NCAA Football
Platform: Super NES
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: Gamepad
Genre: Sports > Football
Release Year: 1994
Developer: The Software Toolworks
Publisher: Mindscape
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"Gameplay should be much better"

It's too bad, this game seems to have some potential. So many flaws do this one in. It's a very nice looking game, all the selection screens have a backdrop of a still photo from an actual game. You pick your teams, and notice you have a choice of 40 different teams, with all their nicknames, logos, and a list of stats from the 1993 season. There is also an option of what weather in which to play, between fair, snow, or rain (although a better name for this option would be ''has rained''). The sound is very good as well. When you start the game, you'll hear a voice reminding you that you are playing ''NCAA Football''. That person also can say ''Touchdown'', ''It's Good'', ''No Good'', and ''Safety''. The player and crowd noises are nice as well, the crowd will cheer for the home team when it makes a good play, and get extremely pissed off if their team throws an interception or fumbles (even if they're up by 74 points with a minute left!). There is also music that plays while the score and stats are displayed. Not exactly what I'd call football music, but it sounds all right. When you get to the game, you'll notice 52 different offensive plays and 20 defensive plays, all very nicely diagrammed. Unfortunately, you have to play the game too.

Let's start by playing the computer. In a lot of games, the computer could be figured out in little time, and defeated every time you play it. This game is definitely one of them. In fact, this computer puts up less of a fight than any game I have ever played. Their quarterback is very, very easy to sack, and you hardly have to do anything to do so. If they do somehow complete the pass, or run the ball, they will do absolutely nothing to fool the defenders other than running in a straight line down the field. It's also very simple to score on offense. I'll just make a list of everything that's wrong with this game offensively.

TACKLING: Way, way, way too easy. If you dive after the player, you can bring him down by the shoestrings with one finger. Tackling without diving will also work most of the time, although occasionally the defender will either miss, or fall down. Don't think about breaking the tackle either, on 98% of all contacts, the player with the ball gets absolutely smothered. The remaining 2% includes fumbles, and missed tackles. So running the ball is not a very good option, since there's no reliable way of running past the defense.

RECEIVING: This is how it works: the receiver will go out for a pass, stand on the ''X'' until the ball gets there, and do one of two things. He'll either make the catch, or completely ignore the ball, turn around, and watch it hit the ground. There are no dropped passes. Still, it is very simple to complete passes. I just said the receiver will stand on that ''X'' and wait for the ball. Well, the defender(s) are very similar. Except they'll just stand about two feet behind the receiver until he catches it, and then make the play. So you can very easily just march down the field throwing the ball.

PENALTIES: The following penalties will be called: Offsides, Illegal Formation (kickoffs), and Delay Of Game. You see anything missing? Of course, no Pass Interference! You can do anything you want to stop the receivers from running their routes; often they are jammed at the line of scrimmage by the CPU players! And of course, the receivers aren't smart enough to simply run around them, yet the quarterbacks assume they will, and throw the ball to where the receivers should be! However, it's very difficult to stop them this way four consecutive times for a stop.

Taking those three factors into effect, the average player should defeat the computer by at least 50, on their first try!

One more thing I don't like about this game is the selection of teams. There's 40, and there were about 110 Div. 1-A teams at the time, so obviously some will be left out. But many powerhouse teams were left out. No Florida, Florida St., Alabama, Ohio St., Michigan, and Notre Dame, to name a few. But you can be Tulane, Hawaii, or Baylor!

Believe it or not, I do play this game often. But only against human players. Most games we play are very competitive, with scores most often in the 50-70's. But there is absolutely no reason to play against the computer, unless you just want to see how many points you can put up. I'll bet 1000 points could be scored against them in a 60 minute game with the right strategy. But that would take all day, and I don't have the time. Overall, unless the game costs less than 3 dollars, and you know people that are competitive at sports games and really want something new, do not buy this game; there are much better ones out there.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/01/01, Updated 02/22/01

Reviewer: The BMC
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/review/R14107.html
