NCAA Football 07
Jul 19, 2006
To the general public, Madden is EA's top football franchise. But we've recently found NCAA Football to be consistently more entertaining and a better model of the game overall. That continues as NCAA Football 07 debuts the series on the Xbox 360. It's a far more robust and enjoyable showing than Madden offered. The dynasty mode is mostly intact and factors in the old college spirit. In a contest limited only to the football available on the 360, NCAA wins hands down. But that doesn't mean that it's an uncontested win.
The actual gameplay is much the same as what you'll find on current gen consoles. Controls have been tweaked somewhat to push sprinting and laterals to the triggers, and the face buttons quickly juke and dive while carrying. There's an option to jump the snap, which can give defenders a slight edge or incur a penalty, depending on your timing. Special teams get more detailed and trick plays, and defenders even have a cool third-person pressure option to derail a kick.
The AI isn't staggering -- any Madden or previous NCAA vet will tear up the CPU -- but the framework is excellent for playing friends.
Previous NCAA releases have attempted to implement a change in on-field fortunes when the crowd goes with or against the team. Whether that's a real-world factor or not, it's one of the series' primary differentiating factors.
For 07 the system has been dramatically streamlined. A meter now represents momentum onscreen; bungle some plays and it will fall, make a few great passes or push a remarkable turnover and it can skyrocket. In that case, your players will be a bit faster and harder to take down. In a game that leans toward simulation the momentum push feels very arcade, sometimes glaringly so. But it definitely adds an extra level of competition that can really rub your skills in a friend's face.
As is frequently the case, EA's presentation is solid. The menus are now nested, making navigation much easier, especially in Dynasty Mode. When you select your favorite team, images of the school and its fans will become the background wallpaper. It's good looking stuff, and noticeably better than the current gen release.
So why does EA insist on using the same clunky save system that prompts you through several screens to make a simple save? NCAA is a game meant to appeal to a huge audience, but the simple mechanics of saving remain needlessly complex. When almost every aspect of presentation is next-gen, the save system is anything but.
In-game, all pertinent info is delivered cleanly, and the new dynamic camera angles between plays add a lot to the broadcast-style presentation. The close-ups of players are dramatic, and the persistent details impressive: dirt and grass stains and scuffs will mar helmets and pads. The stadiums and fans are also better than anything we've seen in sports on the 360 to date, much less on other consoles.
That doesn't mean the appearance is without flaws. Some of the beauty is only skin deep. Too often players look all alike, and move alike, too. You'll frequently see a line of four players all running the same animation, and sometimes aimlessly bumping into each other after plays. The included animations are often quite good, especially when it comes to tackles and dives. But we'd like to see more variety, especially with the thin roster of player models. The impeccable stadiums and much improved audiences are undercut by the homogenous players.
Also disappointing is the simplification of the deep Career and Dynasty modes. The Career and associated Race for the Heisman storyline are gone, as is the option to create a school. NCAA 07 is limited to existing institutions, which is very sad, given the potential for showing off your own school via Xbox Live and the extra detail possible on the 360. That's not to say that dynasties are empty in 07 -- in the 30 years covered by each Dynasty, there's in-season recruiting and loads of coaching options, and totally revamped playbooks that feel a lot more faithful than before.
Instead of the school creation and Race For The Heisman modes, this version of NCAA tosses three mini-games into the mix. They're entertaining when played head to head, but we'd prefer the deeper value of the modes cut from this release.
Even with cuts made to the major game modes, NCAA 07 looks like a total triumph compared to the neutered Madden released last year for the Xbox 360. And it's definitely a fun, respectable game. But it needs to be more than that to really keep our attention; even the graphics bump might not be enough to make you ditch the current gen versions or (shh!) Take 2's efforts.