EA's other football franchise, NCAA Football, released July 18, a full month before Madden 07 will be released. For college football freaks, this is the chance to stand behind your favorite team as you take them from week 1 to the BCS at the end of the season. EA had the final Xbox 360 version of the game up and running at their Studio Showcase.

This being the series' first foray on the Xbox 360, it seems the developers have invested most of their time in learning how to deal with the next-generation hardware. The double-edged result is that NCAA 07 looks and plays very solid, but is missing a lot of the great features from the current-gen versions of the game. Some modes that we take for granted in the PS2 and Xbox version of NCAA or either missing or much shallower on the 360. Superstar mode is completely missing, and Campus Legend, while still present, only offers a 30 year career and lacks the depth that you might be used to. Thankfully Dynasty Mode is still here – probably the most popular mode outside of the actual game. EA representatives mentioned that the game would be taking advantage of their partnership with ESPN. Among the features that are part of this are unlockable filmed broadcasts of classic matches.

Extra features aside, gameplay, is excellent and stands up well to any other version of the game. Dashing has now been moved to the right trigger, just like in Madden. The big change this year seems to be Momentum, which is measured by a small meter at the top of the screen. If your team makes a great play or two, your players will start getting a charge off the adrenaline which will hopefully lead them to more great plays. Although the Momentum meter claims to pump up the stats and speed of your players when it fills up, we didn't see a discernible change in the performance of our players.

The graphics are unmatched. Player models and animations are spot on. Even better are the stadiums, recreated that hometown college football feel with passionate attention to detail, and skies which change as the time of day wears on.
The game offers control over all the minutiae of your football experience, the little things like coaching your players during time outs to raise their stats, or controlling the extent of a touchdown celebration.

All in all, NCAA 07 is the football game to play, at least until Madden hits. There's a slight lack of depth from the missing features, which makes us think that next years' version will be to die for. Check back with AMN in the coming weeks for a full review.