ESPN College Hoops Review

E-S-P-N, Fight, Fight, Fight!

Unlike the pro game, which has seen only 6 different teams win the championship

in the past 20 years, the college national title always seems up for grabs. We

all know Duke and Kansas and North Carolina will make the tourney, but who the

hell knows which one will emerge the winner?

Luckily, things aren’t as unclear when it comes to college basketball games.

989’s NCAA Final Four 2004 is uglier

than a Jerry Tarkanian

bobblehead and EA’s perennial champ March

Madness 2004 isn’t as good as it should be, leaving a nice fat lane to the

basket for ESPN College Hoops. Despite not having the history

of those two other franchises, its fantastic depth and solid looks make

for a unanimous champ, though the road to glory still has plenty of bumps.

But

you couldn’t ask for a much smoother presentation. The front-end and menu systems

are decked out in full ESPN flavor and look good, but things really cook when

you get out on the court. The framerate is solid, the character models are varied,

and the animations are plentiful. Admittedly it’s a little hard to get used

to watching players just stand around after EA’s great 10-man motion capture in March

Madness, but overall the visuals here are much better. A great variety

of low-post moves and slick dunk and layup animations give it a realistic touch,

and while the crowds are cheap sprites up close, they look right at a distance.

The audio is actually not bad, featuring the decent announcing team of Mike

Patrick and Jay Bilas. They talk a lot and often what they say is insightful,

though they also get it wrong half the time. No guys, that guard isn’t really

a defensive stopper just because he made one steal when I was up by 40. I don’t

know if developers will ever get announcing right.

The gameplay is closely patterned after ESPN

NBA Basketball, just as March Madness was Live

in a dorm room. This is made most apparent in the “enhanced’ IsoMotion freestyle

moves. It’s been tweaked a bit since ESPN NBA, but feels much

the same. Animations take too long and stringing together useful jukes is awkward

at best, but thanks to counter-moves on the defensive end, it can still be a

good, tense cat-and-mouse affair.

You won’t use IsoMotion much, though, because it’s surprisingly easy to score.

Players nail jumpers even with a hand or two right in their mug, and are often

more accurate at 15 feet than at 5. The game could seriously use EA’s

separate shot and layup buttons, because post players have an irritating tendency

to take dumb jump shots instead of just throwing down monster dunks while under

the basket. And while the dunks and layups do look very good, players occasionally

try needlessly complex dipsy-doo trick shots instead of taking the simpler route,

which can result in blocked shots as they twirl the ball behind their back for

no good reason.

If you need to clear some space, ESPN College Hoops does

contain plenty of offensive and defensive sets. You’ll notice the CPU using

these as well, especially on the defensive end. At the highest difficulty setting

(there are three), it can very tough getting through the lane, as it should

be.

What shouldn’t be is the rebounding problem. Basketball games have been fighting

with this forever, and sadly ESPN College Hoops doesn’t offer

any solutions. Opposing teams will routinely nab offensive rebounds out of thin

air while you flail like a maniac under the basket. It doesn’t matter much if

you box out or not ” expect to give up more than a few easy boards.

Thankfully,

you can tweak this and just about everything else with the in-game sliders,

and if you want an authentic experience, you will.

ESPN College Hoops gives you a ton of bang for the buck,

that’s for sure. In addition to basic Exhibition, Practice, Tournament and Season

modes, you can actually try out a Slam Dunk Challenge. It’s not quite as cool

as it sounds, though, making you press a series of buttons for each dunk. The

system doesn’t work very well since you really don’t get much time to pull it

off, and even if you do it just doesn’t feel very rewarding. Something more

hands-on and kinetic would have made this much better, but hey, hats off for

trying.

But the main game is found in Legacy mode, which is the best on the market.

You can build a dynasty using any Division I team (they’re all here) or one

of your own design by way of the robust Team Creator, which allows you to tweak

mascots, colors, court elements and even cheerleader outfits. You’ll need to

hire and fire assistant coaches, who actually provide useful info and can help

make recruiting go more smoothly. The recruitment is top-notch, featuring scores

of high-schoolers and a handy national map telling you which kinds of ballers

come from which regions. Though it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference

whether or not you go after a guy from your home state, it’s still very deep.

You can scout, invite them to a home game and even send an assistant to one

of their games, which you can then manually play. Way cool.

Rounding it out is a great interface, complete with an intuitive e-mail setup to help you manage all your duties. If you’re into hardcore NCAA basketball simulation and management, it doesn’t get any better.

There’s a plethora of virtual goodies to unlock, including fantasy courts

and all-time teams (“69 UCLA, baby!), found in a new Campus Store. There’s just

a ton of junk under the hood.

And for both Xbox and PS2 users, ESPN College Hoops is playable

online. Matching is easy and the game works, though it doesn’t seem to be very

crowded as of this writing. This is a boon for Xbox users who didn’t get any

online play in March Madness.

It isn’t a perfect game by any stretch due to some glaring issues with the

rebounding and control, but ESPN College Hoops is still the

best NCAA game out there right now. It looks better than March Madness

and the great Legacy mode is unrivaled. Not bad for a freshman.