College Hoops 2K6

"College "Whoops" 2k6"

College Hoops 2k6 is the very first college basketball game ever released on the X-Box 360, and hopefully the worst. The same title, which you probably already know, was released on the PS2 and X-Box a few months before this was released. This game, along with its counterpart NBA 2k6, was re-released for the X-Box 360 in hopes of making it a better game. I do believe NBA 2k6 was an upgrade, but I am not sure about College Hoops.

Graphics: 6/10- To me the little things are not here. The game looks 2 or 3 years old just playing it live, because for the most part you do not really have time to view the detail. They are hardly an upgrade, and the fans look about the same as they did on X-box. Since none of the players can look like themselves, its less interesting. Sometimes the net on the basket messes up when you shoot it from certain angles. There is a half time show, and a post game show, and the first time you see Greg Gumble during this you will laugh your head off. He looks demented. I wish they would have made him look just a little better.

Everything is well defined, but come its the X-box 360, and this is not stepping up to the plate in my book.

Game play: 4/10- The biggest single let down of this game. It often seems too fast paced, and apparently layups are one of the lowest percentage shots in the game of basketball. Countless number of times will you miss barely contested layups and put backs. This makes you wonder how much basketball the makers of this game watch. Most of the guards are also rather sluggish when they get the ball. There are only 2 or 3 true fast break shots in the game because of this.

The game also is completely unaware of what a charge is, as opposed to a blocking foul. A man can run down court, step ahead of a guy running with the ball, stop and lean into him and draw a charge. You can supposedly charge going in another direction, ect. This makes the game just seem arcade-ish because you get good at drawing charges. Plus sometimes the charge button is "get out of the way" button. Which sorry if I am a basketball player, and I want to draw a charge, I do it. I do not try to do it and accidentally run out of the way.

They added coaches but most of the them do not look like their real life counterparts. It is probably a good idea but they need to make them look real for the full effect.

Presentation: 9/10- Not much to really talk about here. Everything is presented pretty well. The pre-season and post-season shows are a nice addition, the half time and post game "game breaker" things are very nice.

Sounds: 4/10 After playing College Football for all these years, I am sick of hearing fight songs. And that is all this game has is fight songs. They get old after awhile. The announcing is boring, and the player sounds... well do not sound like players. The crowds sound nice, thats a decent touch.

Career Mode: 10/10- At this point you have to be near sick of me complaining about the game, but there is almost zero to complain about here. Me and a buddy played this for about 6 or 7 hours straight, its addicting and really fun. First you start off at a really crappy school, such as UMBC, UL Monroe or Cornell. You will most likely struggle a good deal your first season, probably posting a record of you know 10-18. But with recruiting and such, you improve this team, and get job offers to other schools. And you work your way up the ladder just like real coaches do.

You can customize your schedule to set yourself up for success. You can play in big tournaments like the Great Alaskan Shootout and the Pre-season NIT or really small tournaments like the FIU Invitational. It is presented nicely. You can watch your team be seeded with a tournament show that is to be honest not very interesting but it makes the game feel real. There are coaching points you get for every thing you do. Like coach a team to 10 wins, 20 wins, winning record or have a player enter the NBA draft.

The only drawbacks to this is a lack of a post-season NIT tournament. Especially if you have a struggling team, it would be nice to make that. And sometimes recruiting can be annoying. But for the most part this is great. That being said, it is no different than the old X-box version of this game. Only in that one, your coach was more customizable.

Value: 5/10- The game play isn't very good, which personally is why I whipped out the extra cash to buy this on the 360. If you have this for X-box or PS2, don't even think about buying this game. If you don't though, it has some value. I would say rent the game. It is very replayable, even though it is not the best experience in the world.

Overall: 6/10- Not a bad attempt at a basketball game. But the game play is not up to far with the other games out. It is college basketball, and therefore makes it automatically fun, but more should and could have been done to ensure this on every players list.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/13/06