Daily Staff Writer

“NCAA Gamebreaker ’99”

Sony Playstation

With the recent end of the college football season, there are few options available to the fans out there whose gridiron hunger has not yet been satisfied.

One of the most reasonable is to play a little pigskin yourself. Unfortunately, tossing the football around in the backyard doesn’t exactly impart the thrills of a Saturday afternoon at Jack Trice.

What’s even more unfortunate is that the latest throng of football games available for your Nintendo 64 or Playstation are even less thrilling.

“NCAA Gamebreaker ’99,” Sony’s latest college edition, is a prime example.

One of the prettiest football games I’ve ever seen, “Gamebreaker” is right on schedule when it comes to graphics and sound.

The Sony crew has effectively recreated the uniforms of all 112 Division 1A college football teams and has even thrown in the stadiums for good measure.

Jack Trice Stadium is beautifully recreated, right down to the Jacobson Building. It’s even filled to capacity for every game, a rarity true Cyclone fans will enjoy, if not believe.

In addition to researching the stadiums and uniforms, the developers also did an excellent job of scouting the teams.

In fact, most of the players are true-to-form. Iowa State’s D-line is quick, but undersized, the O-line is injury-prone and most games come down to Darren Davis’ ability to run the ball.

There are some mistakes, of course. For example, Davis has unbelievable breakaway speed and Dustin Avey is a large, angry black man who constantly delivers punishing blows.

The value of any video football simulator ultimately comes down to its gameplay, and this is where “Gamebreaker” undeniably drops the ball.

For starters, there are a number of ridiculous mistakes players tend to make that could have been eliminated with 15 minutes of testing.

Punt returners automatically catch the ball, regardless of where it goes. Though current wisdom would advise against fielding a punt in tight coverage at your own one-yard line, Kevin Wilson can’t seem to avoid it.

In addition, the competition level is a little erratic. Though it was fun consistently pummeling the likes of Kansas State and Miami, it was somewhat disheartening to realize that any team could seemingly beat any other in any game.

The biggest problems, however, came when trying to play offense or defense.

On the defensive side, the majority of your players lack any semblance of intelligence. They don’t move to the ball, their pursuit angles are ridiculous and they don’t react to the offense.

The defensive backs tend to provide tight coverage, but opposing quarterbacks could thread the ball through a stone wall.

The only thing that saves your “D” is the fact that tackling couldn’t be easier — just come within three or four yards of the ball carrier.

Offense is where the realism truly suffers.

As in every football game, running the ball works only if you have a speed back and run sweeps. Sending Davis between the tackles never works. In fact, sending Ricky Williams between the tackles never works.

Passing the ball in “Gamebreaker ’99” is perhaps the greatest exercise in frustration.

Like the opposition, your quarterback always puts the ball on target. Unfortunately, coming up with a catch is completely random. You’re just as likely to haul down a deep throw in quadruple coverage as you are to make an easy snag in the flat.

The biggest frustration in the passing game, however, is the inability of the quarterback to even get rid of the ball.

Just dropping back and throwing from behind your blockers is impossible for a number of reasons.

For starters, every other thrown ball is batted down. Also, the defense breaks through so easily and the QB takes so long to throw that sacks are constant.

Rolling out is only a little better. The game provides the ability to throw either lofted or bullet passes, which ultimately sticks you between a rock and a hard place.

Overall, “NCAA Gamebreaker ’99” fails in the main aspect in which it needs to succeed. It looks and sounds like college football, but the play itself is far from realistic.

2 stars out of five

— Ron DeMarse

“Crash Bandicoot: Warped”

Sony Playstation

College life is exciting, but it just got better with the release of “Crash Bandicoot: Warped” for Sony Playstation.

Fun levels and excellent graphics make for great entertainment on those snowy nights when going out just isn’t an option.

The premier element that makes this game so much fun is variety.

In some levels, Crash is running. But he doesn’t always run in the same direction. He could run from left to right, but in other levels, you see his back as he runs away from the screen or the front of him as he is running toward you.

At other times, when Crash and his sidekick Coco are not swimming or running, they are riding something.

A jet sub, motorcycle, bi-plane, jet ski, Pura the tiger and the T-Rex are the different modes of transportation used by Crash and Coco.

The game is a challenge — not insanely difficult or so easy it’s cheesy. You can figure it out without having to follow along with the instruction booklet word for word.

Other variety the game provides is the moves that Crash can do.

The tornado-like spin move he does to break open boxes and kill bad guys is addicting to use and looks and sounds cool.

The way he jumps varies from level to level and changes things up a bit.

“Crash Bandicoot” is a fun challenge and easy to look at — a great way to take a break from studying and still keep your brain working.

4 1/2 stars out of five

— Kyle Moss