NCAA GameBreaker 2004 Review

Developer	989 Sports
Publisher	SCEA
Genre	Sports

Last year, 989 Sports took a huge strive into the right direction by building a solid foundation for future installments. Every title that came out of their studios – GameBreaker, GameDay, FaceOff, Shootout, and the rest – all seemed to be good enough to pass as decent. It’s only natural that one would expect this year’s editions, in every franchise, to be a lot better than its predecessors. Sadly, GameBreaker does not meet the criteria of a vastly improved game, with minimal improvements in the gameplay, graphics, and audio departments.

Gameplay - This year, the collegiate football field only consists of two games; EA Sports’ incredibly realistic NCAA Football 2004 and NCAA GameBreaker 2004. Sega Sports has apparently dropped out of the running, at least for this year. With that being said, there’s nothing really 989 could have done to put GameBreaker past NCAA unless some monumental changes are made. GameBreaker’s gameplay, while slightly altered, remains pretty much the same game as last year with a few enhancements.

The biggest gripe of all is the insane unbalance between running and passing plays. In football, college or professional, mixing up the plays and keeping the defense guessing is the key to winning. In GameBreaker, the only skill needed is the ability to run the ball effectively; and even that is pretty simple, well, in GameBreaker. Tailbacks bust out of the backfield for at least an eight-yard gain every play. Unless the user is playing as Nebraska or Alabama, nobody wants to run their offense out of the Maryland I every down.

Once the running back is out in the open, breaking away from defensive backs and linebackers can prove to be a tough challenge. Never are tackles broken, so once hit, the running back is down. Of course, there are methods of getting around said tacklers, including the standard jukes, stiff arms, spin moves, and hurdles. However, using these rarely result in getting away from a would-be tackler. That eight to ten yard gain is about all the back will get unless the player is running out of a 5-Wide formation and has linebackers covering wide outs.

Passing the ball, while not near as effective every play, is a good way to get the ball down the field in a hurry, or in long yardage situations. After the ball is snapped, the quarterback will make the drop back, step up, and be ready to make the throw. Normally there is at least one player wide open on every play, especially when using Shotgun or 4 wide outs. Passing schools like Florida (even if they lost their QB to the NFL), Florida State, Miami, USC, and NC State will have a field day against lower ranked teams, but will most likely struggle against defensive teams like Oklahoma due to the extreme AI (mentioned later).

Let’s be honest; most gamers are looking to air it out, and lack the patience to run the ball twenty times a game. However, as hard as it may sound, armchair quarterbacks are going to have to realize the unbalance and plan accordingly. Being a Florida fan, it’s instinctive to feel the urge to send in 5 wide outs on 1st down. After a few games, though, players will sit down (well, figuratively; most likely they’re sitting already) and realize it doesn’t come easy.

For the past three years, 989 have apparently been uncomfortable with their play-calling screen, and it shows in 2004. Last year, GameBreaker featured a hybrid so to speak of Sega’s NFL 2K series (ESPN NFL Football, now) and EA Sports’ Madden and NCAA Football. The result was not pretty, to say the least. To make matters worse, this year the menus are even uglier, and some didn’t think that was possible. Madden has set the standard in the play-calling screens, and Sega realized they couldn’t produce a better one so they converted this year to a play-calling menu heavily influenced by Madden. GameBreaker seems to have been trying to do the same, but failed.

In a football game, it is essential to have a nice, organized layout that is easy to follow. After all, calling plays you can’t understand from the diagram is near retarded. Generally, each formation can be cycled through by pressing up or down on the D-Pad, and then three plays inside of those formations appear after selecting it, where you can flip through pages of plays in that formation. For those confused by that statement (and hell, I can’t blame you; you’d have to have played a football game before to completely comprehend), pick up ESPN NFL Football or Madden to see what is being preached. In GameBreaker, 989 opted for an unorthodox method of flipping through the plays by hitting left or right.

To a casual fan, that might not seem like a problem. But for someone who has been playing virtual gridiron for years, it’s a real pain. Bluntly speaking, I wouldn’t care about the play calling if there was some depth to it. There are only a handful of formations, with a few plays in each. Talk about redundancy, thank God the defense doesn’t pick up on the plays being called over and over, or there would be some major defensive stands in the fourth quarter.

