NCAA Fails to Graduate to the Next Level: NCAA 07 Xbox 360 Review

Last year, the Xbox 360's debut came too late to receive a version of NCAA Football. This year, after some work and a major graphical upgrade, EA's college gridiron game is finally ready for the next generation. Well, sort of.

Gameplay:

This is the staple of any game, especially those of the sports nature. For years, NCAA on the PS2 and Xbox has had some of the best gameplay in football games the world has ever seen. Some say the gameplay was better than Madden. While that might be true on the current gen, on this console, the gameplay definitely took a step backwards.

Let's start on the offensive side of things. Your basic things are back. You have your standard Passing, with option of QB Vision, standard running with the returning juke stick, standard receiving, and standard everything else. That is the problem. This year's NCAA offers nothing new on the offensive side of things besides QB vision which was featured in last years Madden. While the standard offensive abilities are very solid, and sometimes too effective, the gameplay just feels recycled. There is nothing innovative on the offensive side of the ball, and the defensive side is even worse.

Much like the offensive game of the baller, the defense others nothing new itself. In fact, the defending in this game has gotten worse. Tackle timing is off, it is harder to deflect balls, and it seems as though every running back is covered in grease. You will miss tackles left and right and either make big plays, or give up big plays all of the time. When everything is a big play, the game loses its excitement and just becomes incredibly boring.

It seems the only addition to this game is a new way to kick using the right analog stick (which was introduced in EA Sports Arena Football), a momentum meter which does close to nothing to affect the game (even with a full momentum meter I could not stop the other team in certain situations), and the ability to fumble 5 times for a game than you should.

Don't get me wrong. What is in the game mostly works, and the game plays very solidly, but there is no innovation to make the game take a step forward.

Graphics:

This is the shining aspect of this game. Without a doubt there has never been a sports game that looked this good. The players are modeled beautifully and look incredibly realistic. The shine on their helmets, while small is impressive, along with their accumulation of "Big Play" stickers as the year goes on.

About 70 stadiums have been studied vigorously by EA so that they could implement almost every single detail in them and around them, and this really shows. The stadiums are gorgeous and the crowd comes to life like no other. I mean, the FSU fans actually do the tomahawk chop. That's awesome. Even though not every D-1A stadium made it into the game, those that did have been constructed perfectly, and EA should pat themselves on the back.

Just a few griped here. Sometimes the framerate can bog down incredibly. This comes when the camera pans the stadiums crowd. Jaggies can also get very bad. This is annoying, but I don't think it is annoying enough to your enjoyment of the game.

Audio:

This is another high point of the game. The audio is damn good in this game. The hits sound terrible (in a good way), the sound of 22 feet stomping on the turf is great, and the crowd roars wonderfully. This helps the atmosphere in the game a lot as you can often feel like you are in a big rivalry game. I really love the way they did the on field stuff.

The booth is made up of the ESPN trio you should already be used to, and they haven't improved . You will get the same commentary you had in previous games pretty much. I did notice that Lee Corso has gotten crazier in his sayings. I'm not really sure if that us a bad thing or a good thing.

Modes:

The modes are very basic in this game, and that is a little disappointing. You have your standard Quick Game for Exhibitions, online play for some competition, and a Dynasty mode that is very stripped to the bones. The only thing you can do in dynasty is manage your team, play the games, and recruit. Missing is the ability to create your own school, Race for the Heisman mode, and its revamped version, Campus Legend. Why EA could not put these in the game, I don't know, but they really should have as the basic modes do get boring.

Some nice additions are three mini games. You have option dash which is the same as previous years, and that hasn't changed much, but it is still fun. One new addition is Bowling. In this mode you will start at the Ten Yard line. You will have two tries to score a touchdown. Score on the first touchdown and its a strike. It is bowling, except with football, and is very interesting and can get intense. The other game is Tug of War in which you and an opponent will take turns trying to make big plays. First team to score a touchdown wins. Simple, yet addictive. These mini games are great additions to NCAA Football.

Final Verdict:

NCAA Football looks great sounds great, but plays average. EA could have had a real winner here but it is just not innovative enough and there are two few features to keep gamers playing for a long time. You will probably play this until you get all of the achievements and that's it. Nice graphics, but lacking otherwise.

Score: 6.5/10

Official Website Up and Running!

