Customer Reviews

ESPN College Hoops

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a must buy!!!! The deepest dynasty mode in a b'ball game ever. From customizing your schedule, to attending HS games looking for the next big thing; this game is for all college b'ball junkies.Great Features*E-mail System - Allows you to invite recruits to your home games; communicate with your assistant coaches about recruit games they attended or recruits you should check out.*Year-Round Recruiting *Job Application- Apply for the head coaching job at any school in the nation.*Create-A-School*Slam Session*So much more!!!

After years of being a college basketball fan and settling for the less than perfect "Final Four" games by 989 studios and the downright embarrassing "March Madness" titles by EA, I was grateful to find an alternative from the trusted people at ESPN/Sega Studios. This game has everything a college basketball fan could want from a basketball sim.

To start off, there are plenty of modes available for play and you'll find yourself playing every one of them. Head to Head mode is great when you want to show off your moves against a friend or perhaps an enemy for that matter. There are slame dunk competitions where the player and pick a player from either team and play against a friend or the computer in a horse type format. There is even an Air Hockey game located in the "Campus Union of the select game screen. Many wonder what that is doing in a college basketball game but trust me it is a fun and nice break from atempting to capture a national title. I myself have played it many times simply for the enjoyment and uniqueness of it.

There are also many things available when you earn profile points. You can unlock many things such as classic teams, mascots, and pro courts. While these are not major things to get excited about, it is nice too remember the little things to play for.

While all of the little things make the game good, the dynasty mode makes the game great. You will start off as a coach at a small school like Maine or High point all the while winning games in hope to get noticed by a big school. However, Before you start your coaching career, you must first hire assistant coaches. Chances are that you will not get the best ones because you are coaching for a small school with an unestablished program. Your AD will provide you with goals to reach by the end of the season such as win half of your games or to win the conference tournament. As you advance to better schools your goals will get higher like win the national championship. Failure to reach these goals could result in you sitting at the unemployment office by seasons end. All in all, very realistic. However if you do achieve these goals, more prestigious schools may take notice and offer you a job leaving you with the decision to leave or stick with the school that gave you your chance and try to when them a national championship.

Recruiting is also a very deep feature to this game the e-mail controls allow you to send your assistant coaches to a high schoolers game if you like their numbers you may attempt to invite them to a home game if their interest level is high then they'll accept, id it is low then they will not come. Keep in mind you are trying to build a winning program and that doesn't happen overnight so try and get players to attend who are interested not necessarily the best. While recruiting you can take time to check out the trophy room to see your achievements or past achievements. As yoou can see it's this freedom and number of things to do that make this the best dynasty in basketball.

The arenas look detailed no matter what school you go to. Not just the floor either. It looks as if you are in the arena from the seating arrangement to the ceiling it's all here you'll feel right at "home" it whatever arena you choose.

Game play is great with great AI. For example, if you're playing Duke and you're a team like High Point you'll most likely get beat. This makes upsets all the more special because how well a team plays usually depends on how good the team is. Many people complain about your post players not always dunking it while you're under the hoop but realistically how many post players in college basketball dunk the ball when they're directly under the hoop? My point exactly.

Announcing is pretty solid with lots of situational talk which is good. Like all announcing it tends to get a little repetitive after a while but that's normal. The ESPN license gives the game a "Big Monday" type feeling.

In conclusion this game makes every other college basketball game on the market look like child's play. With all the things listed above and the great depth in this game, this title will keep true college basketball fans playing well into March and beyond.

This game has the potential of being the best college basketball game ever. Years before college hoop games have been mediocre at best. This is a fresh change in what will hopefully be a better future for college basketball fans.

Graphically this game is beautiful. The players move fluidly and the action is fast paced. You can adjust the speed of the game in the options. Cut scenes of the audience, band, cheerleaders, and the players when they do something spectactular are a nice touch but get annoying after halftime. Cut scenes could have been restricted to the players to keep pace with the game. Also from the floor the crowd is nothing more than a blurb, with no real individual movements. The benches however are active and react to the game.

The gameplay is dead on. Player reaction to controller movements are precise. Almost to good at times. Posting never really allows you to back down but does give you a quick spin or reverse spin to throw your opponent off. The iso motion works ok. Only your better ballhandlers will use it sucessfully though. Defenders also play smart, switching on picks going for steals in between passes and accomodating for the type of offense you play makes for good realism. Still sadly, scoring is not too hard in the right players hands. A couple of well placed passes and a quick drive or shot will usually result in a bucket.
Legacy allows recruiting year round, if thats to much let your assistant coaches handle it. One option that is interesting is the gym rat mode. 2 on 2 up to 5 on 5 with a point spread of 1 or 2 playing up to 21. A good way to get a feel of the game mechanics. The dunk contest are a cool idea but executing a dunk can be a fight between your hand and your brain. Button combos are frustrating for the hard dunks. Most will find level four dunks easier than level three. Also the game of horse could been
used for shooting instead of dunking.

