|
The Penn Quakers never had a better season! NCAA Football 07 for the Xbox 360 is a mighty fine debut for the series. The biggest difference between the NCAA and the NFL is the level of enthusiasm found in college games. The crowd really goes wild for the big plays and is fully behind their home school. Although NCAA Football 07 doesn’t recreate the feeling of attending a game exactly, it’s probably as close as you can get. This is especially true on the Xbox 360.
NCAA Football 07 includes the expected single-player modes. You’ll find Dynasty mode, quick play, and some minigames. The game lacks many of the features found in the current-gen version such as the create-a-school mode, spring drills, and even Campus Legend. The Dynasty mode is similar to the current-gen versions. This means that during the season you need to make sure your team performs well and off-season you need to actively recruit players to keep your team on the winning end. You’ll still find all of the expected features like team-needs and scouting reports and the ability to see which players are interested in your team, and so forth. The three minigames are bowling, tug-a-war and option dash.
The Xbox 360 version of the game feels a bit differently than the game has felt in the past. The game lets you jump-the-snap, meaning that you’ll get to take on the quarterback or kicker if you have the right time; this is very helpful in blocking field goals. The game boasts a new kicking meter. Similar to the Tiger Woods games, you’ll have to pull back on the analog stick then push back up to kick the ball. The artificial intelligence in the game is sound, with the A.I. doing their best to get you riled up in hopes of getting a penalty called against you. Playcalling is still easy since you can organize plays by key player, play type, formation or get Corso’s recommendation. The Xbox 360 version doesn’t have the same huge playbook found in the current-generation versions, but it boasts enough plays.
The game includes online multiplayer via Xbox Live. Online multiplayer is solid although a bit slower than the single-player game is. Offline multiplayer is also included and is a blast to play, particularly if you’re playing with rival teams. The game includes many Xbox Live Achievements, which are a nice touch and are quite easy to unlock. Aside from taking the game online, you can take snapshots of your favorite moments and view them later. You’ll even get some information of the game that the shot was taken in so you can always remember it. Unfortunately, you can’t trade these over Live.
Visually, the game is a stunner. Even the presentation is top-notch. The game loads by giving you a still picture of one stadium you’ll be playing in, before fully visualizing this stadium and packing it with people and well, bring it alive. These stadiums are incredibly authentic with visitors, students, and even the band being where they are supposed to be. Best of all they’re packed with screaming, enthusiastic fans. The surroundings are impeccable, as well. The game might pack what are the best stadiums in a sports game. Even with all of this attention to detail, the players look great, if a bit big for college players. You’ll see light bounce off their helmets, realistic looking clothing and the works. The animation is superb and really lets you feel the impact of the tackles. To take advantage of this it helps to play the game in high-definition although there is a marked increase in visual quality even in standard definition.
The audio is equally impressive. The background music is comprised of fight songs from the different football teams which certainly help set the mood. The sound effects are top-notch and crisp, especially the crowd which roars like crazy—that is, a real college football game. Commentary is provided by Corso, Nesseler, and Herbstreit, who do a fairly good job and manage to avoid repeating the same lines too often.
Although not quite as full-featured as its current-generation counterparts, NCAA Football 07 on the Xbox 360 is a solid game of college football. The atmosphere and enthusiasm that the game portrays is second to none.
-- Jose Liz & -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Jul 25, 2006
|
