NCAA 07 plays fairly well overall, but certainly can use some tweaking. For starters, the fact that the defense can be beat and still step in front of the dribbler and immediately stop him can often get frustrating. I also found that passing can sometimes be a chore when multiple teammates are in the same area. It is not that feasible to manually select them in a fast-break situation, as you can imagine. There also appear to be bugs that manage to be both subtle and blatant, the biggest being that after half-time, the computer team will often inbound the ball without warning and without the players even being set yet, which is quite disorienting.
With that aside, the core of this year’s March Madness is definitely the Dynasty Mode. There’s something about not only playing, but also managing a team from the coach’s shoes. To build up your school’s franchise, you’ll have to not only win ball games, but also keep up with things like training the players between games, and working on recruiting high school players for your college’s future. While I didn't care about such things based on initial impressions, after getting into it, it became quite entertaining to take total control of the franchise.
One new and fairly well-implemented gameplay enhancement is in the Impact Control. As you do well, your Impact Meter will slowly go up. But for every time the opponent one-ups you, you’ll lose a point. Once you have enough spots filled, you’ll be able to perform actions like pumping up the crowd or your teammates. If you manage to put a run together and fill your meter, you’ll also have the chance to perform an Impact Moment move that will greatly enhance your performance and decrease the morale of your opponent. When done at the right time, your team will be able to string together a run that will spur a comeback or ward off the trailing rival.
Some other quibbles with NCAA 07 March Madness include choppy cut-scenes and openings for games and the lack of good presentation. During gameplay replays, the camera is so far from the action that the replays may as well not exist. There’s also the fact that the game features ESPN, but even the special television games that you’ll receive for great play don’t actually have any indication or special events on-screen. It should be said, however, that within the main interface, the ESPN brand is great. You’ll be treated to in-menu and up to the minute sporting news through Xbox Live. You’ll also be able to connect to special audio and video channels that also contain more sporting news.
