ESPN College Hoops 2K5

"Very good overall, save a few subtle flaws"

First of all, the game is great. The graphics are solid, controls are easy, and the presentation is top-notch, it's very user friendly. There are several modes to the game, namely legacy (similar to franchise in football games), which is the largest time sink, but there are other quick-game type scenarios such as practice, one on one, coach mode, rivalry games, or the now-standard feature in ESPN games of a crib-type locale called the campus store.

As an avid basketball fan, the gameplay is where it let me down slightly. While the controls are simple enough, the manner in which a hot player is unbelievably hot, and a cold player can get ridiculously cold is too extreme. To clarify, a *good* shooter will seem to make 95% from beyond the arc if even quasi-open while "heating up." Even worse, a cold player will miss shots that nobody misses in real life, like layups when all alone on fast break or on dunks. The only other real gameplay issue is the blocking on dunks situation. All too often a center will go up one-handed in traffic and attempt some sort of tomahawk jam only used in fast breaks, then will be devastatingly blocked; unlike real life where one would like use two hands, or bank it in.

Another picky complaint is the announcers. As in other ESPN games, the announcers tend to fall behind the play too much, and as with all sports games, can be far, far too repetitive. "He's a scoring machine," "He's missed a lot, and we don't usually see that," etc are said once a minute it seems.

The last issue is with Legacy mode in general. The schedule is the same year in and year out if you decide to play more than the initial campaign, unless you turn on the option to allow user-modified schedules.

Overall, what the game does well far outweighs these minor, mostly picky, issues. For $19.99, it's definitely worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04