In NCAA Football 08, players look to be a leader and become a legend on the field. With all-new Leadership Control, players now lead by example and control the action on the field and can increase their sphere of influence by improving their players’ personal ratings on each big play. For the first time, the game features a new and deeper recruiting system and an all-new Campus Legend mode. [Electronic Arts]

Is there anything else that really needs saying? It’s American football, it’s the college circuit, it’s Electronic Arts, it’s the latest annual revamp, it’s full price, it’s gonna sell by the bucket load, nothing ever changes.

Activision may have recently knocked Electronic Arts of its leading third-party publisher pedestal but that’s unlikely to see EA suddenly change its content approach to one that exudes more originality. No, you can bet your easily-parted bottom dollar that the usual sway of annual sporting updates will still be here in 2008, bulging out EA’s coffers. What’s more, you can be fairly certain that Activision won’t hold the mantle for very long.

However, back to NCAA Football 08… While Madden purists may frown and All-Pro Football 2K8 fans may scoff, there’s little doubting the national pride and popularity invested in the college iteration of American football, which is exactly why EA pushes out NCAA every year. Sure, it may look like Madden, it may even play like Madden, but the college rivalries are perhaps even more intense than those in the NFL, and the series’ fanbase and retail popularity certainly showcases that.

So, what’s NCAA Football 08 on the PS3 got to offer that NCAA Football 07 perhaps didn’t – apart from a new number in its title? Let the gaming critics duly outline the collective pros and cons for you now as GamerSquad invites you to peruse its wide-ranging NCAA Football 08 review round-up.

Spend or Lend.

90% - Games Radar - "Sporting a beautiful look and feel and more modes than you can shake a stick at, it’ll cure your football fever all season long."

80% - GameSpot - "Even though a lot of what's new is a bit rough around the edges, NCAA Football 08 is a great game with a lot to offer.

78% - IGN - "Running at 30 frames per second and only 720p makes this a graphically inferior title to the 360 version of the game, which is truly unfortunate, since the game is quite good otherwise."

76% - GameZone - "Suspect AI decisions can make for a frustrating experience, though. The controls are fine, but the SIXAXIS is not well used."

58% - CheatCodeCentral - "I just wish that it looked a little nicer, and there was more depth of gameplay added to the Campus Legend mode."

Verdict: Lend (Spend on the Xbox 360 version).

Footage provided by GameTrailers.com.