NCAA 07 Football
Posted September 9, 2006
Nothing beats the level of intensity and drive that college sports offer the viewers as well as the players. Once the students make it to the big show, the level of drive and desire tends to drop slightly. I mean, what's your impetus for playing when you're pulling in 3 million dollars per year. Seeing tens of thousands of your peers in the stands too must boost the moral and motivation of a college player compared to the relative strangers watching you when you are a professional.
Gameplay:
It's that ambition and momentum that EA tries to bring to the forefront in this year's incarnation of NCAA Football 07, thanks to additions like the momentum meter and old favorites like the home field advantage. The momentum meter is exactly that, a meter that ebbs and flows with the play on the field; make some nice plays or break a big tackle and watch how the momentum swings in your favor. Conversely if you drop the ball or miss a big tackle be ready for the onslaught from your opponent.
This time around another great change to the game is the addition of unique playbooks for each team. No longer will you head online and play against a team and have them use the exact same playbook as you (unless they choose it that is). This adds a nice touch of authenticity to the title, which I think will be well received by all players of the game.
When looking at the overall gameplay, I'm going to have to restate something said in my review of Madden; a football game is a football game. If you've played and enjoyed previous installments of NCAA Football, chances are you're going to know how the game plays here. Passes and blocks, jukes and dives; they all play the same as they did in last year's version. But this time, even your quarterback can take advantage of the additional moves to help evade tackles and spur that big play that the crowd desires.
What is new this time around is something called Campus Legend. Similar to the NFL Superstar mode of Madden 07, Campus Legend has you create a new player who has to vie for a spot on a college team. As you finally are picked up by a college, you then have to balance things like practice, studying and the all important social events to become a legend on campus. Similar to my complaints of the Superstar mode, this can easily become tedious and patience can wear thin. But unlike Superstar, you actually play out each game in the season fully; plays aren't selected by the CPU for you. As mentioned, once your legend is created he can be imported into Madden 07 for use in the Superstar mode so you get many in game years out of this character; make him worth it.
Additions to the already packed Dynasty mode are spring drills, where you can work out players on the team to upgrade their skills to help you score that big bowl game at the end of the season. As well, you can choose to run a spring game using freshmen to see how they handle the game situations.
Online is where the real fun lies in games of this nature, and in addition to the standard optimatch gaming that Live offers EA has included a clan type rankings system. Called clubs, you form these clans with friends and as you play you earn points which amass to bragging rights against other clubs.
Graphics:
One thing that EA really spends the time on is authenticity of the game. Stadiums are dead on, all the way from on field logos to the blue turf of Boise State. Even the fans in the stands are all rendered to match their team's style.
Animations here are spot on as well, not unlike Madden. Jukes and tackles look very smooth and I have no major complaints. Some people disliked one feature of the game which is the way the camera angles would zoom to a big play or hit while the game is playing, to me this actually brought me closer to the game and I felt like I was actually controlling it even that much more. Seeing the player reach over his shoulder to catch the ball then run the last twenty yards for a touchdown felt even better when zoomed in.
Audio:
As any NCAA game, the 2007 version features college fight songs galore. Each team's song is featured which really shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. One thing here that stands out above the audio in the pro level Madden 07 is that the crowds really get into the games here, to the point to where the camera shakes while the away team is on offense thanks to the home field advantage.
Commentary is actually quite decent, but I'd be willing to guess this has a lot to do with the requirements that the game be generic as to not break NCAA rules. So recordings can be used over and over from team to team thanks to calls like "QB #10 makes a long pass to #86", I would imagine that this too makes the commentary that much easier to program.
Conclusion:
It's obvious what the allure of college sports is, all it takes is walking into a stadium and feeling the electricity in the air before and during a match. Capturing that has been key to EA's NCAA Football game in years past and thanks to small changes this time they've moved even closer to capturing it fully.
The momentum meter and the way the camera shakes when the home team gets the crowd riled up really capture the spirit of the league; as does the attention to detail in the fight songs and the little things like the Mascot Game that is playable from the main menu. Who doesn't like watching mascots duke it out on the field, and to give them sweet football skills, genius!
