NCAA Football 2K2

NCAA Football 2K2 Review

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NCAA Football 2K2 Feature

America Football video game
Sega Dreamcast

NCAA College Football 2K2 brings the thrill of NCAA football to your Dreamcast. Rich with features, it boasts a number of play modes, including Create-a-Play and Multiplayer Dynasty modes. As a single player, you can go for a bowl spot and try to rocket your team to the national championship. The feature that really gives this release a college feel, however, is the chance to run plays drawn from real NCAA playbooks.

The release of NCAA College Football 2K2, based on the NFL 2K1 game engine, should appease many of the long-suffering Dreamcast owners who look upon the NFL with disdain and pined for a good college-ball simulation. The game offers good playability, tight controls, generally good approximations of college stadiums, and excellent graphics. There are a few flaws, however, most of them relating to the most anticipated aspect of the game--the college-specific features.

The passing game is sharp, as the developer minimized the number of "money plays" without taking away every option available to the offensive player. There are few plays you can run for instant yardage, making it more important to cycle through your many options on passing plays. And the defense will play effective bump-and-run coverage on your receivers, throwing off your timing on some of those otherwise dependable out patterns. The running game is also solid, although occasionally a bit generous to the offense on up-the-middle runs. The game has more than 700 plays from actual team playbooks, and gives players the option of designing their own.

Graphics are smooth and often spectacular. Watching your receiver make a leaping catch over the middle with the safeties in pursuit is both as exciting and scary as it should be. The graphics on the sidelines and in the stands are sacrificed in favor of better resolution and animations on the field. One thing is never quite explained, though: why do so many skill-position players have beer bellies?

The title offers several game modes, including a tutorial mode, network play (with some lag time--the game doesn't support broadband adapters), and season, scrimmage, tourney, and legacy modes. Legacy is somewhat of a disappointment, as recruiting players (one of the cornerstones of college ball) amounts to looking at nondescript player ratings and choosing several athletes for visits. Even a few minor tweaks would have made recruiting more enjoyable, such as including names, pictures, quotes, stats... anything, really. But legacy mode does allow you to choose redshirts, cut poor performers, and allocate skill points to players in spring ball.

The collegiate atmosphere, while definitely welcome in the game, is sadly the biggest disappointment to die-hard college fans. Many college fight songs are included, but not all of them, which will aggravate fans whose rival teams have to listen to Michigan's "The Victors" after every score. In addition, Sega Sports wasn't able to secure a deal with the Bowl Championship Series, so no BCS bowls are included in the game (with the exception of the Rose Bowl, which has always marched to its own beat).

NCAA College Football 2K2 is still a good college football game, however, and that's great news for people who prefer college ball over pro ball. If you just plain like football and don't care what level it's played, stick to the NFL 2K series (especially if you already own NFL 2K1 or 2K2). If you're a college football fanatic for whom every small detail has to be perfect, stick to watching it on TV. But if you just plain like college football and want to play a good football video game with your favorite teams, NCAA College Football 2K2 fits the bill very well. --Rivers Janssen

Pros:

Great passing and running engines
Defensive AI makes you work for your yards, but lets you take advantage of mistakes
Graphics and gameplay are especially good for the first game in a series

Cons: