I've long tried to escape the idea of EA's NCAA Football franchise being last year's model with a collegiate paint job. The series has never had the glitzy glamour or notoriety of Madden, but still managed to deliver an experience for fans, like myself, who enjoy the college game over the pros. While NCAA Football 10 provides a solid game, this is the first year I really felt like I was playing "last year's model."

Whether it's Mike the Tiger's pre-game trip around LSU's Tiger Stadium or USC's Trojan Chariot, college football is more about "the show" than the game. With the exception of a few mascot celebrations and a generic band on the field during pre-game, NCAA 10 falls short of presenting a college atmosphere. Yeah, teams and stadiums are as authentic as they come, but both feel devoid of the excitement found in a typical game. Why does a home game against a non-conference cupcake carry the same level of excitement as the Red River Shootout? Even more disappointing, some of these features were part of the game, but for whatever reason haven't found their way into the HD era.

Commentary could easily take care of some of these issues, but it comes off as flat and uninspiring. Once again, you have ESPN's College Gameday Crew offering play-by-play, but the presentation is dull. A certain level of "generic" is expected, but some of the comments seem completely out of place.

On the technical side, the presentation has been tweaked and cleaned up, but there are no major overhauls. Animation is smoother and most of the awkward transitional hiccups are gone. Players sometimes seem a little too light, though I'm willing to chalk it up to the speed of the college game. I'd still like to see something like Euphoria tossed in, but overall I like how NCAA 10 looks... I just wish EA would push the college feel more.

Dynasty Mode is NCAA 10's core play mode and lets you run every aspect of a program. The Mode offers a lot for hardcore fans, but runs the risk of getting too big. You can easily lose thirty minutes combing through various menus, half of which is wasted tinkering with the counterintuitive control scheme. On one hand, there's an effort to get the most out of the controller layout, but cycling through positions, players and states feels odd. The Left Trigger cycles through teams and the Right Trigger goes through positions. If you happen to cycle past something you were looking for, you need to go back around to the beginning instead of simply cycling back. I eventually figured out holding one of the buttons pulls up a drop-down menu, but this was only because of a lucky slip of the finger.

On the plus side, NCAA 10 offers loads of information when recruiting players, but also runs the risk of crushing players with menus and information. I had a few NFL Head Coach flashbacks, which is not a good thing. The only time its really worth it to not automate the process is when you're playing in an Online Dynasty and competing against other players for certain recruits.

Dynasty is further cheapened by the inclusion of micro-transactions. If you have Microsoft Points to burn, you can purchase new pipeline states and other items that would normally take time to develop and earn. EA isn't forcing you to purchase these items, but it cheapens the experience for those who would rather work through the game.

If it ended with Dynasty, I wouldn't have as big a problem with micro-transactions, but they also show up in another of NCAA 10's signature modes, Road to Glory. This is essentially last year's Campus Legend Mode; you create a character and play through their career from high school to the NFL. The difference is that now Erin Andrews is narrating your journey. The fun here is to build up a character and earn a top spot at a major college. Or, if you'd rather, you can spend some cash and purchase a 5-star player, once again stealing any value from the experience.

Player purchasing aside, Road to Glory is a fun mode and offers the type of experience the rest of the game should. The vignettes with Erin Andrews add the spark and style missing from the rest of the game.

Season Showdown is a new mode and probably one of the more interesting additions to any sports franchise. Once you sign up (choose carefully, you can only sign up with one team), every game you play online and off goes towards a larger pool of points for your school's total. I'm still a little fuzzy on what it means in the long run, but its cool. There's a number of way to earn points, though the boundaries for on-field achievements aren't clear.

Determining difficulty is always tricky with sports titles. There are so many sliders, options, and setting to go through that games can be as easy or hard as you want. The default settings will give casual veterans a challenging game, while hardcore players will want to up A.I. sliders and try harder difficulty settings. Once you begin a game, you can always change things up, so you're never locked into anything. You can't change everything, but if players are missing too many balls or it looks like its raining yellow flags, you can adjust the settings.

With NCAA 10, it looks like EA is trying to make the game more approachable for everyone. The "Ask Corso" option is back, where the game will suggest plays. Even if you think the difference between a Nickel and Dime package is five cents, I would advise against going with Corso's picks. They aren't all bad, but he picks some bum plays. Another option is Family Play, which cuts down on the number of plays and reduces the controls to one button and a control stick. I like the intent behind Family Play, but it is too simplified. You can only throw to one player and he usually isn't the best choice. I could see reducing the number of options to just the face buttons, but the one button method made games harder.

Though it falls short in presentation, gameplay is as solid as ever. Both sides of the ball are vastly improved over last year's version. There are still a few minor goofs (good receivers will still drop really easy balls), but overall gameplay is incredibly tight. On offense, more players will break through tackles, though there are still a number of silly clipping issues. Players also have a tendency to run out of bounds when playing along the sidelines even when there's no reason for the extra steps.

Defense usually struggles with each release, but this year it felt more consistent than ever. It's harder to break long runs and players will jam up passing routes, so going for long bombs requires more attention. You can't just drop back and heave it up; you have to watch for open men and hope a defender doesn't sneak past your blocker. My only complaint is once the QB is hit it doesn't seem like there is much of a chance to toss the ball. Once he's touched, he's down.

Between halves and during time-outs you can make sideline adjustments to your offensive and defensive gameplans. If it looks like a team is picking up on your blitzes and burning you on long passes, you can opt for a less aggressive defensive scheme.

The "lock-on" camera from last year's Campus Legend Mode returns, but is now available in every mode. It's optional, but really helps if you're trying to target a specific player or want to get close to the action when using the hit stick. However, using the camera will limit your options; you may miss certain routes or openings because you can't see them. In other words, make sure you're committed to a certain action before switching it on.

NCAA Football 10 is a solid game of football, but a weak representation of college football. If you go back to the series' last few PS2/ Xbox offerings, it really seemed like it was heading in the right direction. As silly as features like shaking the screen/ camera for homefield advantage were, they were incredibly entertaining and, more importantly, got the point. With the jump to new systems, the game has sort of fallen off into just another football game.

Despite its shortcomings, NCAA Football 10 is worth picking up. The gameplay improvements open up loads of new strategies and options. At the same time, it is still one Lee Corso comment away from becoming last year's lifeless model.