ESPN College Hoops 2K5

Sega continues full-speed ahead with what has got to be one of the most daring and most brilliant business strategies ever in the world of videogames, releasing all of their flagship sports titles for lowly, budget friendly price of $19.99, in an effort to make inroads into EA’s stranglehold on sports simulations. Since the original launch of the 2K series on the Dreamcast, the series has always been about quality and solid gameplay; constantly upgrading from season-to-season beyond the minimal new coat of paint and roster updates. Despite this, EA has continued to dominant across the sales board, hence this year’s strategy of releasing their sports titles at less than half the cost of EA’s franchises. However, when this strategy was announced many gamers took pause, fearing that they’d be getting last year’s game with only updated rosters or worse. It was only natural to fear that with the budget price, fans would also be getting budget quality. Thankfully those fears were quickly eliminated with the launch of their NFL franchise, a trend that continues with ESPN College Hoops 2K5.

For anyone that prefers the college game to the NBA, which is probably most of the free world after the “Malice at the Palace” incident, you’ll find virtually anything and everything you could ever want in a college basketball sim. The heart and soul of the game is the Legacy Career mode, which puts you in complete control as you oversee your program from also-ran to national powerhouse. There’s an almost overwhelming amount of work to be done and tasks to oversee in the Legacy mode. You are in control of everything from hiring assistant coaches to recruiting to scouting an upcoming opponent to determining what aspect your team will focus on at practice, and that’s all before you’ve even played a game. Believe me when I say that no stone has been left unturned. You’ll have to become adept at using the time allotted to these details proficiently if you ever have any hope of being successful, which means delegating whatever tasks you can to your assistants. It’s a bit daunting at first mainly because there is so much to do, much of it requires a lot of trial-and-error until you come up with a routine that’s most beneficial to you, but with time you’ll be breezing through these tasks. One feature about the Legacy mode that I especially appreciated was that unlike most sports sims that allow you first choice of the litter, your choice for your first time is from a meager list of also-rans. While I can see where this might irritate some gamers, it really goes a long ways towards realism since no first-time coach is ever going to have a shot at the Duke’s and Kentucky’s of the world. Beyond that, it also stretches the amount of time you’ll spend with the game as you climb the coaching ranks, creating a great sense of accomplishment when you move on to greener pastures.

For those gamers who find the Legacy Open mode too confining or those who absolutely, positively must play with their favorite team, the OPEN mode has been included, which is in essence the Legacy mode without the constraints. In additions to these modes, there is also the requisite versus mode, as well as tournament, gym rat, rivalry and online. Seeing as Sega was the first to feature online sports sims all the way back with the launch of the Dreamcast, it goes without saying that their online content and gameplay is among the best available.

The greatest strength of Sega’s sports titles has always been its gameplay and control, often times surpassing that of its competitor, a feat that it recreates here. Like the tasks associated with simply running your team, almost anything you can see players doing in the real world, you can pull of effortlessly in this game. Crossover dribbles, posting up in the paint, pull-up jumpers, and drawing a charge - it's all here and easy to pull off.

A cool aspect to the gameplay that’s been included beyond the ability to call the plays of your choice is your ability to adjust the tempo of your game, as well as deciding how hard you want your team to crash the boards with a touch of the D-pad. It’s a handy little feature that gives you even more control over the game. If there is one drawback to this it is the fact that you are forced to stop your ballhandler’s movement while you adjust the sliders with the D-Pad. It’s not a big gripe, but it would have been great if it didn’t interrupt the gameplay to the degree that it does. Which brings me to my other complaints, the first of which is the disparity between the haves and have-nots in regards to the players. Your superstars are especially good, but not your average, ordinary player that is usually the heart and soul of any team. You can rarely ever count on your “role” players having much bearing on the outcome of the game, which is a shame. One of the most enduring ideas of collegiate sports is the difference average players often make. My other gripe is with CH2K5’s new free throw system. Instead of relying on meters and timing to shoot your free throws, you must now time a button press at the top of your player’s shooting motion. This creates problems in several different ways, the biggest of which is the fact that each player has a different shooting motion making it virtually impossible to sink shots from the charity stripe with any consistency. Which brings me to the next issue, this whole system just feels too luck-based rather than skill based making every free throw an adventure. Finally the last issue is that the game has a seemingly endless amount of dynamic camera angles from which you must launch your shot. These angles look great, but it’s definitely not conducive to controlling free throws.