Is this worth upgrading over an earlier version? Probably not, and it is better worth a rental. But parroting what I said in the Madden review, regardless of what I might say there are people who are going to buy every release of this game each and every year regardless of the additions.
Gameplay:
It's that ambition and momentum that EA tries to bring to the forefront in this year's incarnation of NCAA Football 07, thanks to additions like the momentum meter and old favorites like the home field advantage. The momentum meter is exactly that, a meter that ebbs and flows with the play on the field; make some nice plays or break a big tackle and watch how the momentum swings in your favor. Conversely if you drop the ball or miss a big tackle be ready for the onslaught from your opponent.
This time around another great change to the game is the addition of unique playbooks for each team. No longer will you head online and play against a team and have them use the exact same playbook as you (unless they choose it that is). This adds a nice touch of authenticity to the title, which I think will be well received by all players of the game.
When looking at the overall gameplay, I'm going to have to restate something said in my review of Madden; a football game is a football game. If you've played and enjoyed previous installments of NCAA Football, chances are you're going to know how the game plays here. Passes and blocks, jukes and dives; they all play the same as they did in last year's version. But this time, even your quarterback can take advantage of the additional moves to help evade tackles and spur that big play that the crowd desires.
What is new this time around is something called Campus Legend. Similar to the NFL Superstar mode of Madden 07, Campus Legend has you create a new player who has to vie for a spot on a college team. As you finally are picked up by a college, you then have to balance things like practice, studying and the all important social events to become a legend on campus. Similar to my complaints of the Superstar mode, this can easily become tedious and patience can wear thin. But unlike Superstar, you actually play out each game in the season fully; plays aren't selected by the CPU for you. As mentioned, once your legend is created he can be imported into Madden 07 for use in the Superstar mode so you get many in game years out of this character; make him worth it.
Additions to the already packed Dynasty mode are spring drills, where you can work out players on the team to upgrade their skills to help you score that big bowl game at the end of the season. As well, you can choose to run a spring game using freshmen to see how they handle the game situations.
Online is where the real fun lies in games of this nature, and in addition to the standard optimatch gaming that Live offers EA has included a clan type rankings system. Called clubs, you form these clans with friends and as you play you earn points which amass to bragging rights against other clubs.
Graphics:
One thing that EA really spends the time on is authenticity of the game. Stadiums are dead on, all the way from on field logos to the blue turf of Boise State. Even the fans in the stands are all rendered to match their team's style.
Animations here are spot on as well, not unlike Madden. Jukes and tackles look very smooth and I have no major complaints. Some people disliked one feature of the game which is the way the camera angles would zoom to a big play or hit while the game is playing, to me this actually brought me closer to the game and I felt like I was actually controlling it even that much more. Seeing the player reach over his shoulder to catch the ball then run the last twenty yards for a touchdown felt even better when zoomed in.
Audio:
As any NCAA game, the 2007 version features college fight songs galore. Each team's song is featured which really shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone. One thing here that stands out above the audio in the pro level Madden 07 is that the crowds really get into the games here, to the point to where the camera shakes while the away team is on offense thanks to the home field advantage.
Commentary is actually quite decent, but I'd be willing to guess this has a lot to do with the requirements that the game be generic as to not break NCAA rules. So recordings can be used over and over from team to team thanks to calls like "QB #10 makes a long pass to #86", I would imagine that this too makes the commentary that much easier to program.
Conclusion:
It's obvious what the allure of college sports is, all it takes is walking into a stadium and feeling the electricity in the air before and during a match. Capturing that has been key to EA's NCAA Football game in years past and thanks to small changes this time they've moved even closer to capturing it fully.
The momentum meter and the way the camera shakes when the home team gets the crowd riled up really capture the spirit of the league; as does the attention to detail in the fight songs and the little things like the Mascot Game that is playable from the main menu. Who doesn't like watching mascots duke it out on the field, and to give them sweet football skills, genius!
Is this worth upgrading over an earlier version? Probably not, and it is better worth a rental. But parroting what I said in the Madden review, regardless of what I might say there are people who are going to buy every release of this game each and every year regardless of the additions.