This somewhat goofy feature has you walking around the court during a dead ball to get in the face of an opponent, cheer along with the band, or rub defeat in the face of the opposing squad. It looks ridiculous as you wander the floor while choosing what to do, and while it can be beneficial to the entire team, it's probably better to use smaller bursts before the meter fills.
Sadly, all of the showmanship can't make up for the sloppy core game play. An inconsistent frame rate fails to generate a smooth flow. The sluggish feel doesn't help. Fouls are far too frequent on the default settings, with a call almost every time you drive to the basket.
Steals are incredibly easy to come by, while the generic animation makes some moves hard to judge or control. AI runs into the same issues regularly, whether stepping on an out of bounds line before receiving a pass or falling for a pick and roll every time. It suffers from many of the same problems of NBA Live, unsurprisingly.
A few nice touches do make the overall experience a step above the pro game. The crowd makes physical movements in unison when chanting, occasionally funny given the low polygon count of each member. Stoppages of play bring some nice animation routines to add some minor excitement. Sadly, the awful and limited color commentary from Dick Vitale ruins any thoughts of this being an authentic TV viewing.
March Madness 07 feels like a test run for 2008. Purchasing the game apparently enters you into a $60 beta test. Fresh ideas are prevalent, and sadly lost to another sloppy basketball effort from EA. Give this one another year and stick with 2K's College Hoops.
NCAA March Madness 07 is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB. This game can also be found on: PS2.
Article comments
1 - Just Wondering
Why doesn't NCAA March Madness 07 come out for xbox?
2 - Matt Paprocki
I could only assume low sales/lack of demand/poor reviews of the 06 edition, or any of the above combined.