Tomba321 Impressions of NCAA March Madness 2007

[sg_Tomba321]

Camera:
The pitch and zoom hardly does anything.
Pitching up and down only slightly adjust the heights of the broadcast and sideline cameras.
Zooming in and out only marginally brings you up closer while zooming out just puts you in the stands even more.
The new "tracking correction" has two modes. Smooth and fast. fast works best with certain angles and smooth works better with others. it's really a preference more than an actual fix to any angle you play in.

Theres a few issues I see in every sports game and that's camera angles.
Nowadays you'd think they'd want to give us what we see on TV. Not always the case, they always give us "their" impression of what is a broadcast. Such again is the case of the broadcast cam in MM07. If we remember the demo. the demo had this same camera angle yet without any zoom or pitch. zooimng in only goes in a little bit and pitching it doesn't at all pit you more head on either. the sideline cam is no different. It has a very odd way of staying head on to the action but with no tilt. almost as if the camera is on a
rail just going back n forth across the stadium.

Any side cam is crucial in a game esp baskeball and soccer and even hockey.
It's the way the sports have always been seen on tv. So why not try and attempt an authentic view of it?

(For those playing their sports game from a more third person perspective or tackling their gameplay based off the view that best shows their strategies then you need not worry as framerates and animations look better when viewed from a top down or vertcial view)

There isn't really just one bad thing that sticks out of playing in these camera angles as the arenas and sound of the game are very good and the experience had from it is actually something missing in many games. Some stadiums are quiet as if it's somekind of non-important home/away game for a smaller college. while the bigger arenas showcase everything that comes with home game pride.

However,there are inconsitencies throughout and they can be fixed via sliders and options. The main thing isn't only the camera angle though. It's the motion of the game(which any camera angle will react different to due to how the camera sees the movement)

One of the worst things in any game to have now is a bad ball physics. Because you PLAY with a ball most of the focus is on the ball. If you have the physics down for that and the animations along with it to interact then you have no worries. It's only when things ain't right that you start to have issues. Glaring issues.

NCAA March Madness 07's main issue is this. It's what the cameras follow. It's the major factor in how players move. Everything can be linked to the ball. If a ball is too fast then everything is fast if a ball is too slow everything becomes slow. NCAA MM07 is struggling between it's ball and camera interaction and it just pours all of it's problem onto the players animations making for a sometimes very frustrating result per play.

Again there are WAYS around this,but they require experimenting. Ontop of all this everyone's impression of what looks good after tweaks is entirely left up to everyone's own vision. There are things that need to be tweaked automatically that the developers themselves have not been able to catch. (probably due to the fact to their closeness to the project, where they themselves just got used to it)

This though has to be left up to time with the product as it's definately a workable thing. In many cases the gameplay is the thing you have to do to progress and NCAA MM07 career modes are really where this product gets it most lasting power from. So editing it becomes a part of that.

What I'm trying to say is "OUT OF THE BOX" this game is bad and anyone renting it will see that and NOT buy it.

Animations DO flow more naturally but it's not the animations fault it's the ball physics fault if the animations look bad. Dribbling looks good. Running with and walking with the ball is done much better than in that other EA NBA. game. Shooting is chill. Lay-ups and dunks look good, so it's not at all a player animation thing.

What can I do or we do to kind of eleviate the bad ball physics? Not much, AGAIN we have to work AROUND them by bringin up/down sliders and placing the players in strategies. This takes work and I wonder if now anyone will even do this being it so late in the season. Playermakers? Tomba? Don't know yet.


Enough. That's my impression and critique.

[Playmakers]

That's a long detailed impression man.......

But I'm guessing what your saying is the game is good but not right out of the box......which means the camera angles and sliders will need to be tweaked to get the best out of it.

I think in short that's what you were trying to say right?

Nice to hear EA did a better job with animations. I should be getting the game soon.

Also, I think that overhead view they have from what I saw in the demo might actually render the best gameplay overall. I didn't see to many issues with that view even doing the demo version.

Thanks for the impressions.

[sg_Tomba321]

Hey Play!

yeah the game is nowhere near the problem that NBA Live 07 was for us. i see a more balanced game right away it's just a shame about the ball.

In fifa 07 the ball bounces and reacts very realistically but the player animations had to be totally redone to reflect the interaction between the two. i guess NCAA MM07 might have to see what they want to work on first. better ball physics or better player reacts to the ball? Yikes don't wanna flip all that stuff.

[sg_Tomba321]

Originally Posted by Playmakers

Also, I think that overhead view they have from what I saw in the demo might actually render the best gameplay overall. I didn't see to many issues with that view even doing the demo version.

Thanks for the impressions.

Unfortunately the only way i can play soccer,basketball and hockey are with side views because that how i watch the sport on tv. sadly the broadcast isn't that cool and neither is the sideline, but I have to get used to it as opposed to how natural the "other" college game looks

[mikesa_tx]

I just picked up this game lastnight and I must say that I am very impressed with the product. The broadcast camera I really like I experienced with others but just the broadcast one I am enjoying more of. I also think the gameplay is much much better. EA really hit it good on player detail as well as uni's, they all look tight! Game atmosphere is off the hook. The 'Impact' feature is pretty dang sweet too. This game I feel deserves a big rating like I have seen.

It is to early for me to give my rating due to the fact that I have only played two games since I got it, but hell with them two games my rating is going to be pretty good on this.

This is by far the best product EA has put out with college sports. Big ups to them for doing such a good job.

[sg_Tomba321]

Glad you like it. for me it's just about getting the right gameplay setting and thats it. Out of the box i find it very playable though I've gone back to default settings to compare so i knwo after any tweaks i make.

[Skihawks33]

I am happy with the game, however EA needs to get in the next-gen boat and start jacking up the frame rate to 60 FPS, not 30 FPS.

Overall, the game plays well with a few issues with the ball jumping. The presentation is excellent and the impact mode is an excellent way to create immersion.

The dynasty mode is deep. I was amazed at how much time I spent away from playing the actual game. This game will suck you in. Below are pros and cons.

Pros:
--Graphics -- Arenas and player models are nice. The animations are excellent.
--Camera keeps up with the action
--Dynasty mode is super deep
--Updated uniforms (still no alternates)
--Playcalling is actually fun and necessary
--Computer A.I. does a decent job of executing plays
--Atmosphere and crowd sounds are sweet
--Gameplay is fun and addictive

Cons:
--Frame rate
--Fouls, fouls, fouls....Too many fouls
--Defense -- Whatever happen to using a trigger to face up the man with the ball....Makes it difficult to stop penetration
--Pro hop still works too well
--Lack of authentic schedules (no team plays five games in five days)
--Customizable schedules not really customizable (getting rejected by smaller schools is not realistic)...A lot of small schools will play the big boys as a selling point for recruiting
--Lack of ESPN the Magazine

Overall -- 7.8 out of 10

[sg_Tomba321]

well if you wanna start rating it it's really like a 7.5 but so was fifa 07,madden 07 and NHl 07 in my book they're all starts to the series on next gen(ohh i don't even count madden 06)