This game shines at the ridiculous amount options it has. So many ways to customize this game it can become overwhelming. Having a player profile and meeting specific challenges gets players to unlock different courts, legend teams, and other goodies. Create a player and team are very detailed down to the color of the trim of the jerseys. One could get bored with so much to do.

College basketball fans should be happy with Sega's 2K4 entry of College Hoops. This game was a long time coming and should not dissapoint.

This game is okay. It has a lot of problems though,let's start with the announcers. They are good,but they say the dumbest things that a real announcer wouldn't say and the way the players shoot the ball, c'mon it's a two handed shot! Nobody shoots it with two hands. The players look pretty good,but they look a little blocky at times. Also after you make a big basket sometimes the coach will high five the mascot, that never happens, c'mon sega. That is pretty much it with the negative stuff now with the good stuff. The arenas are perfect, they are beautiful, great job! The game modes are pretty cool to like season, and legacy mode. The slam session may be one of the best things on the game. The school store is pretty neat to you can get stadiums, jerseys, and can even play air hockey! I recommend this game if you want a college basketball game, it is better than ncaa march madness 2004, but if you want a really good basketball game this year get ESPN NBA Basketball.

First of all, don't sit here and rate a game as crap if it freezes. That has nothing to do with the gameplay and could simply be a bad PS2 or a corrupted disc. As for the gameplay part, this game is a much better version than the competitor March Madness 2004. The Legacy mode in this game is far and away better than EA Sports Dynasty Mode. I swear by this. Head to Head it's much better. Now that we have that taken care of, the actual graphics are better than March Madness 2004 as well. The arenas incredibly model to what they should be. They have even the smaller schools like Maine down nearly perfectly. The gameplay is smooth with no choppiness like March Madness. The only thing that is a negative is like what the other guy said about the players not dunking it when they are directly under the hoop. The good ones will though and if you are going towards the hoop with turbo they will dunk it or make an impressive lay in. And for all you people that think this game sucks, your all idiots and go waste your money on EA Sports overrated version.

This game certainly has potential but there are just too many bugs for it to be consistently fun. After playing it for just a day it has frozen up multiple times. I got another copy of the game and it also froze up.
The Legacy mode also has some irritating bugs. For instance, the computer will automatically sign four 69 PGs to your team every offseason after the second season. This means that if you have a 5 Star PF wanting to sign with you, there may not be room because of the 69 PGs.

Another annoyance is that ESPN forces you to control player movement with the analog stick. I switched off of the NBA Live series because of this same issue. Why ESPN NBA lets you choose if you want to use the analog and College Hoops does not, is a mystery.
It is obvious that the game was rushed to market before Christmas and it really suffers for it. A potentially great game that has some serious flaws.

After ESPN NFL, I was really excited about the possibilities for the rest of the VC/ESPN/Sega sports line-up. I rented ESPN NBA and had a blast with it, but since I've always enjoyed the challenge of collegiate recruiting with regards to sports games, I went out and purchased ESPN College Hoops. Based on the excitement and overall enjoyment I had from playing ESPN NFL (it's the best NFL football I've ever played), College Hoops has been a letdown, at least to me.

The legacy mode has been deepened, and that has, frankly, saved the game for me. You now hire assistant coaches who impact the progression of your players. But the best part about the legacy mode is that you can now actually recruit during the course of the year, and that adds a lot to the game.

The graphics are very good, much better than last year's in my opinion, and the continued integration of the ESPN label adds a lot as well. The crowd cut-scenes are pretty good, but nowhere nearly as creative as those found in ESPN NFL. In fact, they're so few and far between. Plus there aren't that many, thus, when you do get them, they border on redundant. Overall, while the game atmosphere has improved, it does not generate the excitement that ESPN NFL does.

(Sorry if you're sensing a trend here with me comparing College Hoops to the football game, but ESPN NFL has set the bar for future VC games.)

Where the game really bogs down for me is in the gameplay. Passing is not nearly as inuitive as it is on ESPN NBA or, for that matter, NBA Live. AI is really lacking also. There have been far too many ocassions where one of my players is stripped of the ball, or makes an errant pass, and the ball is bouncing around the court right at his feet. Instead of chasing after the ball, however, he simply stands there. I mean it. He does nothing. He stands there with his arms at his side as if he was waiting on his order at the Burger King counter. Meanwhile, I'm left trying to get control of somebody so that the CPU doesn't get the loose ball before me. Very frustrating, and, quite frankly, unacceptable AI in this day and age of gaming.

