NCAA Football 08 is fun, but lacks something in the end

It is hard not to compare the NCAA series to the Madden one. They are produced by the same company and they have many things in common with one another.

Interestingly enough however, over the last few years NCAA football has been receiving better scores by most reviewers. While the Madden franchise became known as one that had settled on its laurels somewhat, NCAA football continued to make new strides that really helped to bring out the college atmosphere.

I have always favored Madden, and while it may be shallow of me, the reason would the NFL licensing. I just enjoy the NFL a good deal more than college football on television and in person, and I think some of that enthusiasm carried over to the games as well. This year however, Madden took several strong strides forward - some would say for the first time in a few years. Meanwhile, NCAA did very little to distinguish itself in my mind, and I think from what I have read and seen, the two titles are now considered to be on an even level, but with Madden moving in the right direction while NCAA is treading water at best.

So, let's get down to it.

Graphics: These were pretty good, but I'm not sure they were as polished as Madden's were this year. They were however an improvement over last year's game. Weather effects were still a bit spotty, but player models have improved and the branching animations for tackle breaking, receiving and hitting all seem better than the last few years as well. Inevitably, I will be comparing this game to Madden from time to time, because they are so similar and can even tie in with one another.

Sound and music: NCAA wins this over Madden hands-down. I felt that this was the field Madden was weakest in, and here NCAA is far more entertaining. The commentators are pretty good, if a bit repetitive after awhile, and the college theme songs being played by bands felt much more atmospheric than the tracks that Madden puts out there year after year.

Game play: The two games really borrow from one another in this area, and are pretty much a draw for on-field action. The controls handle almost the same, and the same nagging things (too many turnovers) show up in both products as well. Overall, I feel that the game handles really well, and I enjoy the branching animations found in the running game and how they translate into the actual carrying of the ball quite a bit. Like Madden however, a fast quarterback is just an overpowered weapon. I was able to win games on the hardest level of difficulty with sub par quarterbacks who were more fast with their feet than accurate with their arms.

Intangibles: Again, I could wind up stilted on this one. I favor Madden's NFL license with familiar names and attributes over the no-name players who cycle in and out of the college game every three to four years. The recruiting system was quite interesting at first, but over time it became too time-consuming. It had sort of a 'neat' factor early on but it seemed to lose a bit over time. Some recruits were just annoying to deal with as well. The Legend mode, much like the Superstar mode in Madden, has come along pretty well, but I disliked the random 'activities' every night. You felt more like a spectator than someone in the role of a student athlete most of the time. This mode to me still feels more novel than anything, but it was nice being able to pound out an entire running back's college career in a matter of days to upload into Madden's Superstar mode later. Also, the whole high school championship beginning had a neat feel to it. There's a fair amount of replay value to be had here as well, but in the end the recruiting process became just a bit too slow for my tastes.

Overall, I think this game is probably on par with Madden. Looking at it objectively, I have to give it the same score as madden, which is four out of five stars, though it's probably closer to a '3.5'. Not quite great, but on the cusp if they tweak a few things here and there next year.