Another year, another college game.

For quite some time now, EA has unleashed the NCAA Football franchise upon the gaming public. As much as they have attempted to really capture the college atmosphere, it can be fair, or unfair to say that what you get at the end of the day is a stripped down version of Madden with some college environments and game play elements tossed in.

With that said, this year's NCAA is one of the best NCAA titles yet gameplay wise. The new motion control system makes every cut, juke, and spin, change of direction feel smooth and seamless. Wide Receivers have a variety of catching animations such as the toe drag; the bobble, one hand, and etc. double of last year. Home field advantage, which is supposed to be one of the big things this year, is not so big after all. The only noticeable things about the Home field advantage are when playing away the crowd will progressively get louder as to what happens in the game. Also when you choose a play your team should be scattered if you pull it up at the line of scrimmage. Speaking of home field, the celebration and cheerleader animations are terrible and feel thrown in. The flags are stiff and have a low polygon count.

Celebrations at home field are cool the first or second time you see them, but lack variety, but you can celebrate with the mascot. But there are only two different celebrations that I have seen with the mascot. One of the other decent features is the Ice the Kicker. Here you begin by calling a timeout with the team down late in the game and the kicker comes on the field. Right before the snap, calling a time out will cause him to be ice and freeze up mentally making the chance of the fieldgoal less likely. All and all gameplay wise it is definitely better than previous years, but just doesn't have a big bang to it. You'll notice the subtle differences that I mention but it still feels too familiar to last season's effort.

Visually the game remains virtually identical to last year, with the exception of certain new animations, better frame rate and stadiums. Stadium models are much more detailed and realistic. They do use cheers and traditions specific to certain schools during the game such as the " nah nah nah nah hey hey hey hey gooood byeee" when beating the opposition to a pulp, which heightens the game's presentation. Alas, the menus, player models, and overall look of NCAA 09 are very similar to last year's excellent effort and not quite the leap we are seeing with this year's Madden title.

Online is where the game improved much over the last years. On one hand everything is the same when just wanting to play a ranked match, but the online dynasty is where it's at. Get a group of friends and start your dynasty. With recruiting against each other can make or break who comes to your school. Will you land the 5 star athletes or will your friend? The recruiting process is much easier than last year. It's as simple as pressing X but you still have to pick and choose what to do which will depends on how the athlete likes your school and what he wants to attend for. Of course you play for the BCS, if you're good enough you may be invited to a bowl game, or worst case scenario just sent packing till next year. It all depends on how you perform and if you're better than your buddies. It's basically the single player dynasty but online and it is deep and a ton of fun. Especially if you are Ohio State and one of your buddies is Michigan. You could be playing for the Big Ten and bragging rights.

Campus legend this year is BORING. I don't think they touched the mode, and as a matter of fact they might have even scratched some features and options. You start with the high school playoffs and your play depends on your star caliber and then from 1-5 stars depends on what schools want to sign you. Just as last year, if you are not a starter you may do practices to earn respect. Being successful will earn your way to the role of starter with some impressive outings. You also must keep your GPA up but this is done by doing a night event which you have 4 options. Go to library, go to gym, study playbook or visit trainer. On the field of play, everything is very simple and you are only available to play in the downs you are involved in. Audible plays are all preset so either you run the play given or audible and try to hot route what you want to do. Unfortunately there is not very many hot route or audible options. That is the downfall if you could set your audibles, you may find more success in play calling, but it does make sense in the fact that you are the player and not the coach or coordinator.

All and all, NCAA Football 09 has improved from last year but still has its faults. The major key additions they mention in press, and on the back of the box, are evident, but it seems they cut a few things to make those new features possible. In the end you can't go wrong if you are a fan of the game. Just don't expect to be wowed by any aspect except the online and offline dynasty modes as they have shown the most attention to features in the game. The rest is just window dressing.