PlayStation 2

NCAA 07 March Madness

This title, while not being the success story that its professional counterparts have been, is still a pretty solid entry into the basketball arena this year. With decent graphics, authentic sounds (with Dickie V!) and a deep gameplay mode offering some great moments, no fan of college hoops should do without this sucker during this coming Spring. Best of all, for only $30, this game is really a steal, so go out and snag it today.

NCAA March Madness 07 is a good rehash. That might sound like a bit of a contradiction, but it’s true. The game doesn’t showcase anything you’ll remember six months from now, but that’s only because this game has been done several times over. It’s not a step up, but it’s not really a step down either. It’s just kind of…there. Worth renting, but pass if you have last year’s edition, or can get the more promising version for Xbox 360.

Overall, NCAA 07 March Madness provides gamers with a very enjoyable college basketball game. EA has added more depth to Dynasty Mode to make it more worthwhile, and the change from “the go-to guy” to intensity meters works well. Still, it doesn’t make enough of an improvement to make it a great game. It’s quick to pick up and play, and All-American difficulty will make you strain for a win, but with a $60 price tag, this is only for the most die hard of fans. If you don't fall into this category, rent it.

March Madness 07 isn't a bad game, and the action on the court is solid, but there's not enough new here to justify the $30 price tag, especially when you can find 06 for $13. It's hard to fathom just how EA spent the 15 months between releases. The graphics are ugly and the new gameplay features amount to little more than marketing catchphrases that exist only so EA has something to put on the back of the game's box.

While the 360 version of March Madness 07 does a lot of things right for the college game, the current gen version of the game falls short. The largest strike against the game is the minimal improvements to last year's formula while not fixing persistent issues, such as fatigue, animation clipthroughs, and questionable AI. While it's obvious that more attention is being focused on the next-gen versions of the game, if there does happen to be a March Madness for 08, let's hope that some of these generic issues are solved.

As this is pretty much March Madness 06 with a new cover athlete -- which we liked fine a year ago (it scored a 7.5) -- we don't see any reason to choose this over the better and cheaper College Hoops 2K7.

Offline, the game moves choppy enough. Online, it was worse. There were times when we really felt like there was a 2-second delay between button push and the resulting action. If you're Dick Vitale's love child and have to play every college roundball game known to man, March Madness 07 might fit the bill. If you want to play the best college hoops game on current-gen, check out the 2K offering.