College Hoops 2K8
From 2K Games
College Hoops 2K8 continues the legacy of the NCAA franchise with all new features, including the 6th Man Advantage feature that lets the crowd atmosphere affect the game performance of teams, a training mode where players can improve their skills through practice, and more. College Hoops 2K8, the #1 rated college basketball game five years running returns to the Playstation 2, with the deepest feature enhancements in the history of the franchise. 2KU - Completely redesigned arena atmosphere creates the most authentic college basketball experience ever. ESRB Rated E for Everyone
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6344 in Video Games
- Brand: 2K Games
- Published on: 2007-11
- Released on: 2007-11-19
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- Platform: PlayStation2
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .50" h x 5.50" w x 7.75" l, .34 pounds
Great college basketball action on the PS2
This review is based solely on College Hoops 2k8. I have not played any other version of the game for other systems, and I have not played this series before. I have also not tried out the online play.
Graphics: 5/10 - The different courts look good, but the players look blurry. Framerate suffers from some issues - even on the fast gameplay setting, it slows down. Eventually you will get used to it. I appreciate how different teams have different levels of attendance. If you are playing poorly in a weak conference, there will only be a few fans in the stands. If your team is on fire, the stands will be packed.
Gameplay: 9/10 - Very realistic gameplay. The shot meter shows you what chance you have of scoring on any given shot, and this helps when you haven't played a certain team before and you don't know their good 3-point shooters. You can use a button to shoot, but it feels a lot better and smoother using the "shot stick", which is the R-stick. Defense is solid, as is free throw shooting. The only problem is that it's too easy to steal the ball, and it seems to be random whenever a reach-in foul is called. The sixth man advantage (the crowd) is a nice effect which will help your team when making a big comeback. The game allows you to substitute players with ease, and timeouts feel realistic as you can focus on something like "defense" or "rebounds" to give your team a little boost when you need it. You won't just be calling timeouts for clock management.
Audio: 6/10 - The crowd is nice but you have to filter the audio options so it sounds right. On the default settings the fans will drown out the announcers. This is not a big deal as the announcers don't have a lot of interesting things to say anyway. I'm very disappointed in the fact that you're not sure if you hit a shot or not. In previous basketball games I've played, you could hear a big swish and clearly see if the ball goes in. In this game, you can tell about 90% of the time when your shots are in, but I wish you could know with authority when you sink a big bucket.
Presentation: 8/10 - The menus are arranged nicely and they're easy to navigate. Franchise mode is deep - almost too deep! Sometimes you get stuck micromanaging things like where your assistant coaches spend their time recruiting. The game offers every NCAA division I team (I hear there are a few new teams that may be exceptions, but you'll find all the conferences here). Every arena is also designed to match the real life thing - even for the smaller Div. I schools. One thing I cannot stand is that it takes FOREVER to save your franchise - it can take up to two minutes to save your game. I also don't like that you can't turn off the cutscenes in the action - I just keep tapping the X button to get to the inbound.
Final comments: College Hoops 2k8 offers a great college basketball experience in terms of gameplay. The graphics are poor and unfortunately slow down the great gameplay, but if you tweak the settings a little you will get used to the speed and it can be a very fun game to play. I'd recommend it for any PS2 basketball fan, college or pro alike. You can't go wrong for only $20.
Final score: 8.4/10
Same great game
This game is great just like the past ones....the only negative is the same glitches like too many pass interceptions and too easy 2 get charge calls and the crowd advantage i dont like and you cant turn it off, but overall its a great game still.
Bought for my son age 9
My 9 year old son had a blast with this game. I can't tell you
more than that.
