NCAA March Madness 06 – XB – Review

EA’s March Madness series has always
been synonymous with college basketball. However, although it outsells the
competition, and features the voice of college hoops himself, Dick Vitale, there
have always been a few shortcomings that have kept each year’s respective title
from making it to the Final Four. Thankfully, 06 has implemented some key new
gameplay aspects that really help balance out the action, and possibly even make
this the best so far in the series. The shortcomings I speak of also still
exist, though, and ultimately keep 06 from being as enjoyable as it could’ve
been.

The biggest addition to this year’s
game is no doubt the new “Lockdown Stick,” which lets you counter the explosive
offensive ability from past years. By pressing and holding the right analog
stick down while playing defense, you’re able to play pressure-tight defense on
the ball carrier in hopes of causing a turnover. This isn’t as easy as it
sounds; however, as you also have to move your player in sync with the ball
carrier or he will blow right by you. There is also a good chance that if you
play tight aggressive defense that you may be able to trap the ball carrier, or
force his body into a position that makes it easy for you to strip the ball.

Another new defensive ability that
plays heavily into the “Lockdown Stick” feature is the option to call plays on
the fly. This is particularly important for people who like to use defensive or
guard-heavy teams like Kentucky that have the ability to use the full-court
press and cause turnovers. By using the lockdown stick and play-calling features
in conjunction, you can really set up traps and make it hard for your opponent
to beat the press. I did find that this worked excessively often, and even after
adjusting the sliders to the best of my ability, I was still causing around 20
turnovers a game, even against good teams. To make matters even worse, the same
repetitive stealing animation is used over and over again, which becomes
slightly bothersome to say the least.

The Dynasty Mode, which is no doubt
the biggest selling point for the series, has been improved upon, but still
manages to drop the ball occasionally. The roster problems from the past couple
years are still present, as you can only have 12 players on your team instead of
the usual 14. This creates a big problem for serious b-ball fanatics because at
least two of your favorite team’s players will have to be left out, which is
absolutely unacceptable. I’m not sure if this is due to limited disc space or
what, but simply leaving out a few unnecessary things like the 20-plus intro
sequences might have solved the problem and cleared enough room to get the
rosters right.

Not all is bad, though, as the new
Gameplan Scheduling allows for greater opponent scouting. This gives you full
access to their top scorers, best rebounders, and even which type of plays your
weekly opponent prefers to run, but there are limited amounts of times you can
use this feature, so only doing this against key opponents is an absolute must.
When the game is over you are treated to either a plus or a minus in each
category that you selected, which lets you judge your coaching success for that
game. This isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it does add some much-needed
variety to the Dynasty Mode, and makes you aware of the best players in the
league if nothing else.

Recruiting has also been retooled as
well, and now plays out much like March Madness’ football cousin, which is
definitely a good thing. Recruiting is now something that takes place weekly,
and so much so that not giving your recruits their much-needed attention from
week to week could cause them to go elsewhere. There are really only a few
options available each week and it usually pays off to do all the things on the
list which include home visits, player scouting, and campus visits just to name
a few. As long as your school is reputable, and you spend the appropriate amount
of time recruiting, you can probably lock down all of your scholarships before
the season ends. While playing with Kentucky this became increasingly easy, but
in my other Dynasty Mode with High Point it was a few years before I could land
a difference maker.

Another issue that hardcore college
fans will have a problem with is the horrible statistic and player balancing.
What I mean by this is that every time you check the leader boards,
All-American, or Player of the Year race you will notice that at least half the
players are noticeably out of place. The last time I checked players from Brown,
Canisius, and Southern Methodist didn’t exactly light it up last year, but in
March Madness 06 they’re up for the All- American list. In fact, I recall seeing
one finalist list, Player of the Year to be exact, that had three teammates from
the same school on it, which is just impossible in college hoops. These may in
fact seem like minor gripes and are overlookable for the average Joe, but to the
serious college fan, it’s minor details like this that make the game enjoyable
and seem life-like.

On the bright side of the action,
though, players will be happy to see that many new animations have been created
this year. Most of them take place on the defensive side of the ball, which is
mostly due to the new features like the Lockdown Stick. Players now run around
picks, or are flattened by them. Your smarter players will now actively try to
get open, and will push off to do so, which really helps the play calling aspect
of the game. There is also a noticeable difference in the low post action, as
players will now stop in mid-air collisions instead of going through the
defender as if he didn’t exist. All of these new animations are welcome
additions indeed, but there still just isn’t enough variety down low, especially
on offense. It really feels as if you have little influence over the type of
shot that happens, as most of the animations on the low block are insanely out
of control. Drop steps and spin moves happen so fast that you rarely have time
to control them, and it usually just pays off to go for a dunk instead, but some
of these even look plain silly. I hope that the next generation consoles will
allow for more variety, because it’s quite apparent that we have reached the end
of the line for now.

The visuals in 06 are mostly
improved, and are a slight step ahead over last year’s game. Player models do
appear more polished, but still sport the whole bobble-head look from past
iterations. You might notice that many of the big-time arenas look dead-on, but
some of the smaller schools are still way off, and even a few of the Mid-Major
schools have been neglected as well, which is somewhat puzzling to me.

Dick Vitale and Brad Nessler are
back to headline the play-by-play, and do an admirable job. They still repeat
themselves too often, but at least this year Vitale goes off on rants about
other things, just as he does in real life. The major problem with the audio is
mainly due to the awkward soundtrack. The typical “EA Sports Trax” is present,
it is just that most of the songs are questionable at best, and to make matters
worse they are all of the orchestrated variety. I know that this adds to the
collegiate atmosphere, but there’s just something about these songs that make
them seem horribly out of place. Thankfully, the crowds are very responsive, and
react to the on-court action nicely.

Overall NCAA March Madness isn’t a
terrible game; in fact, it’s quite enjoyable at times. The new defensive
abilities really help balance out the action, but the game still becomes
repetitive at times. A lack of roster control, and shoddy low post moves drag
the experience down a bit, but 06 is still a must try for serious college
basketball fanatics. Just don’t expect perfection and you won’t be disappointed.

Gameplay: 8.1
Defensive improvements really help balance out the gameplay, but at times, the
action grows a little repetitive. The outside game is pretty nice, but a lack of
control down low really hurts the offensive side of things. One question though.
Why am I rewarded for my National Championship, which took quite a bit of time,
with a generic celebration that lasts around 6 seconds? Does this trade-off
sound unfair to anyone else?

Graphics: 8.4
The visuals are a step up from last year, but the player models still look
slightly like bobble-heads. Most of the arenas look very nice, but some of the
smaller schools have still been neglected.

Sound: 7.3
Commentary, although slightly repetitive, is pretty well done, but the
questionable soundtrack raises more than a few concerns.

Difficulty: Medium
Numerous sliders can help you set the difficulty to your liking.

Concept: 8.0
What is not to love about college basketball? Well, except for all the problems
I listed above, not much. The concept is great; it’s the execution that is in
question.

Multiplayer: 8.1
Various modes like Tournament, Frat Party, and the Maui Invitational allow for
multiple players on one console, but single-player-only Dynasty Mode may take
away the fun for some people. Playing online over Xbox Live works well enough,
thankfully, as I experienced very little lag. The only problem is that you
cannot adjust the gameplay sliders while playing online, which is the sole
reason that I play alone.

Overall: 7.9
This year March Madness may provide you with an enjoyable game of basketball,
but even with the new defensive features and improved Dynasty Mode, 06 still
somehow gets ousted from the tournament earlier than expected.