Ah, and now to defense, a part of the sport people either love or hate; very rarely is there ever a medium. With the aforementioned unbalance between running and passing, the computer opponent can easily rack up just as much yardage on the ground as the player. In fact, the moves they pull off actually work, meaning a big gain. Controlling a lineman is not recommended; instead, take control of a linebacker playing zone coverage and wait for the running play.

When the computer opponent passes, it is practically a guaranteed completion. Pass across the middle into triple coverage? The tight end jumps up and nags it. Tight coverage on the slot receiver? He’s wide open every time. No matter what type of coverage you play (Man or Zone), it is impossible to defend against, especially on the big plays down field. When an interception does occur, it’s more like a divine blessing than a great play.

There have been slight control refinements, which one could argue are for the best and others could complain as much as their little heart desires. Special moves are executed in the standard football game manner: X for speed burst, O to spin, TRIANGLE to hurdle, SQUARE to dive, and the shoulder buttons to perform jukes and stiff arms. It’s the more intricate controls that are maddening. For instance, to pull up an on-field depiction of the play about to be run, players must combine the zoom out button with TRIANGLE. To call a timeout, you must press R3 and L3 at the same time. Why not just go with the flow and utilize similar configurations found in more popular football titles? Hitting SELECT for a timeout is a lot easier than the just stated way. The voice-recognition via a USB headset is really cool for the wannabe quarterbacks out there.

What 989 did do extremely well was pack in a lot of game modes. The most prominent being the Career Mode, where gamers start out as a coach at a lackluster program and have to rise through the ranks to make it to the big time. While it may sound promising, it’s basically the same thing people have been playing since 1999. It’s time for a major change, as everything feels extremely outdated. Recruiting should not be a hassle; instead, it should be a time of excitement, getting freshmen to come into the program and make an impact.

And finally, the feature everyone showed be worried about: Online play. Getting online with GameBreaker is quite simple, only requiring the user to hit select at the main menu to bring up the connect screen. Once logged in, players can check out leader boards, buddy lists, chat rooms, and a very intriguing idea, live roster updates. If an injury hits a team found in GameBreaker, the second-string player will then become the starter. It’s a fun idea that should be expanded upon in the future.

As far as actually playing, the online interface is confusing at first. Once I finally found an opponent willing to play me, we went at it and I successfully lost, 38-35. It’s sad when somebody takes advantage of the game’s faults and runs the ball 47 times. Where’s the fun in that? Anyway, voice-chat was surprisingly not good at all. My opponent had a great connection, as did I, yet it seemed everything he said was gargled. Thinking it was his microphone, I progressed to a new opponent only to discover the same problem.

Graphics - When GameBreaker debuted in 2001, it, along with its brother GameDay, had awful graphics compared to Madden and at the time the NFL 2K series, which were on a technically inferior console. Much has changed since those days, but the visuals found in GameBreaker seem years behind. Player models are roughly rendered, grass textures dull and lacking “flavor”, poor color palette, and mediocre animations equal s disappointing package. The crowd is a mixed bag; they seem very bland, but at times they can look very realistic, making it all a matter of preference to the individual. The helmets are beautiful, and the stadiums aren’t half bad either. One can’t help but to expect a little more out of a company directly affiliated with Sony.

Sound - Tim Brandt, back in the booth again for his second year, joins legendary sports broadcaster Keith Jackson, both commentators for ABC Sports. In the past, Keith Jackson did the play-by-play, and had no one to be an analyst. Now that 989 have two announcers, Brandt calls everything and Jackson will occasionally throw in a few tidbits here and there. I’m still waiting to hear, “hit as hard as a black jack pine”. In any case, these two could be a dynamic duo if there was a little more chemistry between them, but it all seems too scripted. The fight songs are real recording for the most part put into the game, but they aren’t near loud enough. When the momentum’s flowing, the home crowd definitely gets into the action. Overall, it’s not that bad, but there’s nothing special worth mentioning.

Overall Value - In the end, GameBreaker is too much like the games before it to warrant a purchase, unless you’re a die-hard fan. GameBreaker certainly isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing game, nor most realistic, but it isn’t a horrible game either. The major downfall of the gameplay is the unbalance between running and passing, which really hurts the game’s overall score. The less than ambitious play calling menus aren’t helping their cause, either. If live roster updates, up to the minute scores in real life across all sports, and decent online play are what you’re looking for, you aren’t wasting your money; if you want the most realistic college football game, stick with NCAA Football 2004.

Review by Brian Williams