10 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 7, 2041 AT
EA S o' lts peret c lg o tall or Playstation2
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By Mat Grandstaff
Weekend, Etc. Editor
For many years, EA's college football games have
always taken a backseat to their NFL super-franchise,
"Madden NFL Football." Fortunately, the college
series' leap to the Playstation 2 ,"NCAA Football
2002," matches the gameplay of experience of "Mad-
den" while creating the best college football game
ever.
The most exciting element of "NCAA 2002" is the
ridiculous amount of replay value in its dynasty mode.
This mode allows you and up to 11
friends to take your favorite uni-
Grade: A versity through 30 seasons. So
NCAA while the flawless gameplay is
amazing, the action off the field is
Football just as exciting.
2002 Through updating the BCS, top
25, players of the week, the Heis-
Playstation 2 man Trophy and more, garners
experience the same dilemmas Bob
EA Stoops or Lloyd Carr go through.
In addition to a plethora of sea-
son stats and rankings, "NCAA Football 2002" fea-
tures an outstanding recruiting system. As the coach
of your favorite team, during the off-season you must
replace your seniors and players who leap to the NFL
early (tip: if you have a quarterback controversy, such
as Simms and Applewhite of Texas, go with the older
guy so the other will not leave early). The recruiting is
especially interesting as you are given a certain
amount of points, based on prestige and previous sea-
sons, to go out and recruit the best players in the
nation.
While the gameplay and depth of "NCAA Football
2002" are top-notch, the game's breathtaking visuals
and sounds make the game the next best thing to
being at the stadium. There is something spectacular
about seeing the Wolverines' winged helmets glisten
in the sun and hearing Notre Dame's fight song
through the power of the Playstation 2.
While not exciting for Wolverine fans, the game
also features authentic mascots like Michigan State's
Sparty (booo!), Ohio State's Brutus (hiss) and Iowa's
Herkey the Hawkeye (What the hell is a hawkeye).
Also adding to the fun, though sometimes repetitive
and annoying, are the clever and insightful commen-
tary by Kurt Herbstreit, Brad Nessler and Lee Corso.
Aside from outstanding atmospheres and sounds,
the game also makes great strides in realism on the
field. No longer is the game saturated with ridiculous
one hand grabs and unrealistic tackles. In "NCAA
2002," the game features more spectacular tackles,
two hand catches and special animations for keeping
your feet in bounds.
Even though "NCAA 2002" has many great aspects,
there are few annoying things that keep the game from
perfection. First, in default settings, the game does not
call enough penalties, and when it does, they are often
bullshit calls. The game often calls roughing the kick-
er when a player is simply blocking the punter from
tackling the return man.
Speaking of punt coverage, the game completely
lacks it. Unless you select punt block (which doubles
the chance of being flagged), return men like Ron
Bellamy and Keenan Howry will get jacked on almost
every return.
The only other troubling aspect of the game is the
face animations of the players. Similar to "Madden
2001" on PS2, the faces of the players have freaky
eyes that more closely resemble the raptors from
"Jurassic Park." Hopefully next year's game will
improve on these odd animations as "Madden 2002
already has.
Finally, with the help of a computer and Interact's
Dexport, garners can finally put all of the players'
names into "NCAA Football 2002." Rather than see-
ing that No. 4 for Michigan is the No. 1 receiver in
the country, the game will actually show Marquise
Walker.
Additionally, the in game commentary will often
actually say the name. This available addition shows
that EA Sports means business in making the most
authentic sports' games, and they do not get any better
than this one. See you at the Rose Bowl.
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6
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Courtesy of EA
It's all about action in "NCAA Football 2002," the latest from
Playstation 2.
Courtesy of EA
Realistic tackles and grabs are a few of the highlights in this
new game.
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ENDLESS
Safire offers expose in novel,
telling tale of historical scandal
By Louie Meizlish
Daily Arts Writer
William Safire's "Scandalmonger"
tells the tale of James Thomson Cal-
lender, initially a Jeffersonian-republi-
can journalist, who exposed Treasury
Scandalmonger
William Safire
Grade: A-
Harcourt
Secretary
Alexander
Hamilton's mari-
tal infidelities
and thus pre-
vented him from
seeking the pres-
idency in 1800.
