Football junkies have long been accustomed to loving gridiron video games while tolerating their weaknesses. We appreciate the fact that developers try to incorporate genuine college or pro atmospheres into the games, but it drives us nuts when the fight songs are incorrect, the out patterns are automatic, or the running game is unrealistically easy or hard.

But then along comes NCAA Football 2003 by EA Sports, a game so good that after a few weeks, even your dog will wonder why you never find the time to communicate anymore. Start with the AI--by far the best yet in a college game. Defenses not only react to your play calling and adjust their strategies as the game evolves, but they expertly disguise their coverages and swarm to the ball with speed and decisiveness. In addition, your computer opponent actually makes intelligent clock decisions when time is running out (shocking!). The running game at times is a bit easy on the lower difficulty levels (especially if a back like Oregon's Onterrio Smith has the ball), but that's why they made All-American and Heisman levels.

The graphics, as are typical in football video games over the last couple of years, are extremely good, and the between-play animations provide extra spark to the rivalries (taunting runs rampant). But the graphics aren't the star of the show--it's the dynasty mode, stupid. With enough special features and stat categories to keep college football hopheads happy for months--including a comprehensive recruiting engine, a customizable intro screen that features your favorite school's colors and fight song, and a Trophy Room that displays all your bowl and rivalry game hardware--NCAA Football 2003 just might make fans forget the depressing length of the off-season. --Rivers Janssen

Pros:

• Terrific AI
• Fans of almost any Division I program will be happy with the team-specific features
• Passing engine actually requires you to read defenses intelligently

Cons:

• Commentary is a bit predictable

NCAA Football 2003 includes all of the pageantry of college football, including 200 fight songs, 3-D cheerleaders, and 117 Division I-A teams with authentic uniforms. You can personalize the game interface based on your team's fight song, mascot, logos, and school colors. Dynasty mode lets you create your own school and schedule, recruit star athletes, and redshirt athletes to develop players and build a national powerhouse. You can beat your school's archrival and win one of 23 coveted trophies. The Trophy Room lets you display up to 59 total trophies, including conference championships and individual player awards.

I've played a little madden (2005,pc), and a little ncaa (99,ps, long time ago), and I have to say this beats all so far. The graphics are pretty stunning (I have component cables, really helps). Better than madden 05 in my opinion. I love college football, and it's the offseason, so anything that let's me play as my huskers and beat the crap outta the sooners or longhorns is awesome. I was impressed with dynasty (it's the first time I tried something like that so I can't compare it with anything). Unfortunately, the PS2 still has the slowest memory bus EVER. It takes a long time to load dynasty games and even longer to save. But that's how it is for most ps2 games, so it doesn't really detract from this one specifically. Overall, good game. I picked it up for a dollar at gamestop, so it's been well worth it.

I like football, especially college. This game made my dreams of college football come true. It has tons, and tons of schools to choose from. It has great gameplay, good graphics, and a lot of college fight songs. It even lets you create a team of your own and lets you pick that teams fight song. If you're looking for a good football game than this game should be considered.

Okay, how the heck did EA do this? I'm not sure, but this is absoulutely the best College Football game I have ever played, and I have played quite a few College Football games. I especially like the gameplay and how smooth and simple it is. The commentary is the best you can get with the greatness of Lee Corso, Brad Nessler, and Kirk Herbstriet. I also like the variety of teams that their are, about 150 of them. I also like the new addition of cheerleaders. Their motions are exactly like real-life cheerleaders! The most improved parts of this game from the 2002 edition, is the Campus Challenge and the Create-a-Team. What I like more about the Campus Challenge is that the challenges are more difficult to reach and that they are more fun reaching. I like that EA added a great thing to NCAA Football 2003, which is the Create-a-Team. You design everything, I mean everything about a new team that is made from scratch. I'd say that if the quality of EA's College Football games keeps improving, it will the the best video game series ever!

THE ONLY THING THAT MADE THE GAME HARD WERE THE CONTROLS , I FOUND MYSELTH FALLING ASLEEP WHILE PLAYING THE GAME.

I got this game because I wanted a great football game. I was not let down. This game has amazing graphics, lots of plays, fast gamepalay (that's a good thing), and the stadiums are really cool. This game also has a CREATE A SCHOOL option where you can make a school, find a logo, make a stadium, and make your own jersies. This game is the best football game I ever played (besides NFL Blitz), but is just as good. The only bad thing is that it can get pretty boring after a while. So get this if you need a game to play for a couple of months.