NCAA March Madness 06

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Try the all-new Lockdown Stick - The right analog stick lets you pressure opponents and get aggressive with physical on-the-ball defense and force turnovers, deny passes, and jump into passing lanes
• Level the playing field with diagrammed defensive playbooks - Play man-to-man or zone, or customize your playbook to suit your style
• A true uptempo game - The new transition game lets you push the ball up the floor, dish to an open teammate, and ignite the fans with fast breaks
• Players will feed off the Senior Leader - his abilities will affect the team's overall performance
• 30-year Dynasty Mode - Check out upcoming teams, and players, or recruit high school and Junior College players with all-new stat tracking and player ratings

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000AOEUNY
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 8, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,635 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #13 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Sports > Basketball
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

In NCAA March Madness 06, you'll play the kind of pressure defense and fast-break offense that wins championships. Work the court like a true baller: Use defense to create offense by pressuring the ball, forcing turnovers, and smothering your opponent with the all-new Lockdown Stick. Experience the strategic side of the game as you find and exploit mismatches against every opponent. Featuring a deeper playbook that covers both ends of the court, an enhanced Floor General Playcalling system featuring more sets than ever before and a Dynasty Mode centered around senior leadership. The road to the Final Four begins with NCAA March Madness 06. Recreate 20 of the greatest moments in college basketball in College Classics 10 new replayable classic games - relive historic scenarios to unlock your favorite teams from the past

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overly complicated and difficult to master = not much fun, February 23, 2006

By 

BasinBictory "Mister Basin to You" (Nowhere in particular) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NCAA March Madness 06 (Video Game)

I bought this title from EA on the basis of their NCAA Football game, which I absolutely got hooked on with their 2004 version. I didn't own a college basketball game, and thought this would be a nice game to play and build up a weak team into a Duke or North Carolina-like dynasty.

What I found was that, even in the easiest setting, (junior varsity) the computer is a veritable scoring machine. The game reviews all tout the defensive features in this game, but from what I can tell, it matters little, since the computer always manages to score, whether it's on a screen play that frees up a 3-point shot (which goes in, oh - about 80% of the time for the CPU) or down low in the post where the computer will routinely get two or three offensive rebounds and put the ball back in.

The only remedy against the computer's ridiculous scoring prowess is to play on the easiest and most forgiving setting, where you might be able to make 50% of your open shots. On harder difficulty settings, I found it extraordinarily frustrating just passing the ball around. The method of passing the ball around is very annoying, as the control seems very imprecise and often, the players pass it to random teammates and not to where I wanted it to go.

Before you say that all my criticism is due to my being an inferior gamer, let's just say that I've played all manner of sports console games, and enjoyed the vast majority of them as I was able to learn and master them and play at a high level on them rather quickly, which enhanced my enjoyment for the games. The quality of a game should be measured by how much fun "learning on the job" can be. With other games, even when I knew I wasn't very good at them yet, I was still enjoying myself and learning what I was supposed to do to be successful. With this game, I feel like I'm still muddling about, and not having much fun doing it.

One of the features that initially attracted me to this game was the dynasty mode. I truly enjoyed building a dynasty in NCAA Football, where you can take a perennial doormat and turn them into a gridiron dynasty. The recruiting process in that game is very straightforward, streamlined, and that is what makes it more fun and interesting, as the primary focus is (as it always should be) on the gameplay. Unfortunately, in this game, the recruiting process is too complicated, even if it more accurately reflects the year-round courting that college programs do with top recruits. You, as the coach, are equipped with a PDA which tells you all the vital information you need to know on your program, from scouting reports of upcoming opponents, to injury reports, to recruiting issues, to NCAA discipline issues, to messages from the AD. While this is a nice feature, in my experience, it made for sensory overload, and seriously slowed down the flow of the overall experience, which should be focused on the actual game, and not the peripheral activities. There should have been options to streamline recruiting and all that stuff for people (like me) who just aren't into that level of realism, and prefer to play the game, and not all the mini-games on the side.

As far as the gameplay itself, I mentioned already the inhuman scoring qualities of the computer, mitigated only if you're playing at the easier settings, and the passing contols are frustratingly random. The player animations are very generic, and there's not much variety in players (like players with wild hairdos, tattoos, players who wear T-shirts beneath their jerseys, etc.) The offensive play of the game, even when you call a play, is spotty, and there's no sense that the offense you have installed is actually being executed. For an actual basketball fan, this is very frustrating, since if the game developers implemented this properly, you could tailor your offensive scheme around your players' strengths or weaknesses. As it was, it seemed like my players moved about at random, and I felt like I was just in some sort of pickup game, with no teamwork or cohesiveness, just five players on the floor doing whatever.

All in all, this is a spotty game, which failed to win my admiration or enjoyment. My only solace is that I didn't pay the full $50 for it when it first came out.

20 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You Gotta Give it a Chance..., October 13, 2005

By 

Lord Kayoss (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NCAA March Madness 06 (Video Game)

...which honestly ain't so great.

