The quality of 2kSport College Hoops gets better and better each year... this year is no different
2kSports had some help to begin with when they managed to join up with ESPN to make a collection of game for 2 years. Once EA bought out ESPN and the license for the NFL, all seemed lost for other companies wishing to make sporting games. Three companies form this massive unit we call 2kSports which include Visual Concepts, Krush Games and Indie Built. After making NHL 2k6, NBA 2k6 and now College Hoops 2k6, it seems promising that 2ksports is here to stay. From playing their games, you also notice they want to make the best quality game they can and College Hoops is not exception.
First we will talk about the Gameplay of College Hoops for the XBOX. When you see screen shots of this game, some people would say that it looks just like 2k5 but their totally wrong as the engine to make the players are the same but there is so much more on this game. Movement has improved so much over the years. When you move around on the court, you make cuts like a real point guard or you make post moves that are fluid when performed correctly. When you get hit when making a lay-up, your player reacts to the contact realistically. So many small things about this game stand out if you played the first two versions of this game. I also think the cut scenes have also improved over the years as well. Some other aspects to look for when playing is the time out that can be called. When a team calls a time out, you have more activity inside the huddle then before as you can make sub selections, match-up changes and try and make a comment about defense, shoot selection and so on to improve your team’s stats for that area of the game for like 5 minutes.
Just like in the cover of College Hoops, you see Coach Roy Williams from UNC along side Marvin Williams which can tell you that this game is more about coaching and the players then anything else. Coaching is another aspect of sports we don’t get to see much of and this game takes us there to a small degree. We see more control of motivation players outside of the court, practices and overall happiness of the team. Bad coaching can lead to bad chemistry on and off the court which can lead to loses. The emphasis on coaching has made this game more interesting then before since there are more features and aspects of the game to worry about.
2kSports have added some features to Legacy mode that make the experience more memorable time and time again. Once a new season starts, you will have ‘Midnight Madness’ happen at your school where your Team A will play your Team B just as a nice way to get to know your players in an inter-squad match up. After that, you can watch a Season Preview with Brian Gumble (?) with the Top 25 picks of the season, All American Choices and coaching moves from around the conferences. When you finish a season, Brian will appear again to help set up March Madness and which teams made it and which ones will sit at home watching. You can then see all the champions (which 2kSports fixed the Conference Champions this year) of that season and you can advance to the rest of the recruiting process. After recruiting and making the schedule for next season, the coach can look at the prospects of this coming year by watching games, doing drills and have a final game against the 10 best players in the camp. This can help out with finding the big name players and know their skill level.
If you played College Hoops before, most of the modes are the same none the less with a Quick Game, Game Modes, Management, Options, Load/Save, Extras and XBOX Live. The sound can be tricky at times when on the beginning screen and it can start up or cut out of music every so often. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem because everything else with this game makes up for the small problems that come in and out at times.
Recruiting has improved since not every team can get GREAT players. If you want a good player, you’re going to have to work for it and getting all star players will be harder to come by if you’re working your way up. Understanding what players you need and how good he will become has develop into an easier process with more detail about the recruit. They also rank the senior players by overall and position rankings so you can tell how well they have done over their high school year. Another feature that is presented that wasn’t in the previous versions is the fact that all classes of high school can be seen. From freshman year to Junior College, you can start looking into players at a young age or start looking at juniors for the next season recruiting year.
Edit will be a word you will like to hear because in this game, it seems like EVERYTHING is editable. You can edit coaches, schools, players and create a school and player if you wish. If you don’t start a legacy, you can go into a players profile and edit how they look, the name and even the attributes. One great aspect of this game is the fact that more equipment is available for the players to choose from. Once you are in legacy mode, Open career will let you edit everything about a player but in career mode, you can’t edit attributes of any player. This edit feature can help make your player become different in the league and you can import them into the NBA 2k6 game as well.
This game comes with XBOX live which always helps with longevity in terms of value. I personally haven’t played it but I believe it works wonders.
All in all, this game takes all the aspect of college basketball and places it in one game called College Hoops 2k6. I give it a 9.1 / 10 for all aspects of a game stated above. This game cost $29.99 at an EBGames or other game provider and is out for XBOX as of now.