College Hoops 2K6 – XB – Review

It’s only December, but thanks to
Visual Concepts and 2K Sports, college basketball fans get to experience the
madness of March for the second time in only two months with the release of
College Hoops 2K6.

When it comes to college basketball
titles, most gamers stay loyal to their game of choice: the March Madness series
from EA offers fast-paced action and unrivaled atmosphere, while the College
Hoops series goes for slightly less flare in exchange for a shockingly realistic
interpretation of the game.

Think of it as more of a Kentucky
vs. Louisville rivalry, with March Madness representing the Louisville
Cardinals, and the College Hoops series belonging to the Kentucky Wildcats.
Sure, everyone likes to see the run ‘n ‘gun three-point slinging style of the
Cardinals, but the out-of-control pace of their game and questionable defensive
pressure often leads to some unnecessary losses. The Wildcats game, however,
might come at a slightly slower pace, but their relentless defense and
meticulous play calling often leads to more wins, and an overall more rewarding
style of basketball. Thankfully, Visual Concepts (Kentucky) has implemented some
features this year that will help pick up the pace a bit, and these additions
are so good that any EA Sports fans (Cardinals) who decide to make the switch
over will ultimately be very glad they did.

Most of these new features I speak
of exist in the new control scheme, which has been taken straight from Visual
Concepts NBA counterpart. Most notable of the additions is the new isomotion
ball-control system. You are still required to use the right analog stick to
perform fancy jukes and crossovers, but now you have to hold either the left or
right trigger down as a modifier button to activate these moves. This has mainly
been done in order to make way for the new shot stick, which has now been mapped
to the right analog stick as well, only it doesn’t require the use of either
trigger buttons.

Using the right analog stick as
another choice for shooting is very simple and intuitive, but it does offer more
than enough shot type variety to keep things interesting. Lay-ups and fade-away
jumpers are easily performed when on the run with just a simple flick of the
stick, and post moves are performed in nearly the same fashion. When backing
down a defender, a combination of shots like dunks, spins to either side, and
up-and-unders can be pulled off by pressing the stick in different directions.
It should go as noted that this benefits different types of players in a
multitude of ways, as some of the more powerful centers can use their strength
to advantage, while athletic players will likely be able to spin quickly to
either side of the defender for an easy basket. 

Of course spending a lot of your
time playing down on the block will more than likely reward you with a few trips
to the line, and thankfully, the right analog stick is used for free throws as
well. No annoying shot meters or cross hairs here, just simply pull the right
analog stick down to start the free throw motion and then press upwards on the
stick to release the ball. This all happens in a very fluid motion that really
makes you feel like you are actually shooting the basketball.  I highly doubt
that we will ever see another type of free-throw system, at least not for a long
time, as this type of shooting mechanic is nearly flawless and easy on the eyes.

Shooting the basketball isn’t the
only area that has seen an upgrade, thankfully. The new “coach’s clipboard”
helps make in-game coaching decisions more efficient and less of a chore. During
each stoppage in play a coaches menu will pop up onscreen where you can change
everything from your lineup to your style of play. This lets you make individual
defensive assignments on the fly, adjust your rebound pressure, and even set up
different types of traps that can cancel out your opponent’s style of offense at
that moment. This will have to be done frequently of course, because as I
mentioned earlier, College Hoops practically requires you to use your brain on
both sides of the ball in order to be effective.

Each team usually plays very similar
to their real-life counterpart, so learning a bevy of different plays on both
offense and defense will certainly be to your advantage. If a team is playing
3-2 zone for instance, you’re not going to have much luck down low, so
overloading one of the corners will help open up a shot more easily. In
addition, the same goes for trying to score against a 2-3 zone as well, only
this time you will want to go down low for a 1-on-1. To make things easier each
team has numerous plays at their disposal, many of which come from that
respective team’s real playbook. Some offensive sets work well against
man-to-man defenses, while others work well against zones, but it will
ultimately be up to you to memorize these plays in order to succeed. This may
seem like a lot of work, but much like the complicated isomotion freestyle
control, taking the time to learn it will pay enormous dividends in the end.

