NCAA Football 2007
 

The preview is up on ign's website, and I'm intrigued by the number of new formations. They had 3 "experts" watch every team and copy plays for their playbooks. There are 86 new offensive formations and 16 new defensive formations with over 270 new plays.

Other highlights (IMO):

- QB's have more widely varying arm strength.

- More emphasis on special teams including more trick plays for special teams.

- More trick plays in General.

- Defenses more geared towards stopping Running QB's with better spy usage, etc.


I'm curious to see how the momentum meter is re-implemented.

Here is the full preview from IGN:

http://sports.ign.com/articles/702/702305p1.html

Just hope the sims stats are also accurate.

I have 100% trust in the NCAA Football devs. Their game are better than Madden every year.

I like the new improvements, especially the emphasis on stopping running QBs and the new special teams stuff.

Interesting. The past two years there has been no game I've been hyped for as much as this one. Unfortunately, each year I've been disappointed.

Two years ago QBs couldn't complete 50% of their passes. I forget what last year's debilitating bug was...

Oh yeah....not a huge thing - but last year your entire offensive line led the NCAA in pancakes making your skill levels go through the roof.

Oh - and I wish they made this for the PSP. I just don't have enough time in the day to kick the kids and wife off the TV.

When's this out? June-ish again?

I think it's July. I also like the fact that now when you throw the ball away, it can be at the feet of a WR, so you don't get an intentional grounding call. Xbox 360 preview should be up today for the game.

I thought last years Madden (for the Xbox and PS2, NOT the 360) simply destroyed NCAA. I didn't even think it was close.

I love all of the new features, but I'm leery of some of them too. More trick plays=more chances for them to have a ridiculously easy exploitable flaw.

New formations and plays need strenuous AI testing. Are they going to test them enough?

I will buy this sucker the second it hits the shelves, like I do every year. But the last great NCAA game was about 3 years ago and it could be argued 4. The last couple of versions have left a lot to be desired.

Me too, that'd be fantastic.

I really enjoy this game a ton, though.

It's odd, when the PSP was first announced, there were NCAA Football boxes in stores for the PSP, as a 'Coming Soon' type deal...

Danger.


Danger. Danger. (and a big whoop to go with it)


DANGER!


Danger.

Didn't they have a momentum meter like 5 years ago? I'm not very up on NCAA Football. All NCAA Football xx means is that it's been xx years of me wondering if they'll being it back to the PC.

TroyF's comment about Madden has me thinking about playing it again, now that I'm playing on a 19" VGA monitor instead of a 13" TV. I don't think I can even try playing NCAA 2006 again, though. I never did find a balance between too easy and too difficult. Madden, on the other hand, I believe I had in great shape. It's been a few months, though.

Anyway, as usual, I'll have my NCAA 2007 preordered. I always look forward to it, and these new features have me interested. Even though the past two games have disappointed me, I did get some fun out of them. I just hope the release doesn't go like last year's did. EA needs to set a release date and announce it at least a couple of weeks in advance. Looking back on last year's release mania, it's actually pretty funny, but it was pretty unsettling at the time. :)

I liked both games last year and the year before that. The thing that's great about both of them is that they aren't clones of one another. If you want a college football feel, NCAA does it in spades as well as the football action. Madden does professional football well. If you're the Patriots playing the Cardinals there isn't too much difference (Any Given Sunday). But if you're USC playing Ball State you can really blow them out. IMHO, both games succeeded in what they were trying to do. Both of them cater to different tastes.

I hated the last two years of NCAA. Two years ago was just unplayable, and last years was better but not by enough. Players still dropped too many passes and it was too hard to throw over the middle without the ball getting tipped.

I'm sure I'll buy it for the 360 and hope it's better. I really want them to add the accelerated clock that's been in madden for the last few years.

I'll reiterate my disappointment of the last two years as well as second Huckleberry's comments of "DANGER" above. Knowing how "well" they implemented the momentum meter before, this sounds like it's turning into NCAA "to the EXTREME!" 2007.

