For some reason, EA's NCAA Football series has always lagged behind Madden NFL in terms of graphics, but often ups the ante with new gameplay tweaks. It's been a proving ground for new football features, like precision passing. The next installment, NCAA Football 07, looks to finally catch up to EA's premier football title with new visual polish, and adds just as many unique gameplay elements.
The most unique addition is probably the new kicking interface. Instead of just clicking buttons as the meter fills, you use the analog stick to pull back and push forward for the kick, which works especially cool for punting. EA also experiments with some new on-field enhancements in NCAA Football, such as the Jump the Snap feature - you can press a button to try to anticipate the snap of the ball, thus blitzing faster than normal. There are new, easier-to-use smart routes for both offense and defense, and the much more realistic defensive playbooks are seriously plentiful now - so watch out, Madden fans! EA's new relationship with ESPN has resulted in some cool additions as well, namely: more classic college games, real-time NCAA scores and news through Xbox Live, and a sports ticker.
