron fans out there. With the inclusion of Family Play, younger players aren’t subject to the fairly complex control scheme and have only one button to worry about. This button, either A on 360 or X on PS3, controls every function of the game. It will hike the ball, throw to the best option for receiver, and even break tackles with a single press. Although it is worthless to none other than the gamers in training or the achievement whores, it shows that EA truly wants their games to be accessible to all ages.

There isn’t much to say about this game. Much of the action remains the same, with some great additional modes that change the pace of the series. Although the game doesn’t succeed in defeating Madden’s great track record, EA has made an almost perfect college experience (minus alcohol and togas, mind you). Throughout my time with the game, I had this feeling that this year’s title seemed to be fairly experimental. With all these new features, I honestly cannot wait until next year rolls around and we get a good taste of what this game will lead to. But in the meantime, this serves as a great appetizer for fans waiting for the main course: Madden 10.

Score: 8/10

• Pros:
  • Same fun gameplay
  • Online Dynasty is a blast
  • TeamBuilder makes customization simple and fun
• Cons:
  • Same old, same old
  • Some audio dropouts during games
  • Some minor graphical errors like stuttering or clipping
• Random Fact:
  • EA was sued by NCAA QB Sam Keller for them allowing player likenesses in their games.

NCAA Football 10 was developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA and was released on July 14th.