Video games are a huge industry that is always on the swing. Every year we have multiple titles from multiple genres gracing our consoles and PCs allowing us to enjoy virtual worlds, outer space exploration and so much more.
Without any doubt, the biggest contenders are always sports games, simulation games and shooters in their forms. The article today is concerning sports titles and a football part of it. We all know2 about the popularity of the NFL titles across the platforms but what we rarely hear about are the College Football games. Before you ask anything, yes there are plenty of us who would like a title like that in a newer edition.
College football video games are unfortunately a thing of the past for now. There have been talks of developers like EA Sports bringing back college sports games in a few years.
Back in the day, before betting on March madness or even the national title game in college football was available from your phone, fans could pretend to play these games on their consoles for bragging rights. Below you can see which games were defining moments during their time. For additional information, you can visit insidersbettingdigest.com.
1. Bill Walsh College Football 1995
Bill Walsh was a solid introduction into the world of college football video games and some nostalgic notes for many. This was the first year that it was officially licensed, so teams showed their real name.
As a Sega release, it did not have the best graphics or mostly any other features to warrant a playthrough years later. But, it was more of a milestone in getting other developers to build an outstanding college football game over time.
This was also the first college football game with a season mode on it. After completing the season, players could retain their stats and not just end it with a tournament.
2. GameBreaker 1998
During the early days of college sports video games, several years’ worth of production allowed the market to adjust to what fans wanted. The first introduced games were hit titles like Bill Walsh College Football and College Football’s National Championship.
Another memorable title during that stretch was EA’s NCAA Football ’98, which allowed players to guide a team through four seasons. Recruiting was a huge factor in that game, which helped shape the history of EA’s approach.
However, GameBreaker had given EA a run for its money in 1998. This game had a much-improved graphics engine and included several features that other games had not yet established.
The additional features, such as 112 Division I-A teams, complete rosters, music from the marching band, and roughly 2,000 plays, gave fans an overall playing experience. Thanks to GameBreaker NCAA titles from now on became much, much better and pretty much took over the franchise. EA can get stung once, and that is it. They learn from their mistakes and when they learn, you can expect that they will be on top of their game every time after that.
3. EA’s NCAA Football 2002
EA Sports had their first jump from the PlayStation one to the new PlayStation two. This brought improved graphics in a heartbeat but lacked some key features.
Still, they had an improved Dynasty mode that rivalled popular NFL games at the time. This was also the first time that fans of the sport got an immersive experience while playing the game.
The game’s newest additions included commentary from Brad Nessler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso. The background featured cheerleaders, mascots, and bands. Also, the AI was much better and made more sound decisions. It all played well with each other and you got to truly immerse yourself into the game, as you should.
They also had a great recruiting process that broke down every detail of landing a top player. It also showed the budgets of schools and how much they could spend on trying to recruit talent.
4. EA’s NCAA Football 2008
From 2002 to 2008, in EA’s ability to make solid games, you can expect each year to be better than the last. NCAAF 2008 was another one of those great years.
Campus Legends was a new feature that showed your player in high school trying to navigate through high school playoffs. You specifically had to control your player and did not have much say in what the team did.
Another new feature was the automation of the playbook. This gave a new look to moving the ball and gave the quarterback more purpose to make plays.
5. EA’s NCAA Football 2014
This game was nearly a completed classic for EA’s line of college football games. Having new additions like the Ultimate Team allowed players to learn new controls in the triple option, and zone reading was more enjoyable.
The game also allowed you to enjoy classic versions of various teams, rivalries, and past players. So you could play like a legend like Deion Sanders or Bo Jackson and build yourself a team of legends.
Expansive playbooks were also a very impressive addition. If you picked the Florida Gators, you could tell a huge difference in their playstyle versus a team like Navy and what plays to consider on offence. This was arguably the best one that EA has ever made, but hopefully, they can create some magic again someday in this space.
As you can see there has been several of these titles and according to information available to everyone, they had huge success. If you are looking for a reason to make a new title then you have one. The last EA official NCAA title was in 2014 and it was revolutionary in so many ways, and it had a huge fan base. Why EA gave up on making another one we do not know for sure, but we are hoping that they will jump aboard and satisfy this part of the sports fans with a brand-new title.
We are so eager to see the NCAA again in new design, new graphics and other additions that will make this part of football great again.
The fan base is there meaning there will be money from sales, we are all eager and awaiting and we all hope that we will not wait for too long!
