NCAA Football 2007

Apparantly they changed the view for blocking punts/field goals so you actually have a chance. Woo!

Never played any opf the NCAA games before due to no one in Canada even renting them. It looks decent enough for me though so I've got it on pre-order.

Can wait to make myself into a superstar.

Damn these achievements.

Yeah, I remember being psyched back when the 2001 edition came out and Beaver Stadium was ranked as being in the top 5 hardest stadiums to play in. Of course, then my heart was broken as Penn State's real life counterparts spent the season getting their collective asses handed to them. I actually stopped playing the game... But that's all behind us now. Perhaps it's time to pick up the new NCAA.

I've gotten this every year since it hit the PS2 (and subsequent XBox)--I believe it was 2001--and was sorely disappointed in the '06 edition. The superstar thing sounded great in concept, but it just became tedious to me. I traded it in faster than any other edition I had ever bought. I didn't buy Madden at all, I just rented it.

So, since it's been a great while since I've played, I'm looking forward to the 18th. I pre-ordered it at Gamestop, so I'll get it the night before or at lunch the day of. I'll probably just rent Madden again, or wait a few months and buy a used copy. I don't have much time to play games, so I only buy 1 or 2 a year, and this is usually one of them.

I agree, 06 for some reason was a dissapointment. 05 was extremely playable, and is still my choice college football game. Though this year I'm going to change it up and buy 07 for the PSP. Madden wasn't all that great on it, and yet I still played the shit out of it. It's amazing how much the simple virtue of portability can add to the game.

Cant wait. I've heard that the 360 version isnt quite as full of features as the others, but I'm still going to go next-gen because all I really need is dynasty mode.

So...any comments yet? Gamestop didn't call me Monday night (as I expected them to, and they did last year), so I forgot about it Tuesday. Going to pick it up at lunch today.

NCAA 07 on 360

I picked it up last night and played a few games with friends. On the 360 the aesthetics of the fully rendered stadiums look great. I think the biggest improvement I’ve noticed thus far is the size of the playbooks. I played games with different teams each time and their unique offense styles were reflected well in the default playbooks. The defensive backs played the ball much better than last year’s version. They would often cut in front of a receiver to knock the ball down instead of sitting behind them with their hands up. I also liked the new animations for tackling, catching and celebrating. Two Sportscenter top ten moments were a wide receiver making a diving one handed catch and a linebacker absolutely destroying a quarterback on an option keeper. Hopefully the animations don’t become so commonplace they become tiresome. Overall I’m pretty pleased after one evening and now I’m just waiting on the roster files to begin my dynasty.

NCAA 07 question

Quick question for those of you who have already bought NCAA Football 07. The game looks outstanding and I can't wait to get back from vacation to buy it but this is what I'd like to know. Did they get rid of jet packing and superhuman WR's? What I mean by this is two years ago you could click onto your WR, move him an inch, click off and he would sky above the defender for the catch. In last years game, all you had to do was turn into your WR and make a manual catch and he would make the play even through quadruple coverage every time. It really ruined the game.

Has this been taken out of 07? Thanks and I can't wait to play!

I don't know about the jetpacking thing or manual WR catch thingie, as I've only played one game so far.

But after that one game, I have to say...same ol' NCAA game. I just jumped right in to a game, no settings change or anything. I played as FSU and played San Jose State. I lost, 21-19. No shit. I threw for 387 yards in 5 minute quarters, and ran for 76 yards with my RBs. I could move the ball at will through the air on San Jose, then as soon as I'd get inside the 25, suddenly my WRs were dropping easy passes, and then I'd throw a pick, or go for it on 4th down and my RB or WR would drop a ball right in his hands. I even had this happen about 3-4 times: my guy would jump up, catch the ball, land, take a step, then the defender would just knock the ball out of his hands. Incomplete pass. The first drive I went right down the field and scored. I missed the PAT because the new kicking thing is really kinda screwy. SJ scored when I chose a play that did NOT include blitzing the safeties, but they ran into the center of the line at the snap, and their QB threw a slant to a WR, who was blanketed by my guy, but of course he caught the ball and no one could catch him. The last 3 minutes of the game was ridiculous. I drove down the field, fumbled, he gets the ball, he drives down the field, I intercept, I drive down the length of the field in 3 plays and score a TD to make it 21-19. I onside kick, recover it, throw a deep pass to get inside the 30, pick the same play in the no huddle, and the same WR isn't covered at all--I lob the ball up to him, and the DB suddenly starts running backwards, covers 10 yards in .75 seconds, and intercepts the ball with :12 left. I guess I was supposed to just be happy and kick the FG to win.

Sorry for the long explanation. But to me, this XBox version of the game--same ol' NCAA. CPU fucks with you the 2nd half if you're beating it too badly. I'll still play, and I'll tweak the settings and hopefully things will improve. On a plus, the animations are a bit new, the special teams features are a lot better, there's more plays (seemingly) to choose from, and it's not next impossible to complete a pass this time. However, I do find it funny that when you look at the rosters for the whole NCAA, out of the Top 20 or so players in the nation, like 8 of them are punters.

Beware of the PSP version. I guess there's a massive bug (kinda like when Madden 06 had a bug) where if you're on your side of the field, any time the ball is ran and you don't get a first down, some of those yards are not accounted for. So it'll be 1st and 10 and you'll run six but only get three. It really sucks.

Plus there's no Campus Legend mode, no regular Season mode (for those of us who like to play football, not look at menus), and no authentic stadiums. Look, if I want to have a home game with the Buckeyes, I want to play in the fucking Horseshoe, not a generic high school stadium. Yeah, it's portable football, but at least give us the Big 10's stadiums.

Since the game is buggy, what are the chances I return this to Gamestop and get the PS2 version? (I could do it if I got it at Wal-Mart, saying I bought it for the wrong console.)

Did you buy it there? I know for the used stuff, you have 7 days to return games for something else.

Nope, brand new. I think I'm fucked.

Ok, so I finally started a season/dynasty with FSU last night. I played UM to start out the season...and won 31-0. So I don't know if that was because UM was "overhyped" in the game, or just "my night" in the game. I thought it was interesting that Herbstriet picked UM in a close game, but Corso picked FSU with a big win.

Also, I saw the strangest play I have ever seen in my years of playing NCAA: I'm on defense, and the pocket is collapsing on Kyle Wright. He steps into the pocket, and starts moving to his right, and I'm playing the DE on that side. I jump to try and sack him, and as I do, Wright jumps in the air, facing directly to the right, and throws the ball BACKWARDS to the left of the screen. The TE who is running towards the middle of the field suddenly stops and moonwalks backwards and catches the ball behind his back. I tackled him immediately, but it was the strangest damn play I'd ever seen. I even did the replay like 3 times to watch it to see what the hell happened.