For the first time, I have finally created a website we can call home. Visit the link at the end of the post and peep second home of The Gamer Guys. Don't worry though, this is still the spot for all the latest updates, as it will be updated almost daily, compared to the weekly update of our site. But please enjoy the new web home of The Gamer Guys!

http://thegamerguys.bravehost.com/index.htm

A Different Sort of Zombie Game: Dead Rising Review

What is perhaps the most anticipated Xbox 360 game to date has finally hit store shelves. Dead Rising from Capcom (Who brought you Resident Evil) is a zombie survival game in which you take control of Frank West, a freelance photographer trapped with others in a mall full of the the undead flesh that is zombies. It is your job to uncover the mystery of the attack, and to make it out alive. But it wont be that easy.

Gameplay:

The controls are simple in this game, which is just right for it's style. You have your basic attack and jump, as well as your aim for shooting. Each of these will be used to throw down with the undead, and interact with the games many bosses. AN interesting concept is in the ability to take pictures. When taking a picture, you gain PP points. The more gruesome, funny, or erotic the picture, the more PP points you get. Accumulating PP points by taking pictures, bashing heads in, and completing tasks will allow you to level up your character RPG style, giving you access to more moves that can be unleashed on your foes. This is really nice because some later bosses can get very hard, and so can the zombies if you are not careful.
Two major parts of getting through the game are doing Cases and Scoops. The former of these are the main story of the game. You have 72 hours to complete all of the cases, but each one has its own time limit in between. If you are not in the right place at the right time, the "Truth Will Vanish into the Darkness" and the secret will never get out. The "get it done now" style of gameplay is somewhat disappointing. Some of us, like me, wished to be able to explore the mall freely, and while there are two unlockable modes, none of them let you do this without consequence. But other than the tedium of the time limit, the cases are creative and fun, and they will make you interact with many different characters in the game, and move along a good, albeit hard to believe, story.
The second set of missions, called scoops, is a different story. Scoops to not move along the story line in any way. Instead they are cell phone calls which tell you about some victims that need rescuing, or bosses that need ass-kickings. This would be fine and all, but there is one problem. YOU CANT READ WHAT THE SCOOPS SAY!Well if you don't have an HDTV you cant, unless you sit two inches away from the TV. This s a glitch or a mistake that almost ruined the game for me. I often found myself just sitting around waiting for a new case to start instead of doing scoops, which is really boring. Hopefully a patch will come out to fix that. Other than that, the amount of weapons you can use and stuff you can do with those weapons is great, and the game is just plain fun to play.

Graphics:

The amount of detail in this game is astounding. While the models of the characters are not as beautiful as some other games, you cannot blame the developers because they have succeeded in putting THOUSANDS of characters on screen at once. This makes it the true first Next Gen game in my opinion. Going into the tunnel and seeing 2 thousand zombies about to swarm at you is a site to see, and can really get the adrenaline pumping.
The mall itself is also very nice. I have never seen such detailed groceries on a store shelf. O_O. Anyway, each environment has its own unique look. The park looks like a park, each area of the mall is themed differently, and it just feels right. That is all you can ask in a game that is pulling such graphical power with its NPCs. The graphics are just top notch.

Audio:

The audio that is in the game, mainly the voice actors, are really good. Each character has a voice in cut scenes that fits them perfectly. This was a concern of mine, but they did a great job. The music sounds epic, but with a rock feel. It brings a new edge and adds to the already hectic atmosphere. The growl of the zombies feeds the ambiance with fear and the feeling of being trapped. Like I said, where there is audio, it is great. But where there is not audio is a major problem.

I mentioned a problem with the very small, unreadable text before. Now, this glitch or mistake wouldn't be a problem if you could hear what the characters were saying instead of having to read it. But guess what? Aside from cut scenes, characters have no audio! This is inexcusable. In this generation, I want to hear the people talk to me, not squint at little blobs on the bottom of my TV that re supposed to represent words. This ruins part of the atmosphere of the game. I would like to hear cell phone conversations, and conversations with NPCs, not rip my eyeballs out and put them in front of the TV to read them. Big mistake developers.

Modes:

Not much in the modes department here. You have 72 Hour Mode, which I have been discussing, and two unlockable modes that you can uncover by getting certain endings. I wont ruin these for you as I would need to post spoilers to explain them. I'll let you have the fun in unlocking them.

Final Verdict:

Dead Rising pretty much lives up to the hype. It has gone from the wacky picture taking game that we first saw a year or so ago, to this gruesome, yet beautiful survival horror game. It does have a few mistakes that bog the game down a lot, but is still a solid game. Capcom has released another good zombie game, but some unforgiving mishaps have forced me to give a lower score.

Score: 7.5/10

1 Yard Away From a Title: Madden 07 360 Review

Its the time of the year any sports fan loves. The NFL season is right around the corner, MLB is heading into the playoffs, and the year's Madden is being stocked on store shelves. While normally a joyous occasion, last year's iteration on the Xbox 360 did not titillate fans as much as it enraged them. But did this years Next Gen gridiron juggernaut redeem its disastrous first year? Absolutely.

