You’ve heard the old saying “close, but no cigar”. EA Sports comes close to putting out a fantastic college basketball game, but they missed in bringing it all together. NCAA March Madness 2007 has some great artwork, innovative controls, advanced play calling and a well instituted player composure mechanism. What you won’t see in the screenshots is choppy animation, over zealous officiating, and in-game commentary that’s as enjoyable as a root canal. EA’s latest installment has the potential to really shine but, as they say, “no cigar”.
At first glance, March Madness 2007 is a feast for the eyes. EA did a good job in making full use of the power of the Xbox 360. The player models are second to none, and feature realistic faces and builds. The arenas are fantastic and truly capture the collegiate atmosphere. Even the generic arenas used for the second tier schools look great. The crowd is full of life and decked out in the school colors (or dressed as empty seats if your team is sub par). The baselines feature cheerleaders, and even a school mascot for some of the major colleges.
The visual experience begins to break down when you set the game in motion. There are some real framerate issues with this title and the player animations can be very choppy. This is unfortunate because EA provides a good variety of animations. Players will react to a foul call, dive after loose balls or celebrate after a big bucket. For my money, the on court graphics is where EA should have focused their attention. I would gladly trade off some of the arena effects to see some improvement in the game play animations. Couple the framerate problem with the camera angles, and you get a game that’s difficult to watch. There seems to be no good camera angle for getting a consistent look at the action. This game is in need of a camera that will zoom into the action in the key, and zoom back out again for transitional play.
EA has incorporated some great new features into the control scheme, chief of which is the Floor General play calling system. Using the D Pad for on-the-fly play calling is nothing new, but March Madness 2007 takes it to the next level by allowing you to call offensive and defensive sets in real time. Pressing up on the D Pad opens a menu of three sets. Pressing up again gives you another three, for a total of 6 user defined sets for both the offense and the defense. On offense you can use the Floor General to call a Double High set, and then once your team is in position, you can easily call for the Pick and Roll, Isolation or Low Post. Conversely, on defense you can call for the 2-3 Zone and pick just the right moment to call for your teammates to double team the ball handler. This system works well and allows you to easily and quickly react to any situation.
The second major control enhancement is the Lockdown Stick. When on defense you can use the right stick to face up the ball handler and make it difficult for him to maneuver or pass. Once you have the ball handler locked down, you can use the left stick to shadow his every move, the Left Trigger to take a charge, or the Right Trigger to attempt a steal. If you are playing off the ball your AI teammates will lock down the opponent whenever possible. The perfect time to call for a double team is when the ball handler is locked down. If properly executed, you can force turnovers or compel the other team to call a time out.
EA went with a two button approach with regards to shooting. X will execute dunks and lay-ups, while B is used for jump shots and fade aways. The Right Bumper is used for direct passing on offense, or direct switching on defense. Because the Alley-oop button is also the Right Bumper, you’ll occasionally run into problems. Using the A button and a direction on the left stick to pass is much easier in this game than in others. There is a white circle on the floor under one of your teammates to show you where the ball will go if you pass with the A button.
