Conditional Love

For each aspect I love about Visual Concept's latest college basketball effort, ESPN College Hoops 2K5, I find another aspect that is a disappointment. For instance, the game's legacy mode is an absolute ball. I love being able to choose the team of my choice in open mode, or take advantage of the more restrictive career mode and grab the reigns of a small-time team like Dartmouth or Alabama A&M. That said, when simulating off-days in the legacy calendar, my game has frozen up completely several times. The only recourse is a full reboot, which sucks, especially if you've neglected to save your game for a while. Times like this, you can find several days (or worse, weeks) of in-game progress lost. The workaround, of course, is frequent saves, but it's disappointing nonetheless.

Then there's the annoying static sound bugs, the iffy end-of-season awards (admittedly I've only read about this one), and some janky passing and movement animations. You know, if this game wasn't so darn compelling, challenging, and addictive, I'd probably be done with it by now...