Gameplay:

With that being said, this years Madden 07 is far from perfect, but it does bring the best football experience that I have ever gotten from a football game. After the defensive additions in the past (some which have inexplicably been taken out) and last years beefed up passing game, EA felt it was time to give the old running game a kick in the ass. Here comes the big Gameplay addition this year, Run to Daylight. Unlike years of the past, you can no longer blame your lead blocker from going the wrong way (instead you ll be blaming your dumb AI running back for not running through the hole you made for him) because with the simple press of a button, you can take control of any blocker and lay the defenders out with the flick of a stick. While a nice addition that extradites the lead blocker woes from past copies, it can sometimes make the running game TOO easy, making bug rushing gains commonplace. I often found myself either disappointed in how easy busting my running back loose was or how screaming at my dumb ball carrier for not going where he was supposed to. Its definitely sometimes a hit or a miss when it comes to Run to Daylight.
Another addition to the running game is the new Highlight Stick which will let you put the moves on the defenders with a push of the Right Stick. While this feature claims to separate Power Rushers from Finesse Rusher, I was still able to truck over 300 pound defenders using Tiki Barber, which just isn't right. But aside from that, the HS is flawless and really gives you more control over your running game.
The passing remains the same as last year. You can still use the QB Vision if you feel like, but it is not on by default. Everything is the same.
The defensive side of the ball has taken a step or two back. You can no longer set individual assignments for linebackers, and WR Shading has been thrown out the window. For what reason, I don't know, but this definitely leaves the defense helpless against cheap plays. The Defensive AI can also be frustrating as your Defensive Back will often run away from the ball instead of going for an interception or knock down.
The gameplay has its flaws, but still remains solid and enjoyable.

Graphics:

This is a definite upgrade over Madden 06 on the 360. While last year saw many players have the same player models, there is much more variety this year. Chad Johnson looks like Chad Johnson. Eli Manning looks like Eli Manning, and so on. This really adds to the already fantastic environment. The stadiums come alive with thousands of individual 3D models all jumping and screaming as your team goes on a great drive, and sitting as you get waxed by the visitors. It just creates an unreal atmosphere.
The field is great also. The stadiums look like their real counterparts, and the land acts like it should. You can see the feel deteriorate as behemoths rip it apart, and puddles form as the rain falls harder. It really is a site to see and adds the ultimate realism to the game. However, Referees are still inexplicably missing from the on field action. Luckily that doesn't hurt the atmosphere much.

Audio:

Best.Audio.Ever. That describes the sounds of this game when played on a good surround sound system. The crowd roars and boos; the players talk endless amounts of trash; and the QBs audible just like they would in real life. Adding to the greatness of player chatter is that most of the voices you here (especially from the QBs) are actual voices of their real NFL counterparts. You don't know how awesome a feel that creates. One downfall is that there is still no Madden or Michaels in the 360 version. The Radio Guy from last year is still present, and yes, still very boring. Other than that, the audio is perfect. Make sure you get a sub woofer so you can feel those hits!

Modes:

The standard modes are back. You have Exhibition, Practice, Online (Exhibition and Franchise games!) and Franchise as your returning mainstays that you will find no surprises in. New to this year is a revamped SuperStar Mode, in which you will create a character and make him a Hall of Famer. This year, you can only control YOUR player, and not the whole team. This is definitely challenging, and the weird camera angles can make positions such as QB and WR very frustrating to start with, but you will get used to them soon. SuperStar mode is fun for a little bit, but not so ground breaking that you will want to play it for hours.
New mini games also make their debut in this years version, including the now infamous 40 Yard Dash and Bench Press. Each one has them use a combination of Sticks and Triggers to get desired results, which for most, never come. These mini games will be more frustrating than fun for you, but are needed to assign stats(Why?!) to a created player. Nice modes, but still lacking in the variety department.

Final Verdict:

Madden 07 on the 360 definitely delivers the fun this year. While lacking in some areas, it is still the best experience I have had playing a football game, and with some slider tweaks, you cant get a more realistic football game. It is close to taking in the rock for 6, but is still a little short of a championship.

Score: 8/10

Up and Running

Finally I have a home for my thoughts and opinions on games. After some website design failures, I have decided to make this our current home for reviews and editorials, until we get an actual website of course. But while I work the kinks out of my own designing machine, this will do. It doesnt matter if we have a website or not, are review quality remains the same. So sit back and stay tuned as the reviews come rolling in. Feel free to email the administrator at ThePatriot06@gmail.com and leave any comments you like.