The reason why:

I think of all the games I loved from the very first time I played them. It didn't take time to adjust to things I didn't like. It didn't take time to brave a tough learning curve and master awkward play control. Those are the games that stuck right away and became instant favorites. One of those favorites was NCAA March Madness 2003 for PS2. The play-control was very user-friendly. The pressure sensitive buttons were very smooth and responsive and firing off 3 point shots and rocking the rim was essentially easy to do. Provided the game's defense engine wasn't very effective outside of the 1-2-2 press - MM2003 was a very fun and addictive basketball game. As a matter of fact, I still play it and prefer it over every college basketball game that followed since. I absolutely hated 2004 and nearly despised 2005. Both were sluggish and the actual in-game play control reminded me of an old NES cartridge. But 2005 introduced an all-new Dynasty feature which sparked a huge intrigue on my part and made me want to check it out. I rented it, forced myself through the sloppy play, and ultimately returned it to Blockbuster the next day and went back with 2003. EA lost out on my bucks for the second year in a row.

So why did I end the boycott with 2006? Good question. I guess I was looking for something new. MM2003 was finally starting to get old after nearly 3 years. The Dynasty mode in it was well done but pales in comparison to the newer additions. All the Dynasty features from 2005 are back and intact in 2006 plus some new quirks. You have so many points to use when recruiting, training, and disciplining players as before. But now there is an added focus on different aspects of training. For instance, after viewing the scouting report for a tough opponent you're about to go up against who's inside defense is tight and threatening, you can spend Dynasty Points on emphasizing 3-point training to increase your shooters' accuracy and overall ability to light it up from behind the arch. The possibilities are wide and intriguing.

It also costs you points to discipline players who have committed an NCAA violation of course and there's always been alot of belly-aching over that one as critics blaspheme every aspect of that. But all of them have failed to mention is that you can now turn player violations "OFF" in Dynasty mode so no more worries there if you'd rather not deal with drunken college kids hitting the town and being subsequently benched when you need them.

As far as the commentary - this is mainly just a basic rehash of previous years. A couple new Nessler-anecdotes here and there. And Duke Vitale (er, I mean Dick Vitale) finally has laryngitis in this one which makes listening to his silly, cheerleading, "60-something-year-old-man-trying-to-be-trendy-and-hip" commentary a LITTLE less irritating. But for the most part the Nessler/Vitale remarks are pretty much spot-on with the action on the floor. And if they still get to you as always you have the option of turning them "OFF".

Then, there's the main flaw - again the in-game play control is tainted with lackadaisical shooting sensitivity. Holding the shoot button down and sending your player into the air feels like you're still playing Double Dribble or Arch Rivals. Hell, the play control in those games may have been better! Shot fakes almost never work and usually leave you open for silly steals which almost always leads to the opponent's unstoppable fast breaks. Funny thing for a game that boasts so much about defense. The computer is all up in your face up and down the court most of the time which brings up something else I can't stand. The chance of your shot falling through the hoop is severely reduced when a defender is even standing near you. I've missed more 3-point shots in this one than any other basketball game I've ever played. And when viewing the shot stats after the game I see that Taquan Dean from Louisville (one of the top 3-point shooters in the nation) went 2/19 in 3P attempts throughout the contest - something ain't right there. And it gets worse. I played through 10 different games last night against teams of every caliber in terms of quality. Didn't seem to matter if they were ranked 1 or 190 - I almost never got the bucket when my best scorer shot from right under the hoop!

Is the defense in the game that good!? Maybe for the computer. I've bricked enough good looks to cause the head coach to crap right in his pants. And when it's my turn to guard the cpu opponent I might as well walk into the kitchen and grab another beer without pausing - because one way or another they're gonna score. Whether it's by breaking through a trap or crashing the boards for a second, or third shot attempt. The lockdown stick helps in many instances like opening up possibilities for steals and drawing charging fouls, but only if your man is a solid defender - otherwise forget it.

Floor play calling was also alot easier in 2003. '06 takes about twice as long again leaving you open for steals and/or backcourt violations.

But - after all these gripes I'm still playing the game and somehow having some fun with it. By getting used to the play control and accepting the challenge to win under uncomfortable circumstances the game is slowly proving to be a decent purchase. I mean if you're a big b-ball fan how bad can it be?

Rent it first - keep it the entire time and give it a solid try. You might like it. If not - I don't think anyone will blame you.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Needs work on gameplay, March 1, 2006

By 

G3 "GF3" (USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: NCAA March Madness 06 (Video Game)

This game will piss you off real quick..and I really gave it a chance. The computer AL is just not balance right or something, It's no fun trying to rebound when you got the position, make a pass to an open player, or make the wide open shots!.. but no problem for the computer though...(smile) No matter where you set the settings ..it's either too hard or too easy and this just sucks the fun right out of it. Well guys or ladies..you've been warn! Just buy yourself college 2k6 and you want be disapointed if just want a good ol fashion college basketball game with much better gameplay.