WAA - NCAA March Madness 07

Where does the time go? It's already time for WAA!

In honor of the NCAA basketball tournament, which has been in full swing for a week now, let's give some awards to one of the first college basketball games on the 360 - NCAA March Madness 07. It's not a particularly good game (or a particularly good Achievement set), but I every game gets its turn eventually.

Here are the awards:

The "One With Combat"Award: "Floor General Play"
You need to call a "Floor General Play" (more generally known as a...play). While on offense, hit any direction on the digital pad to call a play and grab this Achievement.

The "Mile High Club" Award: "100% Free Throws"
This one is tough because it has to be done on the highest difficult (All American). You need to make a minimum of 10 free throws in one game without missing any, and the timing can be a bit screwy. To make free throws on All American, pull down on the right stick and then push back up in a straight line BEFORE the ball reaches your player's forehead. You can make this Achievement even easier by setting the Free Throw Difficulty bar to the minimum.

The "Seriously..." Award: "51 Rebounds"
No grinding with this Achievement set, though it will take a while to accumulate 51 boards with one player. Try shooting from midcourt to increase the number of bricks you can rebound.

The "Little Rocket Man" Award: "All-American Victory"
Show off your mastery of basketball skills by beating the computer on the highest difficult with default settings. No cheating by gimping the computer on this one! Though if you want to use a great team against a terrible one, we won't tell...

The Scientist Gone Gamer Award: "All-American Hero"
The icons in this game are pretty lame, which is sadly typical of sports titles. I like the use of the star here to denote an All American Hero, though why you'd earn that title for winning a game without shooting a 3-point shot is unclear.

Achievement Set Rating - 3
The icon art is lame and really boring. The Achievements themselves are largely derivative. No awards for winning March Madness, a conference tournament, or anything else related to career mode? Unimpressive...though I give some credit for not saddling the game with a bunch of repetitive online Achievements.

Achievement Difficulty Rating - 3
Slightly more difficult than your typical sports game, but still pretty easy if you abuse game sliders and make yourself an elite team.