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March Madness is among us and 2K Sports finally came out with their XBOX 360 version of College Hoops 2K6. The general word on the street is that it is just a port with ramped up graphics. While I agree to a certain extent, I believe that not only are the graphics better, but also I think the gameplay is better, too.

Gameplay

I was a big fan of last year’s rendition of the Hoops series, but this year is even better. I really like the fact the game actually makes me play basketball, especially when playing someone one-on-one. You have to pass the ball around a bit and try to set up plays while taking smart shots, it’s not a matter of just throwing the ball down low and putting up nothing but dunks. I will say that the post is a tinge powerful at times, but there are also times where it doesn’t seem like you can buy a bucket when you’re underneath the hoop. The Shot Stick is also a nice touch; it opens up all kinds of nice post moves and dunk/lay-up styles. I think it’s a wonderful addition to the basketball series.

The player’s move very smooth in the game and having the XBOX 360 does help with the icon passing. It’s nice to be able to NOT have to take your thumb off any of the buttons or R stick while pulling up the icons. Yes, it’s minor, but it’s a nice touch, for us XBOX gamers used to the “clear” and “black” buttons on the current gen system. Another thing that I would put in terms of gameplay is the ball physics. The physics of the ball up and around the hoop is vastly improved over the current gen version. I have seen so many different types of shots go it, that I don’t think I’ve seen them all yet. Whether it’s bouncing a few times around the rim, the ball resting on the back of the rim for what seems like an eternity, or have the ball doing the “toilet bowl” around the the cylinder, I get impressed every time I see those animations.

As far as the player animations go, they are very fluid and smooth. One thing I did notice, though, was that the standard two-handed dunk animation needs a little work. It seems like it takes the player a bit too long in the air and the dunk itself almost looks like it’s in slow motion. But I will also add that there are some high-flying dunk animations that are pretty sweet when the player is by himself going in for a one-handed tomahawk jam. The good thing is that not all players can perform such maneuvers and some of them have to settle for the standard ol’ lay-up instead of the razzle-dazzle. The tip drills around the hoop are also things of beauty. There are definitely times during a game when your bigs will be battling under the rim trying to get a hold of a rebound, but the ball keeps on getting tipped up in the air. And can be a bit of a nail biter trying to get a much needed rebound when your man can’t get his meat hooks on the ball, but that’s part of what I like about the game.

I also believe that it is very noticeable in terms of gameplay when you are playing with some of the elite teams in the NCAA. You get a totally different experience when using teams like Duke and UConn over playing with some of the smaller schools in the NCAA.
This definitely holds true when playing head-to-head against someone, it’s like a whole different ball game when battling with the small schools. The shots are harder to come by, the defense isn’t as good, and the players just aren’t as clutch, but when playing someone else with the same type of team, it makes for a very fun game of basketball. I think it really captures just what NCAA basketball is all about.

Graphics

The graphics on College Hoops 2K6 for the XBOX 360 are top notch. The game looks absolutely beautiful on my standard 36” TV and even better on an HDTV. I had a nice little session with College Hoops last weekend at a friend of mine’s who owns a 54” HDTV and the game was stunning in HD. I kind of got a little bent out of shape when I brought the game back home and hooked it back up to my TV, but I got over it, the game still looks good.

I know the there have been disappointed people in terms of how the players look in the game because they are rather “generic”, but I’m not that bothered by it. I would assume that there are some limitations on just how much of the players “likeliness” 2K sports is allowed to use in the game, so I’m not going to get too bent out of shape about the fact that Adam Morrison doesn’t have his mop hairdo or his dirty sanchez ‘stache. If I were that bothered by it, I would just go and change it myself.