If the intricacies of play calling
are a little too overbearing for you, you may want to explore the new Coach Mode
feature for a little help. This lets you call all the shots, and then lay back
and watch the computer do all the dirty work for you. This lets you grow
accustom to some of the various plays without the burden of actually pulling
them off. This will be somewhat boring for veterans of the series, but for
newcomers this just might be the perfect training tool to help you get started.
  

Of course, the main reason people
love to play college basketball games is for the extremely deep Legacy Mode.
This lets you experience all the ins and outs of year after year as a college
head coach, where you must fulfill contracts, recruit players, and hopefully
make it to the big dance or possibly get fired for not doing so. New to this
year’s Legacy mode is the ability to watch a season preview video along with the
coveted Selection Sunday special, which is hosted by Clark Kellogg and Greg
Gumbel. The season preview highlights all the pre-season’s top-rated teams along
with the most highly touted players in the league. And the Selection Sunday is
of course the D-day of college basketball, where teams are shown waiting in
anticipation as all 64 spots of the playoff tree are slowly filled. This is
especially fun when playing with some of the smaller schools as you really never
know you have received a bid to the big dance until your team’s name is called,
which is extremely fun and tense at the same time.

Recruiting in this year’s game has
also seen some improvement, and is probably the most realistic it has ever been.
You no longer have to recruit players just based on their skill level, as now
you can examine other attributes such as athleticism, intelligence, and
potential. This really helps you land the appropriate kid for your program, so
if you want to opt for hard-working intelligent players instead of a couple blue
chips who will be gone in a year or so you can do that. You also aren’t
restricted to just high school seniors anymore, as you have the option of going
after the younger kids now. Be warned, though, that just because a particular
kid is having the year of his life as a junior, it doesn’t mean that he will
play that good as a senior. The total opposite can also happen, because if
players that you think you’ve locked up for commitment play really well and
start to receive a lot of attention from the bigger schools, they may become a
big-shot all of the sudden and abandon you completely. The only problem to this
system is that if it seems a bit too in depth for your taste, you may be out of
luck. The computer does very little to help you land recruits, so if you don’t
stay on top of it throughout the season, you may not end up with a very good
recruiting class at all.

With College Hoops having many
features from its NBA older brother this year, one would think that the
presentation of the game would have also seen the same facelift, and although it
has to a degree, an overall lack of polish keeps it from being what it should’ve
been. The most notable of things missing is the ESPN license, so all you Jay
Bilas and Mike Patrick fans will have to grow accustom to Verne Lundquist and
Bill Raftery. This isn’t necessarily a downgrade to say the least, but despite
the duo’s great job, they just don’t seem to match up to the wonderful job done
by last year’s team, but hey … at least it’s not Billy Packer. I did expect the
player models to receive the same amount of attention that the NBA players have,
and although they don’t really look bad per se, they just appear slightly blocky
and lack the progression that we’ve come to expect from the 2K series.

Despite the lackluster presentation,
College Hoops 2K6 is still the most enjoyable college game on the market. What
it lacks in flare is more than made up with its depth and realistic take on the
sport. Therefore, if you prefer a brain over beauty then this is the college
game for you, if not, you may want to go elsewhere.

Gameplay: 8.5
The new isomotion and shooting mechanics are welcomed indeed, and teams that
play like their real-life counterparts add to the personality. The action isn’t
perfect, though, so hopefully the next iteration will have more animations on
both ends of the ball.

Graphics: 7.9
The overall package is nicely done, but what’s up with the player models? They
are in no way comparable to the NBA series at all, which is a shame because it
could’ve elevated the experience to the next level.

Sound: 7.9
Appropriate crowd chants and fight songs help make the atmosphere come to life,
though I did think some of the music selection was a bit questionable. In
addition, a few major schools fight songs are MIA as well, but yet other smaller
schools are spot on.

Difficulty: Medium
Tons of gameplay sliders exist to help customize the experience that’s right for
you.

Concept: 7.9
Tons of new features in all aspects of the game. If only the presentation could
have been upgraded a bit, this game would be nearly perfect.

Multiplayer: 8.0
Leader boards, leagues, and tournaments are all available, and work like a
charm. There was also very little lag to be found in nearly all matches I
played.

Overall: 8.1
The new gameplay features and impressive depth make this year’s College Hoops
the best so far in the series.