[Note by River City Rage, 07/14/08 1:15 PM EDT ]FSBlueApocalypse reviewed NCAA 2008 for us.  It's the dead zone, though this game is usually the first sign that real honest-to-goodness football is around the corner. -Chris

Time to bust out your kegs and start your tailgating, College football season is here!

(Author’s note: This review is based off the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game)

Ah, NCAA Football, Madden’s little yet superior brother. While any competitive Madden game usually ends with 3 yards and a cloud of dust football, the sheer amount of ways to play in NCAA has always made it more unpredictable.

However, NCAA football has had somewhat of a difficult transition to current generation systems. To call NCAA Football 2007 for the XBOX 360 a barebones affair would be fair, and a rushed POS that had features needlessly dropped would be true. NCAA Football 2008 for the PS3 had its own share of problems, including its broken online play, PS2 level graphics, and an overall less polished feel than its 360 counterpart. So, has NCAA finally found its legs?

The Bad

I hate it when reviews go on and on about how good a game is, than the last 2 paragraphs highlight everything wrong, then leave you wondering why it got a 9.5/10. This and since I’m already spewing bile, so I’ll just go ahead with the bad.

1. The micromanaging has returned once again.

Whenever you go into Dynasty mode, even before you kickoff for your first game, you have to go and select recruits to try and get during the season, try to formulate game plans, etc. Now, if you’re into this stuff, I’m sure you’ll love it, but I prefer you know, actually playing games.

1. The computer is once again retarded.

If you played the campus legend mode, your teammates will once again be about as much help as lobotomized chimpanzees. In addition, to the above mentioned micromanaging, you technically can have the game do it for you. However, it has a lovely habit of skipping over that 5 star running back begging to come to your school for a 1 star free safety because your second stringer is graduating.

1. Broken CPU players

For those not well versed in gamer speak, Broken basicly means its either garbage or seriously over powered. In the case of the former, even on All American or Heisman difficulty setting, DL rarely get through your OL, cornerbacks will get beat on a fly route by any receiver with speed over 90, and the crème de le crème of my experience, running a play action 6 times in a row and the safety bit every time.

For an example of the latter, meet Tim Tebow ladies and gentlemen. I guess EA bought all the stuff about him being Superman. Tebow is so ridiculously overpowered, and I won’t even get to partner in crime Percy Harvin, that Florida will probably be banned from every competitive NCAA tournament this year. Case in point, my friend ran the shotgun QB draw with Tebow 3 time in a row, each time gaining 7+ yards, then had him throw a perfect pass to Harvin in double coverage for a TD.

In addition, the rubberband AI in this game can be ridiculous as times. You could be USC beating Sisters of the blind 42-0 in the 4th, and you’ll think their team transformed into the all-time greatest football players ever and mount a furious comeback.

The Good

1. Deep Gameplay

As has always been the case with NCAA, the multitude of ways to play and master will keep you coming back for more. You can run the spread option with West Virginia, the spread shotgun with Missouri, a pro style offense with USC, the air attack with Texas Tech, and many more.

1. Online Dynasty

Easily the biggest addition to the franchise is the addition of the online dynasty mode. It adds a lot of know that instead of competing for that 5 star QB of the future with the computer, another person could be using it against you. In addition, it makes the mandatory 5 minute quarters easier to tolerate to know you’re trying to win a title in a league full of people, rather than just trying to get onto a national leader board.

Whether playing on the Playstation Network or Xbox Live, NCAA 2008 was notorious for server crashes, lag, and downright unplayability. This has been eliminated. In our first week of conference games, my league had 6 games going on at once, not only did we not see any lag/hiccups; we were also alerted to real time updates of the other games in progress. For once EA managed to deliver on its promise.

1. Presentation

Finally we have a NCAA Football game that looks like it belongs on current generation systems. Both the PS3 and 360 versions run at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, and with a supposed claim of being 1080p native, though I have somewhat of a life and haven’t bothered to look and see if that’s true or not. Graphics look great on both systems, though I give a slight edge to the PS3 as the shadows, lighting, and crowds look more natural and better in motion.

The Ugly

Roster Updates

Most of us can’t stand to look at UF QB#15 or FSU SS #2 for very long, and have added home made rosters to change it. EA seemingly listened to our cries and added the Locker Room, a place to upload rosters to a central server to let you do it nice and easy. However, in several attempts to try this feature, it simply crashed the game and made me start over again.

Player disappearances

I’m not sure if they’re abducted by aliens or what, but players will occasionally be deleted from your roster with no warning at all. I’m not talking about just juniors who are draft eligible, but everyone from new recruits to returning seniors.

The Verdict

As much hating as I’ve done for the game, I did enjoy it. Online Dynasty mode is awesome and gives the series a much needed injection of freshness that the series has needed. To EA’s credit, they have promised patches for the various game play issues, hopefully before Madden comes out this year. Overall, I’d say this year’s version if the first current generation version to have $60 legs and should provide you a full years worth of entertainment.

8.5/10