“NCAA Football 10″
Genre: Sports
Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: EA Sports
Platforms: PlayStations 2 and 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360
ESRB rating: “E” for everyone
Price: $59.99
Grade: C

With EA Sports’ new “NCAA Football 10,” one thing becomes abundantly clear: It’s the game on the field that matters. Everything else is just cosmetic.

Game Guy says this because EA Sports seems to think otherwise. This year, the franchise is so loaded down with non-essential items that first-time players might wonder where the game is under all that makeup.

For example, “NCAA Football 10″ features a new Season Showdown mode, in which players accumulate credits for national recognition online. It was nice of EA to include skill, sportsmanship and strategy, and not just wins, in the overall scoring, so that small colleges can rank just as high as big universities. Watching your alma mater rise in the rankings against the likes of USC and Florida ought to be thrilling.

But there’s no cash prize, new car or official national recognition awarded to the overall winner at season’s end — the only logical motivations for a contest with such broad scope. As for the argument then that school pride is at stake, well … remember, we’re talking virtual football. Reality always trumps fantasy.

Another layer of lipstick slathered on “NCAA Football 10″ comes in the form of ESPN broadcaster Erin Andrews, otherwise known as eye candy for the sweat set. She’s the face stamped on Road to Glory, a flashier version of the Campus Legend mode in which players can chart the progress of their virtual athletes from bench rider to Heisman Trophy winner. Andrews was added to trumpet those accomplishments in a virtual TV broadcast, which is a plus only for those folks who like drooling over Andrews.

On that, our apologies to Andrews, who has proven to be a talented and knowledgeable sportscaster in the real world. But frankly, if you never take the Road to Glory, you’ll probably still find your way to a championship.

Lastly, there’s the mascara, or TeamBuilder feature, where players can create a whole league of their own, right down to the color of the elbow tape. “NCAA Football 10″ provides room for 12 new teams right out of the box, with 13 additional team slots available free to people who pre-ordered the game. This is the kind of feature that tweaks the fashion designer in all of us, but isn’t necessary and certainly doesn’t improve one’s ability to mastermind a miracle on fourth and long.

In short, “NCAA Football 10″ is a beautiful game, wonderfully rendered and every bit as exciting to play as last year’s edition. But if playing football is your priority, you probably won’t miss it.