I don't care if my DT all of a sudden gets so much momentum he picks up the ball carrier and slams him back and forth on the ground for 10 seconds. Just make the damn game look and play real.

This for the PSP would be heaven, I mean I'm sure it wouldn't be as full blown as the other consoles but still likely a big time waster(uh), user.

Yeah, every year they say they "fixed" the drops thing, but every year after about 2 games it's clear that by fixed they mean talked about fixing. I'll get it for the 360, too...but if they still havent fixed the drops I'll play less than the about 5 games I played last season on it.

Maybe they'll make NCAA 2007 for the N-Gage!!1111oneonetwo

This sums up my experience perfectly. I'll still get it this year, but I hope that the momentum factor isn't overdone. I agree with Troy and Pumpy that last year Madden was the better game.

I gotta agree with raiders here, i liked the last 2 more then any others

NCAA 360:

http://sports.ign.com/articles/702/702461p1.html

360 = sweet

I can't wait for this one. I just hope .....

IT DOESN'T Lock up.
I don't have to load three games to play it.
I don't have to remove my hard drive to play it. :)

I wish they put a video out of the gameplay.

That's all fine and dandy. But 2 years ago, as has been said a few times already here, you couldn't complete 50% of your passes with any QB in the game. It may have felt like college football if you played with Air Force. If you played with Florida and tried to have a passing game, it not only didn't feel like college football, I struggled to compare it to anything but frustration.

Last year they improved it a touch, but drops were still to many (which IMO was inexcuseable after how much people had complained about it the previous year)

I've said on here I prefer pro sims to NCAA sims. But for an arcade game, I could really care less. I enjoy both equally well. I didn't think NCAA came close to the mark the last two years.

Madden, after countless years of dissapointing me, actually came through last year. I was in shock. The 360 version was a joke, but the Xbox version was outstanding.

The release day of NCAA is always a great day for me. Even in the middle of July, I get to start up with some football. The last two years, I've put NCAA down about 10 games in and sate and waited for the NFL games to come out. I really, really, really hope that doesn't happen this year. Perfection would be like three years ago, where I played NCAA so much, the NFL releases caught me by surprise and the NCAA CD had to be removed with a pair of tongs because the CD was nearing the melting point.

It looks nice, for sure, but almost too stylized. Too shiny I guess.

Are you guys concern about the sim stats. The last few years it been way off especially QB and running back sim stats.

They have been wonderful for me, maybe just a tad high for teams like hawaii and nevada

This isn't an attack on your football skillz: for real? You couldn't get over a 50% completion rate? I found it insanely difficult at first, but patience and timing were the keys to completing passes.

I'm disappointed to read that the 360 version won't have the enhanced playbooks.

I don't play Madden or NCAA for stats. I play it for a fun football gameplay experience, especially online.

I'll play FOF, BBCF and hopefully head coach for "realistic stats".

Meant to put this in my previous post, but the article mentioning a more drastic momentum meter in the 360 version worries me as well. I might actually wait to hear reviews on here before deciding which version to pick up, especially if I'm really into NFL Head Coach.

the last great NCAA game was about 7-8 years ago...

ncaa99 for the pc.

damn you, ea sports.

Insanely difficult? Lets see, would that involve WR who caught wide open passes about 40% of the time and superhuman DB's/LB's who could jump six hundred feet in the air and bat passes down?

Yeah. It was insanely difficult. The mid range passing game was nearly impossible, especially over the middle, where you could catch an LB out of position only to watch him come back and pick the ball off without ever looking at the QB. The passing game in NCAA has essentially been broken down into two things: The under five yeard pass (quick slants, curls, TD outs, RB circle patterns, etc.) or over 20 (the deep corner route can be money, as can the fly pattern if you have a bullet fast WR) Of course, then you have to hope they can catch the football, which somehow EA forgot to program into the game the past few seasons.

