Dynasty Depth

Long ago, the most that an aspiring coach could hope for in a video game was a full-season mode that included a Superbowl win or college national championship. Now, career modes for sports games are a given, but how deep do the best of them actually go? In NCAA® Football 06, the answer is as far as you want. Don't believe me? Here's a quick look at the highlights from this college football sim's Dynasty Mode.

Strike a pose—a Heisman pose.

Make it Your Own
There's no doubt that many will immediately ally themselves with their hometown high school or college alma mater. For those that wish to get even more personal, or don't have an allegiance to a particular school, build your very own college football program complete with the following:

• School Colors: Choose your school's primary colors and coordinate your home, away, and two alternate uniforms, all the way down to the color of the socks.
• Details: Pick the name of your school, nickname of the team, the state, the city, the rival school, and even pinpoint your hometown on the map.
• Stadium: Build your own stadium, whether it's a traditional bowl, a horseshoe-shaped affair, a two-sider like most smaller schools, or even a dome. Choose the locations of the scoreboard and video screen, pick a place for the press box, select the team logos, and lay down the field surface.
• Mascot: Want to make your own school, but dig the leprechaun from Notre Dame? No problem! Choose from all the major college mascots, or even browse a selection of non-partisan mascots designed specifically for the game.

Slicing through the defense.

Recruiting
The first couple of seasons in Dynasty Mode are great fun, but a sense of satisfaction pervades the later years when your earlier recruits begin to bear fruit for the franchise. Throughout each season of your dynasty, you spend time recruiting the next wave of talent on a weekly basis. It's simple, easy, fun, and quite beneficial in the long run. Perhaps more importantly, it gives you a personal stake in the high-talent players that end up joining the team. They're more than faceless stat machines when you put this much time into them.

Discipline
Of course, every once in a while, your precious players rise up and demonstrate a certain disdain for the rules. On the field or off, it's still your responsibility. It happens all over the country in real college football, and disciplinary problems are represented in NCAA Football 06as well. You need to manage the punishment to fit the needs of your team while still appeasing the NCAA. Go too soft and you'll likely receive sanctions; cast too hard a penalty and you may cost yourself a crucial game (and, perhaps, a bowl invitation).

And stay down!

You're the Coach
Have fun playing the games, but you're the head coach of the team, and whatever fate awaits your squad at the end of the season is your fate as well. Play a top-ranked team that goes from national acclaim to division obscurity in one year, and you'll likely be given your walking papers. Guide an unranked small school into national exposure and a solid bowl game, and you might be offered a job at a more prestigious institution!

Sports Illustrated
A pinnacle in the athletic world is the cover of Sports Illustrated (better to be the guy breaking a tackle for a long gain, not the poor sap clutching at air after a blatant miss), andNCAA Football 06 offers exactly that. Each week, new covers and major stories will appear in-game for your perusal. Achieve great things and you'll be immortalized on the cover. It's not a fleeting one-week honor, either—you can look back at the archives whenever you choose.

Dynasty Mode has always been solid with the NCAAfranchise, and this year is no different. As always with EA SPORTS™, it's bigger, better, and more refined than ever!

By Alex McLain