Gameplay : 8.5 | Graphics : 8.4 | Longevity : 7.3 | Presentation : 6.2 | Sound : 8.0 | Overall : 7.7 Posted by AndyP

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Review by Damon :

We all have had high expectations for NCAA 07 as EA’s first football title on the 360 (Madden 06) lacked the features that we all had come accustomed to in previous installments.

Did EA deliver with NCAA 07? My answer would be yes.

Did it blow me away? Yes and No – read on

The gameplay in NCAA 07 is outstanding. So much so that one could overlook other aspects of the game that aren’t where we hoped they would be. The player movement and feel is amazing and a huge improvement from Madden 06. Everything seems to flow flawlessly. There are some collision detection problems that I have noticed get in the way at times. One example is you may have a receiver running a route with a DB behind or beside him. As the ball is thrown the receiver will slow down or almost stop as if the DB grabbed his jersey. Others are on tackles that happen when the defender is still to far away to make the tackle but the ball carrier goes down anyway. I haven’t seen many of these and it hasn’t been enough to bother me or take away from the game enough to worry about.

I had some problems in Madden 06 with the play calling and audible system on the field feeling clunky and unresponsive. This is not the case with NCAA 07. I am able to switch players, shift my line and coverage audible without any issues whatsoever. The hot route system on offense is new and it works great. You have a lot more routes to choose from but you actually cycle through the players and then choose their hot route. This will cut down a lot on the players that like to hot route every player when they come to the line of scrimmage.

The running game is good and I am enjoying it. I have seen no problems. I am able to gain yards between the tackles and outside the tackles. It doesn’t seem too easy or too hard. They have now added a small juke button since last year with the juke being on the right stick there was no way to perform a quick juke. Now by hitting “A” you can perform that move again. I have seen some great running back animations using the truck stick and have also seen the RB makes some cool moves on his own. The “legs churning to get a few extra yards” is a nice addition and I have only seen it in the right situations. If you are taking the back strait on with a LB it doesn’t seem to happen which is how it should be. If you hit a RB from the side he may pull off a few extra yards with this animation.

The passing game seems a little easy on the All-American level due to the corner routes being easy to complete. I have moved it up to Heisman just to test a little and it seems much better. The DB AI still needs improvements in covering those corner routes though. I would say if your going to play a lot online then it would be a good idea to try to play as many games on Heisman as possible. If you play people on All-American I have a feeling the corner routes are going to be exploited way to often. Long balls aren’t much of an issue that I can tell. Your not going to be able to complete bombs on a regular basis like in previous years. If anyone says the dropped ball problem still plagues the game I don’t believe them. I have only seen a few drops and most were legit. A few happened when the player was wide open. But you know what… players drop balls occasionally. One thing I am very excited about is the screen pass. It works!!! And better than in any other football game I have seen. Why? Because the player catching the ball runs towards the outside when he catches it and not to the inside like before. Heck I have even had the WR screen work well. I am very pleased with the changes made to the screen pass.

Defense is a lot of fun to play in this game. I for one like the jump snap button and the strategy of trying not to jump off sides but get a good jump. Like with all NCAA games compared to Madden the DB’s seem pretty easy to control and actually play as a DB. I have never seemed to be able to in Madden but in NCAA it’s always fun to play as a DB. The hit stick is a little different than what it has been in the past. I have always been accustomed to flicking the stick in any direction but with NCAA 07 it seems you have to move the right stick towards the ball carrier. This may be a good option as it will make big hits more challenging than they have been in the past. I have had one great hit that was with my DE hitting the QB. My DE actually left the ground and it looked like he lead with this forearm ramming it into the QB’s helmet knocking his head back and at the same time popping the ball loose. It was sick looking and while I’m not sure how legal it was it sure looked cool.

If you’re a gameplay person and just like to get in and play the game then you can’t pass up this game. It’s the best gameplay football game to date.

