''College Football USA 97'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

of the

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

genre released in 1996 by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

. Its cover athlete is former

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

quarterback

Tommie Frazier Tommie James Frazier Jr. (born July 16, 1974) is an American former college football player who was a quarterback for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football, Nebraska Cornhuskers. He earned consensus College Football All-America Team, All-American ...

Gameplay

''College Football USA 97'' added a feature for creating up to 28 new players and designing custom schedules, and also adds new animations and features players from all 111 Division I-A teams. Players can also compete in a special Tournament which supports up to 16 players participating in a single-elimination format or a round robin format. Players can also adjust the settings for penalties, can set the weather type, enter their own user records, perform player substitutions, set the audibles, toggle the injuries, and change the game length, as well as the difficulty level. The game also makes available authentic playbooks (including plays such as the Wishbone), and a USA Today/CNN Coaches Poll, as well as the Sears National Championship Trophy.

Release

''College Football USA 97'' is the fourth game in the ''

NCAA Football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

'' series. While the game was published for the Mega Drive by EA Sports as usual, the Super NES version was instead published by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

Contest

In the third quarter of 1996 EA Sports conducted a ''College Football '97'' tour, in which they visited top colleges, holding a competition using the Genesis version of the game. The top four teams were flown to New Orleans in January 1997 to attend both the finals and the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

. The winning team in the finals was awarded a trophy, a video game system of their choice, and a collection of EA Sports games.

Reception

Reviews for this installment were still positive, but reviewers generally commented that the additions and improvements from ''College Football USA '96'' are too subtle, and advised gamers who already owned the previous installment to carefully consider how important the new features are to them before purchasing. However, ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' called the Super NES port "a complete gridiron debacle. Players fly around the field - except for the man with the ball, whose movements slow down and become jerky. The frame rate and animation are poor (the players look armless), and the sound features the most obnoxious whistle in sports gaming history." They rated it a 1.5 out of 5 in graphics and a 0.5 in every other category (sound, control, and fun factor), making it only the second game to receive a 0.5 or lower from ''GamePro'' in any category.

References

External links

1996 video games College football video games EA Sports College Football EA Tiburon games Electronic Arts games High Score Productions games Multiplayer and single-player video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in the United States {{Amfoot-videogame-stub