Sega
continues full-speed ahead with what has got to be one of the most daring and
most brilliant business strategies ever in the world of videogames, releasing
all of their flagship sports titles for lowly, budget friendly price of
$19.99, in an effort to make inroads into EA’s stranglehold on sports
simulations. Since the original launch of the 2K series on the Dreamcast, the
series has always been about quality and solid gameplay; constantly upgrading
from season-to-season beyond the minimal new coat of paint and roster updates.
Despite this, EA has continued to dominant across the sales board, hence this
year’s strategy of releasing their sports titles at less than half the cost of
EA’s franchises. However, when this strategy was announced many gamers took
pause, fearing that they’d be getting last year’s game with only updated
rosters or worse. It was only natural to fear that with the budget price, fans
would also be getting budget quality. Thankfully those fears were quickly
eliminated with the launch of their NFL franchise, a trend that continues with
ESPN College Hoops 2K5.
For anyone
that prefers the college game to the NBA, which is probably most of the free
world after the “Malice at the Palace” incident, you’ll find virtually
anything and everything you could ever want in a college basketball sim. The
heart and soul of the game is the Legacy Career mode, which puts you in
complete control as you oversee your program from also-ran to national
powerhouse. There’s an almost overwhelming amount of work to be done and tasks
to oversee in the Legacy mode. You are in control of everything from hiring
assistant coaches to recruiting to scouting an upcoming opponent to
determining what aspect your team will focus on at practice, and that’s all
before you’ve even played a game. Believe me when I say that no stone has been
left unturned. You’ll have to become adept at using the time allotted to these
details proficiently if you ever have any hope of being successful, which
means delegating whatever tasks you can to your assistants. It’s a bit
daunting at first mainly because there is so much to do, much of it requires a
lot of trial-and-error until you come up with a routine that’s most beneficial
to you, but with time you’ll be breezing through these tasks. One feature
about the Legacy mode that I especially appreciated was that unlike most
sports sims that allow you first choice of the litter, your choice for your
first time is from a meager list of also-rans. While I can see where this
might irritate some gamers, it really goes a long ways towards realism since
no first-time coach is ever going to have a shot at the Duke’s and Kentucky’s
of the world. Beyond that, it also stretches the amount of time you’ll spend
with the game as you climb the coaching ranks, creating a great sense of
accomplishment when you move on to greener pastures.
For those
gamers who find the Legacy Open mode too confining or those who absolutely,
positively must play with their favorite team, the OPEN mode has been
included, which is in essence the Legacy mode without the constraints. In
additions to these modes, there is also the requisite versus mode, as well as
tournament, gym rat, rivalry and online. Seeing as Sega was the first to
feature online sports sims all the way back with the launch of the Dreamcast,
it goes without saying that their online content and gameplay is among the
best available.
The greatest
strength of Sega’s sports titles has always been its gameplay and control,
often times surpassing that of its competitor, a feat that it recreates here.
Like the tasks associated with simply running your team, almost anything you
can see players doing in the real world, you can pull of effortlessly in this
game. Crossover dribbles, posting up in the paint, pull-up jumpers, and
drawing a charge – it’s all here and easy to pull off.
A cool
aspect to the gameplay that’s been included beyond the ability to call the
plays of your choice is your ability to adjust the tempo of your game, as well
as deciding how hard you want your team to crash the boards with a touch of
the D-pad. It’s a handy little feature that gives you even more control over
the game. If there is one drawback to this it is the fact that you are forced
to stop your ballhandler’s movement while you adjust the sliders with the
D-Pad. It’s not a big gripe, but it would have been great if it didn’t
interrupt the gameplay to the degree that it does. Which brings me to my other
complaints, the first of which is the disparity between the haves and
have-nots in regards to the players. Your superstars are especially good, but
not your average, ordinary player that is usually the heart and soul of any
team. You can rarely ever count on your “role” players having much bearing on
the outcome of the game, which is a shame. One of the most enduring ideas of
collegiate sports is the difference average players often make. My other gripe
is with CH2K5’s new free throw system. Instead of relying on meters and timing
to shoot your free throws, you must now time a button press at the top of your
player’s shooting motion. This creates problems in several different ways, the
biggest of which is the fact that each player has a different shooting motion
making it virtually impossible to sink shots from the charity stripe with any
consistency. Which brings me to the next issue, this whole system just feels
too luck-based rather than skill based making every free throw an adventure.
Finally the last issue is that the game has a seemingly endless amount of
dynamic camera angles from which you must launch your shot. These angles look
great, but it’s definitely not conducive to controlling free throws.
