Roundball in America comes in two prime flavors college and pro, and they really are two very different games; as such their video game representations ought to reflect this. Until recently college hoops games were little more than a port of the pro game with different jerseys and schedules but ESPN College Hoops 2k5 makes so many major strides that it really reflects the college game better than any basketball game ever. Further as a fan of the college game it's a lot more fun to play with it's emphasis on passing rather than dunking and other fundamentals over flashy moves. In many ways it's a coach's game of basketball which reflects the current state of college hoops in my estimation. The easiest thing to notice about any game is the graphics and NCAA 2k5 shines here for the most part. If you're a fan of a major school they've got your arena right, they've got your veteran players right. I wish they'd gotten coaches modeled properly in the game, but that's not a fault per se as just something they don't have. As a Duke fan i could definitely tell the difference between Cameron and Rupp when i played a game @ Kentucky despite the similar color schemes they looked like different arenas to a degree. Furthermore the player models look as good as the ESPN series has been looking in all sports this year on the x-box, which is to say they look very good. You can really identify players for your school based on their model, JJ Reddick has that low cropped hair of his, Sheldon Williams looks as big as he really is and so on and so forward. I can't comment on smaller schools as i'm not familiar with any but they look graphically nice although i'd not be surprised if people weren't accurately modeled. On the other technical front the sound and music it's very good, especially the music stands out. It's a college game right so the crowd should be real loud and such and they fufill this nicely. Make a terrible shot or get ti partially blocked and the opposing crowd will chant AIR-BALL. Each stadium has a few somewhat different cheers so it really gives it an authentic flavor. The on the court sounds don't really stand out so much but their isn't anything noticably wrong with them. Furthermore their is the game's excellent music which plays a variety of band tunes throughout the game and can really get you pumped up when you're going on a run in your own gym. The commentary is the audio's weak point as it really starts to get canned after a little while. That's not to say that it's bad their just isn't quite enough of it. Mike Patrick does an excellent job of play by play and Jay Bilas, unfortunately not Dicky V, does the color commentary. Bilas offers some insightful thoughts at times but it's a bit wacky at others so this is somewhat hit or miss. After you've played maybe half a dozen games you've heard it all 2 times probably so do the math on how many times you might have heard it in a 40 game season counting both tournaments etc and a many year career. Moving away from technical merits and towards gameplay the game gets a bit more impressive. As I mentioned earlier the game really shines in terms of fundementals. You're gonna get rewarded for making the good passes, running your plays to perfection etc are all important parts of this game. While their is ISO-Motion control with the right stick that might allow you to cut to the basket overusing it will result in lots of charging calls plus getting trapped in the middle of the zones that college hoops has no rules against. By the 4th quarter i've often got my center drawing 3 defenders all over him as he's trying to back in his opponent for a bucket requiring me to kick it out or look to my other big man to generate some points. If you like this style of basketball you're gonna get a lot out of NCAA 2k5. For futher value all this is great online as well as off so if you like either setup this game has a lot to offer. The Legacy mode is back in the same two forms as it's always been. You can either take a job at a starting off school like say Vermont or Albany or some such small place like that and try to earn your way up to big schools, or you can set it for open and pick whatever school you like. Being a huge fan of Duke i started out with the open mode which is a blast as you jump right into big games with players you know against teams you don't like. But I also got into the career mode at Vermont and while it wasn't my favorite thing It has a lot to like if building up a program is your cup of tea. Speaking of which the game has a very good recruiting system that lets you spend the whole year managing your recruiting process in between games, along with managing all the teams day to day activiities. This is one of the best implementations of this i've seen yet but they still have work to do in this area to make it as good as it ought to be. It also really ought come with some tips built into the setup. One weakness of the game is that it still relies on the email box for communication about the state of things, this is functional but a briefing of sports similar to NFL 2k5's sports center updates would have been nice. Have your assistant coaches walk into your office and tell you what they found out rather than having to read this stuff. However to be honest that's just nitpicky of me to a degree. All in all this is a great college hoops experience that really seperates itself from the pro game from the same developer. IF you like college basketball, or just great sports games in general you owe it to yourself to pick up NCAA 2k5, which is bargain priced at 20 dollars this year. It just delivers the goods on almost every front.
Okay, I do not really like basketball games because they are real hard to make pretty realistic but I liked and still like this one. No it does not have the best graphics and not real names but I think it is a great game... Read Full Review
Pro reviewers can tell you some of the problems with a game, but it takes a longtime player to hit all the glitches that come up. This is an enjoyable game, downright addictive when you get into the legacy mode, but the ... Read Full Review
