College Hoops 2K6 E3 2005 Hands-On

March Madness is behind us, but May Madness is here, in the form of an early build of Visual Concepts' College Hoops 2K6 on the floor of 2K Games' E3 booth. The game is only roughly 30 percent through development and the demo version we played featured only four teams: Georgia Tech, UConn, Duke, and Oklahoma State. A few things are already obvious as to what approach the game will be taking.

The most obvious tweak is with the defensive artificial intelligence in the game, which has resulted in some awfully ball-hungry opponents to play against. The first time we had an up-court pass intercepted by a lunging defenseman, we chalked it up to a bad toss. Then it happened again. And again. And once more. It wasn't long before it became obvious that the kinds of long passes that were present in previous versions of the game have been fully addressed in 2K6.

When playing defense, you can call for a double-team by pressing the X button (on the Xbox controller), take a charge with the B button, and block and go for the rebound with the Y button. We really liked using the right stick for attempting steals, and found that when using a player with good hands (noted by a small red icon next to the player when you're in control of him), we were more apt to actually make the steal, as opposed to getting called for a reach.

Other controls in the game include so-called aggressive modifiers tied to the trigger button that, when combined with face buttons, can be used to pull off essential moves like alley-oops, give and goes, spins, dunks, and tip-ins. You'll still be controlling the plays and pace of the game by pressing up on the directional pad and then choosing the play you wish to run with the face buttons.

College Hoops 2K6 is still in an early build on the road to its November release, thus we didn't get a chance to learn anything about the next version of legacy mode or online options that will make their way into the game. The loss of the ESPN license means the look and feel of the game has transformed to more of a 2K-themed look that spans the entire 2K Sports lineup. We expect to see 2K6 in much greater detail in the coming months and will bring you full coverage.