Luckily,
CH2K5 makes up for its deficiencies in the free-throw department with one of
the most innovative passing systems in basketball sims. A huge, but often
overlooked aspect of basketball at any level is the passing game. Great
passing can create open spaces for a teammate to drive or to drain the three,
as well as the fact that it keeps defenders on their heels. In most basketball
sims, passing is point-to-point, chest-to-chest, there’s no bounce passes or
leading a teammate to the hoop, which is where CH2K5 one-ups the rest. For
starters, you pass either by using icons or by simply pushing the left analog
stick towards your target, which is no different than anyone else, but where
it differs is in the ability to lead your teammates with your passes. It’s
amazing how much difference something so simple and something evidently so
overlooked for so long, can make up. The offenses that you call suddenly come
to life. You can zip the ball to a teammate taking advantage of a backdoor
without him having to break step. You can lead a teammate just coming off a
pick to a wide-open basket. And if a defender commits to trying to defend the
pass, then you just might see your player try to thread a bounce pass past
him. But be careful, just like real life, things such as bounce passes and
leading a teammate can prove more dangerous. You’ve got to be pick and choose
when to use these tactics because they are more apt to be intercepted.
Graphically
the game is solid enough, but it just comes off as a tad underwhelming. Up
close the player models look fairly decent with a nice variety of
unique-looking models, but like the rest of the graphical package, there’s
just not much of a wow factor. However, once the camera pulls back for the
gameplay, then the player models fair much better, thanks to very fluid, slick
animations. The players move so smoothly that from a distance they appear to
actually be human. There’s a ton of animations included seemingly for every
position the human body kind find itself in, each as smooth and lifelike as
the next. Unfortunately, the arenas and courts don’t fare quite as well. It’s
not that they look particularly bad; they just look sparse and kind of plain.
There are some decent reflections on the court, but whereas you can almost
feel the texture of the court in other games, you don’t really get a feel for
the floor here. The crowds are decent with quite a bit of animation, but once
again, it just comes off plain.
Of all the
pieces that fit together to make this game what it is, the sound is its
weakest. Before we get to that, let’s talk about its strengths – the best of
which is the commentary team of Jay Bilas and Mike Patrick. These two call the
game as if they were really there watching the action, providing excellent
play-by-play in addition to well-timed anecdotes or stats. In addition to the
commentary, there’s an impressive roster of fight songs that fill the air,
which is without a doubt one of the best parts of collegiate sports
atmosphere. So what’s the worst part? Sometimes, there is no sound. Nada,
nothing, just complete silence in a building slam packed full of rabid fans
and college students. What? There are points in the game where inexplicably
the sound just disappears. Making matters worse is that sometimes during the
silence, you’ll hear a single person let out a cheer and it actually echoes
like an empty gymnasium would. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of rhyme or
reason for this because it happens both during exciting times and not-so
exciting times. Beyond that, there is the usual jawing of the players, the
squeaking of sneakers, and cheers from the crowd.
In closing,
this is a really solid and incredibly deep college basketball sim. Fans will
have the ability to control every single facet of the game from the action on
the court to the action behind the scenes. The basketball action is intense
and fast paced, aptly recreating the passion and emotion that makes college
basketball what it is. The slick ESPN-style presentation also adds immensely
to the atmosphere and feeling of the action. Beyond the plain visuals and the
disappearing sound, there’s a whole lot to love here. For fans of the sport,
you definitely cannot go wrong here, a fact further hammered home by it’s
$19.99 price tag.
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Gameplay: 9.0
As is the norm
with Sega’s 2K5 sports sims, the gameplay is spot on. Gamers will be able to
pull off virtually any move or action with ease. The computer AI is
challenging, keeping the game fresh and exciting. Aside from the disparity
betweens the stars and role players, you could not ask for better basketball
action.
Graphics: 8.0
The graphics can
best be summed up in a single word, plain. There’s nothing earth shattering in
the graphics department, but there is nothing bad either. It’s all pretty
Spartan in its approach, but if that’s what we’ve got to give up for a great
playing game, then so be it.
Sound: 7.3
If I could grade
the game purely on the commentary and the sound effects of the game being
played then this score would definitely rate two points higher, but the
frequent and sudden disappearance of sound in a college basketball game is
unforgivable.
Difficulty: Medium
With various
difficulty levels, as well as sliders for virtually every aspect of the game,
there shouldn’t be any gamers that can’t find their comfort zone.
Concept: 8.0
There’s nothing
new and revolutionary about college basketball sims, but its obvious that Sega
strove to create the most authentic experience ever. All of the off-court
tasks, as well as the way that they addressed the passing game deserves
praise.
Multiplayer: 9.0
Multi-tap support allows up to eight
gamers to play at once, which serves as an incredibly intense and fast-paced
experience, which blooms to ten players online. The game performs flawlessly
in multiplayer games off or online.
Overall: 8.5
The overall score
is weighted towards the fact that the basketball action is among the best
available. The game has some technical issues that seem to affect mostly the
graphics and sound, but if gamers can get past that fact, they’ll be rewarded
with a very deep basketball game. For the most part the game does an admirable
job of capturing the strengths of the collegiate game versus that of the pro
game. Fans of sports sims will find an awful lot to like and enjoy here. All
in all, a great effort from Sega.