Presentation

Bottom line with Presentation in NCAA 07 is this. What EA brings to the table as far as presentation is done well and looks great. The issue is the lack of presentation content. What we all have been hoping for… halftime show, pre game stuff and TV show type dynasty updates just haven’t made it to the game. Maybe there just wasn’t enough time to get it all in but each year I hope for this stuff more and more and it never lives up to what I hoped for. What they have done is done very well as always. The ESPN stuff that’s in the game is great but we want more EA. Things you will notice are the stadium pans before the game. All I have to say here is… Amazing! The stadiums look top notch. I have been in Notre Dame stadium a lot and seeing it on the game as a perfect replica is nice. The other great thing is the momentum shift replay as it brings up a different kind of replay screen with helmets crashing. This happens when you make a big play that turns the game around. Lee and Kirk seem to have a lot more to say. I was passing at the end of the game when I was up big and Kirk Herbstreit told me to act like I had been there before. I think you will like the things you see in the game but knowing what can be done with the ESPN license will leave you wishing for more. I can’t comment on the dynasty portion of the presentation as I haven’t started a dynasty just yet.

Longevity

Although we have lost the Race for the Heisman mode with the 360 version the dynasty mode is still there. With 30 years to play as your favorite school there is plenty to do. With that said it's just missing a lot of the things we were used to. Put them back in and this score goes way up.

Graphics

You’ll notice the upgrade right away. Of course an HDTV is required to see NCAA at it’s best quality. The graphics are great although I noticed a few things. Some players helmets look really big for their body. Not sure if it’s the team colors making it look that way or if it’s just certain players. I noticed it on a Purdue running back. I also saw a kicker that looked seven ft tall. Hopefully it was in fact just a really tall kicker. Otherwise the player models are right on. They look like college players although there faces are generic which is the way it has to be with NCAA and there outstanding rules.

Sound

The sound is much improved. Yet so is my home sound system so that makes a big difference. The fight songs are great and I even heard the “we are ND” chant at the beginning of the game. I found nothing at all wrong with the sound in the game. I am sure that some schools are missing some things that EA will work on in the future but sound is an area that is very solid and something they can add to each year.

Some things that I didn’t get a chance to mention in the sections above.

- No named rosters online. As we all know there are rosters out there available for download and you are able to load them onto the 360 and play with the real players names. Unfortunately the names will no show up online.
- Quick Save - One of the nicest new features in the game. At the menu you can click the left stick and save all or pick which saves to save. All this can be done without entering a save managing window.
- Mini games - I spent the good part of the first night just playing the mini games. Bowling is my favorite so far. You’ll have a good time with these.
- Snapshot – There is a new snapshot feature that allows you to take a picture while in instant replay mode. It saves the photo to your 360’s HD. Will short video’s be next?

8.5

Gameplay The gameplay in NCAA 07 is outstanding. So much so that one could overlook other aspects of the game that aren’t where we hoped they would be. The player movement and feel is amazing and a huge improvement from Madden 06. Everything seems to flow flawlessly. There are some collision detection problems that I have noticed get in the way at times. One example is you may have a receiver running a route with a DB behind or beside him. As the ball is thrown the receiver will slow down or almost stop as if the DB grabbed his jersey. Others are on tackles that happen when the defender is still to far away to make the tackle but the ball carrier goes down anyway. I haven’t seen many of these and it hasn’t been enough to bother me or take away from the game enough to worry about.

8.4	Graphics You’ll notice the upgrade right away.

7.3	Longevity Although we have lost the Race for the Heisman mode with the 360 version the dynasty mode is still there. With 30 years to play as your favorite school there is plenty to do. With that said it's just missing a lot of the things we were used to. Put them back in and this score goes way up.

6.2

Presentation Bottom line with Presentation in NCAA 07 is this. What EA brings to the table as far as presentation is done well and looks great. The issue is the lack of presentation content. What we all have been hoping for… halftime show, pre game stuff and TV show type dynasty updates just haven’t made it to the game.

8.0

Sound The sound is much improved. Yet so is my home sound system so that makes a big difference. The fight songs are great and I even heard the “we are ND” chant at the beginning of the game. I found nothing at all wrong with the sound in the game. I am sure that some schools are missing some things that EA will work on in the future but sound is an area that is very solid and something they can add to each year.

7.7	Overall If you’re a gameplay person and just like to get in and play the game then you can’t pass up this game. It’s the best gameplay football game to date.

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