The “cloth physics” in the game look as good as they do in NBA 2K6. Also the beads of sweat are in College Hoops, but they have seemed to be toned down a bit. The courts are pretty accurate and look extremely nice. The players and the light reflections look really good glistening off of the court. Texas A&M have their big ol’ logo on the floor, Oregon's “The Pit” painted in the key, and they seemed to have gotten small schools like Oakland University’s court right. Another small thing I like about the graphics is how well the ball looks. The way it rotates and spins as it’s passed, shot, or bouncing of the rim is very lifelike, the cheerleaders look better and, yes, they even included male cheerleaders. They also improved how the coaches and crowd look; they are no longer boxy looking and have a bit more detail. One thing that I have noticed about most games, though, is that they haven’t figured out a way to make hair look good on white guys, they look like helmets. Maybe they figure that out by next year’s version?

Audio

The game sounds great. The crowds get loud and rowdy, the sound effects on the court sound good, and the schools have their correct fight songs. I think it’s a very noticeable difference between the 360 and the standard XBOX version of the game. Even the way the ball sounds when bouncing of the rim sounds good. I’m a big audio guy and the game sounds great. My only gripe is that the crowd gets a little too down after the home team gives up a basket. The crowd goes from really loud and rowdy to almost silent after a bucket is given up. It’s not as bad as years past, but I just wish it just wasn’t as drastic.

Presentation

The presentation of College Hoops is pretty decent. The opening sequence when playing the game looks pretty nice and I like they way they spotlight the players before the game. Verne Lunquist and Bill Raftery do a decent job with the commentary, but I noticed that Rafferty has a bit of a stiffy when a team uses “Man-to-Man” during a game. In fact, he tends to say it a few times during the game with such high enthusiasm and determination.

The halftime highlights are a nice touch, but I noticed that during the halftime highlights they would sometimes show free throws as highlights. Now, I don’t about anyone else out there, but I don’t really find FT’s all that worthy of highlights. Maybe it’s just me? Also in regards to the highlights at halftime, they have the post game “Game Changing Performance” with a very fat looking Greg Gumball. They didn’t do a very good job on him, by the way. Anyway, the thing about the “Game Changing Performance” that I’m not too keen on is the shot they choose to spotlight said performance. Again, they sometimes show free throws as the game changer and I don’t understand that one at all. Heck, sometimes they show TWO free throws in a row! I really don’t quite understand why they programmed the FT’s, but who am I?

In the grand scheme of things, I really don’t miss the ESPN license. I mean, I couldn’t really tell it was gone because they did a good job with their own stat overlays and graphics; I thought they did a good job with those.

Oh, I almost forgot, Bonnie Bernstein is also in the game doing the sideline reporting. She does a decent job.

Depth

The Legacy mode is pretty much the same as last year. I was terrible at recruiting last year and I am still terrible at it this year. It still very deep and it keeps the replay value of the game in tact. They did add the “Pep Talk” feature this year in case one of your players need a bit of a boos in confidence, but other than that, I don’t really see much of a difference. One thing that I could live without, though, is the virtual spam e-mails I get in my coaches e-mail inbox. I know they try to add realism to the game and all, but that’s one part of life that I don’t need in my video games. In fact, it annoys me to no end. Another thing I don’t understand is the post game recaps that you can view in the “News” section of your Legacy. Now, they do a good job with the articles that are written in there and everything, they are lengthy and pretty in depth, but I don’t get why they show you a highlight of the other team dunking on you! I want to see my own teams highlight of the game, not my opponents. I don’t get that. All in all, the game is as deep as it ever was and will provide hours upon hour of enjoyment when running a Legacy.

Closing Statement

Despite my minor gripes with some of the secondary, more minute, features of the game, I still feel it’s probably the best basketball game I’ve ever played. Sure, the game can get rather monotonous after playing the CPU all the time, the same goes for any game, but I have really enjoyed the head-to-head aspect of the game thus far. I’ve had a lot of fun with it. The graphics are very nice, the audio is top-notch, and I think they’ve done a solid job in capturing the college atmosphere. Does the game play a lot like NBA 2K6 for the 360? Yeah, sure it does, but the real difference comes in the atmosphere itself and the games are completely different in that area. I highly recommend College Hoops 2K6 to any college basketball fan without any hesitation whatsoever.

Overall Score:

9 out of 10

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