The 2006 edition of Madden for the Xbox 360 left a very sour taste in the collective mouths of the gaming community. It was just bad, and Electronic Arts made no attempt at hiding the fact that the company rushed out a poor product in order to take advantage of the young, supple next-gen early adopters who were eager for some pigskin action. NCAA Football 07 represents EA's first real football offering since Madden NFL 2006 for the next-gen platform, and fortunately, while Madden was a steaming pile, NCAA is a solid offering to the gridiron gods.

Sadly, like Madden before it, NCAA 07 for the 360 has inexplicably been stripped of a number of features, though their absence is likely only to bother those who have followed the franchise for a few years. The most notable loss is the ability to make your own school, which EA has completely removed this year. Granted, the list of schools to choose from is ridiculously long, but a lot of people found joy in creating something zany like the Lakeside Barking Beavers and bringing them to national stardom. The other notable mode missing from the game is the Race for the Heisman. This is not a big loss to the game as the mode wasn't anything spectacular to begin with, but it still represents yet another thing stripped from the game by EA.

Missing modes aside, it's really all about the gameplay on the field. Paragraphs could be wasted discussing the dynasty mode and going through 60 seasons with a single team, but that is neither here nor there. If the whole game were put into a pot of boiling water and cooked down to its basic elements, you would end up with a cauldron brimming with delicious gameplay. It just keeps getting better and better each year. The hits are harder, the passes are crisper, and the animations are better. Hell, even the fans seem more rabid. In a road game where the other team has the momentum, there are a hundred thousand fans screaming for their team to get back into game. And it's not simple for the added ambiance; players are more likely to make big plays when the crowd is worked up. EA has done a magnificent job taking all of the blood and guts of the college game of football and pressing it onto a round wafer that can be read by your Xbox 360.

The graphics are, of course, head and shoulders above the other versions of the game, as well as past iterations, and generally look deserving of the "next-gen" moniker. The Xbox 360 hard drive allows for another nice feature as well - photo capturing. At any time during a replay you can snap a quick shot of the action and store it for future viewing. Inconsequential, but still cool.

NCAA 07 also features a trio of mini-games to play as well. However, while each is fun in its own way, one stands out above the rest - Tug of War. This game has two teams trading off from offense to defense with each play. The ball moves back and forth over the field with each play until one team either gets a touchdown or a safety. It's brilliant. The other two modes, Bowling and Option Dash, are also extremely fun, but odds are the most time will be spent playing Tug of War.

After playing Madden 2006, a lot of people were rightly skeptical about what EA would bring to the table with NCAA Football 07. In a way, the skeptics were right: the developers did strip out some features, and the overall package could be better; however, EA did what needed to be done. It cleaned up the graphics and gameplay to some truly astonishing levels and produced a game that is a top-notch simulation of college football. The good far outweighs the bad or missing in this game, and the only thing that should keep virtual football fans from picking this one up is the siren's song of the upcoming release of Madden NFL 07. If you are an Xbox 360 owner in need a football fix now, pick up NCAA now. It's damn good.

Score: 89%

Jul 22, 2006 | 0 comments
Steve Garlo