Although
Safire invents a
little dialogue to
liven up the
story and fill in
the gaps left by
old letters, news-
papers and
president, not receiving a coveted
postmastership. He decides that the
shoe stinks no matter which foot it's
on, that power corrupts republicans
(not to be confused with modern day
Republicans) and Federalists alike,
and that he must expose wrongdoers,
whoever they are.
What makes Safire great at what he
4 does is his ability to brilliantly portray
the changing mindset of the various
characters, such as how Callender
turns on the Jeffersonians and how
they turn on him (and how they both
justify these things). The writing skills
of the New York Times columnist and
former Nixon speechwriter, who has
also written several books on the Eng-
lish language, are not lost on the read-
er.
This is how he describes Virginia
Gov. James Monroe's realization, at
Jefferson's plantation, that Callender's
accusations of Jefferson fathering
children with slaves, might be true:
"'The alert, fine-looking boy bore no
special resemblance to Jefferson, the
Governor decided, other than the light
skin. And the red hair. And the self-
{":{: ; i.
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hoo
I
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Student Union - Lower Level
debate transcripts, the novel really is a
work of history.
If you feel like you miss a little of
the scandal that always seemed to be
around under the Clinton administra-
tion, this book will provide you with
your fix.
Callender frequently claims that it
is not Hamilton's private affairs that
he is after. Rather, it is Hamilton's
association with two speculators who
purchase state .debt (at one-tenth of
the printed value) from the original
bondholders who believe (with just
cause) that the certificates will never
be redeemed. When the federal gov-
ernment decides to assume the debts
of the states, these certificates become
a bonanza for the new owners.
During the Congressional investiga-
tion, Hamilton admits to an affair
(although crying blackmail), but Cal-
lender suspects that this is just a ploy
to fend off the charges of insider trad-
ing. In any event, the insider trading
charges don't stick but Hamilton is
too embarrassed to run for president.
Callender is given credit for Hamil-
ton's political demise.
But eventually Callender decides
he's sacrificed enough and not reaped
the benefits for towing the republican
line - including spending time in jail
for violating the Federalist's Sedition
Act and, after Jefferson is elected
assured, languid way of carrying him-
self."
Other than being a good read, the
book also serves as a good history
book, because although Safire does
take certain liberties with history
(such as shifting dates around and
converting written correspondence
into conversational dialogue), he con-
veys the drama and the importance of
the events more effectively than a text-
book.
The two big scandals in the book,
those of the adversaries Jefferson and
Hamilton, bear a strong resemblance
to the Clinton impeachment scandal.
The Hamilton scandal begins as only a
Congressional inquiry into financial
dealings by a leading politician, but
becomes ten times messier with Cal-
lender's Drudge Report-esque publi-
cization of the affair. Jefferson, like
Clinton, always seems to have an abil-
ity to skirt controversy no matter how
many things go wrong.
For example, "Despite all the suspi-
cions of preachers about his supposed
atheism; despite the sea change of
opinion in America that turned against
the bloodthirsty French radicals; and
despite the growing distaste in the
North at the way the author of 'all
men created equal' continued to sup-
port human slavery -the President
seemed to float above it all. Why?"
It almost sounds as if the Comeback
Kid took a time warp to serve as Jef-
ferson's image adviser.
The strongest criticism that can be
leveled against Safire is that he some-
times has too many characters
involved in too many different sub-
plots at once. But this is a minor
point, since some of the side stories
are quite informative and entertain-
ing. One of these subplots has Callen-
der's Federalist nemesis and
publishing rival William Cobbett
advising him not to have renowned
physician Benjamin Rush or any of
his colleagues operate on his wife.
The advice is disregarded, the opera-
tion is performed and Dr. Rush's col-
league bleeds Mrs. Callender to
death.
Then as now, the soundest advice
usually comes from one's political
enemies.
0
Courtesy of Harcourt
William Safire brings out the scandal in
his new novel "Scandalmonger."
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