Don't be quick to judge just because it's another EA football game; NCAA 07 provides single player and multiplayer fun.
The game engine has some slightly annoying additions such as the bullet time camera that rears its ugly head every once in a while. More times than not it serves to annoy, but it can actually be helpful when locating a crucial fumble or making a tackle right on the first down marker.
Being easy to pick up, it takes a good amount of skill to master an offense or defense. The home field advantage is very noticeable in the larger stadiums, but even in smaller venues a defense can be helped by the crowd. Jamming L2 to see the linebacker do a litte ditty is always rewarding, of course. There are a few hot routes on both sides of the ball that aren't covered on screen, but they are there in the manual. All more reason to read the manual!! At least one of these smart routes is very useful: the first down route. This will on almost every play extend a receivers route automatically to go for a first down.
EA has thrown in some wacky twists to the option plays. It takes a lot of patience to pull off a "WR Opt HB Pass" but it can be humorous as well as effective. The kicking game has been radically changed, but it is very user friendly, especially if one takes the time to.... actually practice it. Although difficult to get the right analog stick motion down at first, with some time, kicking "Great" kicks should be no problem at all. Punting is a little bit harder to figure out in terms of being incredibly precise, but it works the same way.
Playing against a friend is where the game is its most fun, especially with all-mascot teams. Although real football teams will rarely just throw deep passes or run punt blocks as defense, the silliness can prove to be just that and more.
Dynasty mode remains the core of the single player game. There is a great amount of freedom in scheduling and managing players redshirt status, but one aspect that disappoints me is the randomness of recruiting. The in season recruiting mode can allow even a lowly school to get a highly rated player, but the off season recruiting is based entirely on the team's performance at that position during the season. Obviously if one's tight end has a stellar year, then an incredible amount of tight ends will want to go to the school. This can be a bit annoying when holes in other positions need to be filled, but it makes some sense.
The create a school feature has some good detail, but it could use some more. The funniest part has to be making some bright pink uniforms for the "Big State Dongs" located in Fartsburg, NY. Childish humor aside, it is satisfying to create an underdog team and take it through Dynasty mode.
The graphics for the PS2 are almost industry standard by now, but having a good TV and component cables does make this game look very nice, even if the players and coaches have incredibly little unique expressions due to NCAA regulations. After many long sessions, the menu fight songs can get annoying, but not nearly as much as the poor licensed music selection that was there in NCAA 06. If you're looking for a simple football game without the crazy features of the more recent Maddens, but retaining a level of precise skill and depth (rather than graphics :P ), then you can't go wrong with the PS2 edition of NCAA 07.