But the real kicker for me is a ridiculous AI glitch that is left over from 2K3. In last year's edition, a player could be standing directly in front of or under the basket with the ball in his hand and with absolutely NO ONE around him, but when you press the shoot button, instead of taking the easy slam home, the player immediately goes into this incredibly compliacted and unnecessary animation and will either step back and shoot a fadeaway, or a hook shoot or wiggle and worm around for a reverse lay-up. It was one of the things that made me crazy about 2K3...AND IT'S STILL A PROBLEM WITH 2K4!! As with the AI ball-player in la-la land while the ball's bouncing free in front of him, this is simply poor AI and is unacceptable in this day and age of gaming. (NOTE: This was not a problem on ESPN NBA.)

I know it sounds like I despise this game, but generally-speaking, I'm learning to really enjoy this game. AI and gameplay glitches aside (and they are, in my opinion, major ones) the sheer depth of the legacy and the recruiting processes make this game highly enjoyable. The inclusion of a slam dunk mode also brings in points for this game.

Overall, this is a very good game. Perhaps my expectations were set too high after playing and enjoying ESPN NFL. And perhaps it's unfair for me to compare to two games. But it mystifies how a company can be so dead on with one game, and really come up short in another game.

For those of you seeking the perfect basketball game, I haven't found it this year. I might even suggest that, from a gameplay perspective, ESPN NBA is the more enjoyable game. But if you're a college sports nut like me, and enjoy the challenge of recruiting and building, then ESPN College Hoops is an acceptable showing. Much better than March Madness, in my opinion.

Presentation - 9.3
The partnering of ESPN and Sega was genius. From NFL to Hockey and including College Hoops, this adds a lot to the game. The use of an 'email' system to provide info is very fun.

Graphics - 8.8
Better than 2K3, but still need work, in my opinion. AI players often jumble together and twitch, and animations are not totally fluid.

Sound - 9.2
Crowd noise is great, bands are great and Jay Bilas and Mike Patrick are pretty good. Sure beats EA's attempts.

Gameplay - 7.5
If this were a first attempt at a bball game then it would be acceptable. But this is not VC's 1st attempt. The number of gameplay glitches leftover from 2K3 is unacceptable. The deep legacy mode saves the game, but the gameplay really hurts the overall score.

OVERALL - 8.4
Fun game, but the developers ignored some serious problems from 2K3. Shame on them. If you're looking for a better basketball game, I suggest ESPN NBA 2K4.

This is probably the best college basketball game on the market right now, but there are still some major issues. Having to use the analog stick is pretty annoying, and it seems like the only way to make a 3 is if you kick it out from inside. I can have a guard who's 3-point shooting is in the upper 40's and he can stand all alone behind the arc and completely brick 10 3's in a row until I go inside and try to kick it back out to him. Also, during recruiting, I had 4 or 5 recruits with my school as their number 1 school, then the next week I'm not even in their top 6 after beating the 2 best teams in the nation. Apparently, if you're in a bad conference, it's impossible to get a single digit seed. I was in the Big Sky conference with a number 1 RPI at the end of the year and number 4 in the final polls, having beaten every team above me by atleast 40, and somehow I end up with a 14 seed in the tournament. I can understand why the player doesnt dunk the ball everytime when they're under the basket, but do they really have to take an impossible over-the-head shot that never goes in? My last complaint is with fastbreaks. You can be running towards the basket at full speed with no one in front of you and when you try to shoot, instead of dunking it or going for a lay-up, sometimes they decide to do a fade-away even though I never stopped holding the up direction. With all these flaws, you might be wondering how I could give it 4 stars, but with all the features this game has, it's definitely the best college basketball game there is right now. Hopefully next years installment will fix some of these things. Oh yeah, one last complaint, this game has those tarholes rated way too high. GO PACK!!!

This game is the best basketball game!!! When a person thinks of the perfect basketball game.....most think of slam dunk contest, great recruiting, great legacy mode, and great gameplay......This game is honestly 200x better then MArch Madness...Although i do think that EA games are the best....i would go with espn over march madness on this one!!! This is segas second year of making college bball games and it will only get better!!!! SEGA vs. EA on college basketball games = SEGA wins!!!!

I Played it at my friends house and we stayed up all night playing seasons. IT IS THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! to write me im at Gorilla@AOL.com