Luckily, CH2K5 makes up for its deficiencies in the free-throw department with one of the most innovative passing systems in basketball sims. A huge, but often overlooked aspect of basketball at any level is the passing game. Great passing can create open spaces for a teammate to drive or to drain the three, as well as the fact that it keeps defenders on their heels. In most basketball sims, passing is point-to-point, chest-to-chest, there’s no bounce passes or leading a teammate to the hoop, which is where CH2K5 one-ups the rest. For starters, you pass either by using icons or by simply pushing the left analog stick towards your target, which is no different than anyone else, but where it differs is in the ability to lead your teammates with your passes. It’s amazing how much difference something so simple and something evidently so overlooked for so long, can make up. The offenses that you call suddenly come to life. You can zip the ball to a teammate taking advantage of a backdoor without him having to break step. You can lead a teammate just coming off a pick to a wide-open basket. And if a defender commits to trying to defend the pass, then you just might see your player try to thread a bounce pass past him. But be careful, just like real life, things such as bounce passes and leading a teammate can prove more dangerous. You’ve got to be pick and choose when to use these tactics because they are more apt to be intercepted.

Graphically the game is solid enough, but it just comes off as a tad underwhelming. Up close the player models look fairly decent with a nice variety of unique-looking models, but like the rest of the graphical package, there’s just not much of a wow factor.  However, once the camera pulls back for the gameplay, then the player models fair much better, thanks to very fluid, slick animations. The players move so smoothly that from a distance they appear to actually be human. There’s a ton of animations included seemingly for every position the human body kind find itself in, each as smooth and lifelike as the next. Unfortunately, the arenas and courts don’t fare quite as well. It’s not that they look particularly bad; they just look sparse and kind of plain. There are some decent reflections on the court, but whereas you can almost feel the texture of the court in other games, you don’t really get a feel for the floor here. The crowds are decent with quite a bit of animation, but once again, it just comes off plain.

Of all the pieces that fit together to make this game what it is, the sound is its weakest. Before we get to that, let’s talk about its strengths - the best of which is the commentary team of Jay Bilas and Mike Patrick. These two call the game as if they were really there watching the action, providing excellent play-by-play in addition to well-timed anecdotes or stats. In addition to the commentary, there’s an impressive roster of fight songs that fill the air, which is without a doubt one of the best parts of collegiate sports atmosphere. So what’s the worst part? Sometimes, there is no sound. Nada, nothing, just complete silence in a building slam packed full of rabid fans and college students. What? There are points in the game where inexplicably the sound just disappears. Making matters worse is that sometimes during the silence, you’ll hear a single person let out a cheer and it actually echoes like an empty gymnasium would. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of rhyme or reason for this because it happens both during exciting times and not-so exciting times. Beyond that, there is the usual jawing of the players, the squeaking of sneakers, and cheers from the crowd.

In closing, this is a really solid and incredibly deep college basketball sim. Fans will have the ability to control every single facet of the game from the action on the court to the action behind the scenes. The basketball action is intense and fast paced, aptly recreating the passion and emotion that makes college basketball what it is. The slick ESPN-style presentation also adds immensely to the atmosphere and feeling of the action. Beyond the plain visuals and the disappearing sound, there’s a whole lot to love here. For fans of the sport, you definitely cannot go wrong here, a fact further hammered home by it’s $19.99 price tag.

Gameplay: 9.0
As is the norm with Sega’s 2K5 sports sims, the gameplay is spot on. Gamers will be able to pull off virtually any move or action with ease. The computer AI is challenging, keeping the game fresh and exciting. Aside from the disparity betweens the stars and role players, you could not ask for better basketball action.

Graphics: 8.0 
The graphics can best be summed up in a single word, plain. There’s nothing earth shattering in the graphics department, but there is nothing bad either. It’s all pretty Spartan in its approach, but if that’s what we’ve got to give up for a great playing game, then so be it.

Sound: 7.3
If I could grade the game purely on the commentary and the sound effects of the game being played then this score would definitely rate two points higher, but the frequent and sudden disappearance of sound in a college basketball game is unforgivable.

Difficulty: Medium
With various difficulty levels, as well as sliders for virtually every aspect of the game, there shouldn’t be any gamers that can’t find their comfort zone.

Concept: 8.0
There’s nothing new and revolutionary about college basketball sims, but its obvious that Sega strove to create the most authentic experience ever. All of the off-court tasks, as well as the way that they addressed the passing game deserves praise.

Multiplayer: 9.0

Multi-tap support allows up to eight gamers to play at once, which serves as an incredibly intense and fast-paced experience, which blooms to ten players online. The game performs flawlessly in multiplayer games off or online.

Overall: 8.5
The overall score is weighted towards the fact that the basketball action is among the best available. The game has some technical issues that seem to affect mostly the graphics and sound, but if gamers can get past that fact, they’ll be rewarded with a very deep basketball game. For the most part the game does an admirable job of capturing the strengths of the collegiate game versus that of the pro game. Fans of sports sims will find an awful lot to like and enjoy here. All in all, a great effort from Sega.