Since the Xbox 360 came out, EA Sports has adopted a curious policy of less for more: The 360 versions of popular stand-bys such as Madden, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and NBA Live are basically pricier stripped-down skeletons of their last-gen console equivalents. At launch time, that extra $10 seemed like a steep price to pay for pretty. More than a year later, EA hasn't changed its ways with NCAA 07 Football, which is almost an entirely different (and again deeper) game on PS2 and Xbox than it is on the 360. But as Rockstar's exemplary Table Tennis proved earlier this year, more doesn't always equal more; sometimes, it's better to have just a few well-refined features than a bunch of half-executed ones.
Capturing that fevered college atmosphere has always been a key point of departure between NCAA Football and Madden; new this year on all versions is a "momentum meter" that shifts around based on key plays and affects a team's performance on future downs. (Or it's supposed to, anyway.) Beyond that negligible improvement, the PS2/Xbox modifies and expands the previous edition's "Race For The Heisman" mode (renamed "Campus Legend") by presenting your homemade athlete with a more complete college experience; in order to succeed on the field, you also need to balance practice and studying with a healthy social life. In other words, you have to do a lot of tedious crap before game-time. The 360 will only take you through a season, but when the graphics are that gorgeous and the controls that flawless, what else do you need?