NCAA Football 07 in review

I went out and got NCAA 07 for the 360 yesterday, and after tons of playing, all I have to say is that I'm ready to play some more. Actually, I do have some thoughts on the game, and here they are:

I'm not all that disappointed that the 360 doesn't have Race for the Heisman: Although I never got NCAA '06, I did get Madden, which had the equivalent to it in "Superstar Mode" or whatever the heck it was called. I wasn't impressed with it and I jumped right into dynasty mode instead. The dynasty mode in '07 has just about everything you could hope for in a college football videogame. Now, instead of waiting until the end of the season to recruit Johnny Basketball to play wide receiver for your team, the recruiting process actually begins during the season and you keep in touch with the recruits on a week-to-week basis. Now I haven't finished my first season in my dynasty yet, but I assume recruiting does go on like normal after the season. The rest of the dynasty mode kicks some major behind, even with the glaring absence of ESPN the Magazine.

Gameplay is awesome. Especially online. Unlike in Madden 06, NCAA has that certain swagger about it that hooks me to the TV for hours on end when I turn on my XBox. Maybe it's because I can run the option. Maybe it's because college football is better than pro football. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. Anyways, even though the regular XBox version offers all sorts of trick plays, they probably either work too good, or don't work at all. It would have been nice to run some reverse-options to Ted Ginn, but I think I'll manage. I've only played one game online, but the experience was exceptional. It was easy to navigate through the menus, and I got in my game in no time. Once I was in the game, I rolled to a nice victory over Penn State.

I don't have much other input at this time. I'm not a videogame guru by any means, and there are definitely some better-done reviews out there (IGN, etc.), but this is a game that I find I can play for hours on end without boredom.

Final grade: A-

If anyone else has played the game on any console, feel free to comment with your input on it as well.