Review By: Jared Black
Developer:	Tiburon
Publisher:	EA Sports
# of Players:	1-12 (alternating)
Genre:	Football
ESRB:	Everyone
Date Posted:	8-20-01

Even if the above gameplay flaws do concern you, you’ll be able to overlook them when you realize just how deep this game is. EA has packed a lot…and I mean A LOT…of stuff in here. The game has all the normal modes you’d expect, but where the real depth lies is in the amazingly deep Dynasty mode. The Dynasty mode allows up to 12 different players (coaches) to try to take their team (choosing from 117 I-A schools and 27 I-AA schools) to the National Championship. When you pick your team, you’ve essentially signed a contract to coach that team. By viewing the coaches’ options, you’ll see what’s expected from you. For example, while controlling UNC I was expected to win the ACC Championship 2 out of 3 years or win the National Championship 1 year. While that is rather high (UNC has never had a real strong football program), in the context of a game setting it’s fairly realistic. Also in the coaches’ options, you’ll be able to set features such as how aggressive you are and what percentage of passes and runs you’ll want your coach to run in a simulated game. I can’t understand how anyone would want to hand their destiny over to a computer-controlled coach (versus playing the game), but some people are apparently into that management aspect.

During the season, you’ll find that the polls do a good job of accurately reflecting the current college landscape. For example, when I started out as UNC I was unranked. After I beat Oklahoma, I quickly jumped up into the top 10. The longer my dynasty has lasted, the easier it’s been to stay near the top of the polls as I’ve gained respect. The BCS is also very accurate, as it uses the real BCS formulas (minus the latest revision downplaying running up the score). Strength of schedule (non-conference opponents included Oklahoma and Texas) played a big part in my finishing #2 in the BCS during my first season with UNC.

If you find all of this incredible, you’ll love all that the off-season offers. When the off-season begins, you’ll be able to see who leaves your team (via graduation or leaving early) as well as export that draft class for use in Madden NFL 2002 after that game’s first Franchise season. Once this is completed, you’ll begin the incredibly deep recruiting process. The game will build a list of recruits (using randomly generated names and stats), organized into many different categories. Recruits are organized by National Top 100, state, current targets (the ones you plan on recruiting), all prospects, and recruits that currently have interest in your school.

The recruiting process takes place over a five-week period. Based on your team’s needs, each prospect’s interest level (ex: "Very High") and stats (vertical jump, GPA, etc.), you’ll then decide what prospects to go after. You’ll then have to decide how you want to recruit each prospect. At the end of each season you’re given a varying number of points to recruit with (based on the school and previous season’s success). Recruiting involves visiting the player with the coach or assistant coach, as well as calling the player. Each action will use up a specific number of recruitment points, thus leaving less to allocate to other prospects. Once you assign the points to each prospect, you then advance to the next week of the recruiting period. The game will then tell you who signed with you (as well as other teams), and you’ll then have to adjust your strategy and target recruits accordingly. It’ll also give you feedback from your visits with each recruit, which you can then use to modify your strategy also. This part of the off-season alone is very deep, and acts as a mini-game on its own.

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