As a rule, I judge my sports games by how many WTF moments they have. The last two NCAA games have had about 20 a game. I'm not going to say my skills are great. They aren't. But Madden last year wasn't exactly an easy game and I managed to complete passes pretty consistently on it.

Oh geez, is it going to be completely barebones now?

No, the preview says it will have a full dynasty mode. It will have an "enhanced" momentum meter. It will have "double the number of attributes" for players. However, at least according to the preview, it will not have the 102 new formations or 270 new plays that current gen versions will have.


If it was barebones, I would know that I'm just going to purchase the Xbox version. Now, I'm not sure. I'll have to weigh the value of the expanded playbooks vs the expanded number of attributes and improved graphics.

Ah, okay, it just sucks that you end up paying more for the game, and it will probably be inferior in the play/formation department. It'd be nice if they could get them all on the same page.

I really wonder how much "double the number of attributes" can truly affect gameplay.

Why in the Hell do they do that? Do they think that someone will buy both versions as a result?

I think they do. I also read posts on Operation Sports from some people who said they are buying both versions. No way that I will do that. In fact, I might wait to hear if there are good reviews on here before buying either.

Just when I think there is hope for the human race. These morons don't realize that buying both versions may just... I dunno, encourage them? What's next? An XBox 360, XBox, PS2, PS3 (when it comes out) and PC versions with different things included in each? Get 'em all!

To be fair, lots of people on OperationSports are expressing displeasure about the move. However, there are some morons who are saying they will just buy a current gen version and the 360 version.

I'm hoping for those right thumbstick controls for hot routes and other adjustments make it into NCAA. That was the one thing in Madden I liked better even though you could still do some of them in NCAA, it was better implemented in madden.

I gotta side with RA...i fired it up yesterday on heisman, playing as Arizona State VS USC and i completed 67% for 365 yards, 0 picks, and had an average day running the ball. It just takes patience and practice...i used to not be able to do a damn thing...now anything greatly less then that and i feel i had a bad game, not some flaw in the system.

This is deceiving. Were you 6-for-9 passing by completing a bunch of long bombs? It's entirely possible to complete 67% for 365 yards if you do it that way. :)

No, i didnt go 6-9, my running game wouldnt allow it. It gained 103 yards, mainly off of a 92 yard scamper early in the game...the next play the same runner fumbled it away...so i had to rely on my passing game.

Fine. You are better than me. If my WR caught the ball that was thrown to them 80% of the time? I'd be in your area. But my WR's don't catch the ball. I'm talking 6 or more dropped passes a game.

Maybe it's the teams I'm playing with. But you know what? If that's it, the game needs to make my QB suck horrificly. It doesn't need to have my wide open WR drop open passes.

Another thing here, are you switching to the WR to catch the ball? I don't. I have zero interest in that. If my QB hits the WR on the numbers, and I don't switch over, he should catch the ball a majority of the time. Period.

They seem to be able to do it in Madden just fine. You putting the game back in the system to play is better than me. I put in NCAA one time after Madden came out. That was to show a friend his schools stadium. I just hope and pray the designers don't agree with you. If they do, this may be the last year I buy NCAA before a myriad of reviews come out for it.

As it is, with the ridiculous first gen vs. second gen design decisions, I may just skip it anyway.

I don't control my receivers. I'd say that 80% of the time when I throw a good pass they catch it. That's pretty realistic. If I throw on the run, throw off my back foot, or throw blindly the percentage drops much lower which is realistic. I have found that even with each new iteration of the game (both Madden and NCAA) I start out throwing blindly. In other words, I throw when I think I should throw not when the receiver is open. It's weird, but the game slows down for me the more I play and I can see them getting open and then actually time it more correctly. I didn't play QB in High School, but I did play other sports where it was the same effect...so in that sense, I think both games nailed the realism aspect of it.

Reggie Bush on cover.

Thank God its not Vince Young.