Gaming Target - Xbox: NCAA College Basketball 2K3

Written by Adam Woolcott on January 11, 2003

Full Review: ЕAnd now, your NCAA National ChampionsЕuhhЕChicago State!?ЕWTF?

In all the years Sega has been producing sports games, there's one sport they never tackled Ц NCAA college basketball. Perhaps its because their shining console, the Genesis, had the best college hoops game ever made in Coach K College Basketball, but the sports division hasn't gotten around to a college hoops game, until now. NCAA College Basketball 2K3, developed in joint by Visual Concepts and Kush Games, is not only Sega's first college basketball game, but also the only college hoops game on the Xbox. And for a first try, Sega has done quite well Ц though many obstacles remain before it's in the same class as their excellent NFL, NBA, and NHL titles. As it is though, NCAA 2K3 is a deep and entertaining game of hoops that's solid enough to keep the flaws in the back of your head instead of at the forefront Ц never a bad thing.

NCAA College Basketball 2K3 comes with all the usual modes of play, including basic exhibition and season modes. The 2 biggest parts of the game, naturally, come in the form of a highly polished Legacy mode, and full online support through Xbox Live. NCAA also contains the Sega Sports Challenge, which lets you input codes to track your skills against others online, without the need for XBL.

Unless you're an online player exclusively, you'll be playing Legacy the most. Legacy mode is split into 2 different play types, in the form of Career Legacy and Open Legacy. The Open Legacy lets you pick any team from the 300+ Division 1A schools (some aren't included, instead replaced by generic versions...about 40 in total. All are of the non-marquee variety, so all the huge schools are represented), and take them through multiple seasons. The Career Legacy lets you create a coach, and work your way to the top by starting at the bottom. Picking from one of about 35 cream puff teams, your job is to build your name by taking this cupcake team of yours to prominence, or at least to respectability. As your name grows, you can upgrade to bigger and better schools until you're coaching one of the top programs in the country. If you can't pull that off, you'll be fired and be forced to hunt down another job and give it another whirl.

Both Legacy types have the same post-season activities Ц full conference tournaments, a vast selection of awards (including all-conference and all-America teams), and the full 65 (including play-in game) team field for the NCAA Tournament, also known as the Best. Thing. Ever. Getting to the tournament isn't always easy with a cream puff, since failing to win the conference tourney and getting the automatic bid will most likely result in sitting out, unless you're playing in a big conference and make it as an at-large.

The final bit of post-season activity is recruiting. Fans of NCAA Football 2003 from EA will get a grasp of how this works right away, since it's just as involving, though not as deep, since you're recruiting for a 12 man team instead of a 50 man team. Thus you only need a couple players to fill holes, so actually, it's pretty easy to build a powerhouse if you get a couple 4 or 5 star recruits. What makes it difficult is recharging your team, since actually getting players is tougher because you can't use the in-state bias of college football considering that players go all over the country instead.

All in all, the Legacy modes are as deep as Sega's ever done, and is such a polished process that playing through multiple seasons with your team is fun, just to go through the greatness that is the Big Dance year after year.

What dulls the blade somewhat, unfortunately, is the rather bland on-court action. While the game speed is a tad faster than NBA 2K3 (and can be adjusted), some games can be very boring to play, especially when you're doing a Career Legacy with a bad team. There's not a whole lot of excitement, because the pageantry of college basketball is missing sometimes. While it doesn't play exactly like NBA 2K3 with college teams, the similarities are enough. The УmomentumФ meter thrown into the games hardly matters, since your team and the crowd doesn't change while having the momentum swinging your way. No question the action is fluid, the gameplay is very realistic, and the controls are exceptionally solid, but just like EA's Madden NFL series (jumping sports, I know, bear with me here), the game can occasionally get flat-out boring (usually the bottom-feeder versus top 25 games, which I guess can be expected), with only the great Legacy mode keeping the game from falling to pieces. It's just interesting enough to keep playing, and once you do field a great team after some recruiting, it picks up as the play on the court speeds up with better talent.

Graphically, NCAA College Basketball falls somewhere between NBA 2K2 and NBA 2K3 on the scale. The players themselves look good, all with great animations and a realistic feel to them. The courts and stadiums also are nicely rendered, with some college arenas being fully re-created on the Xbox. However, even the generic stadiums maintain a college feel, and fit in nicely. Coaches too are rendered on the sidelines, pacing and wandering.

Other added extras like the crowd are also done well, but nothing outstanding. On occasion, the fans will put up a sign for the home team, or flash an ESPN sign, but that's the extent of itЕ however, thankfully they don't look like cardboard cutouts, as what was found is the old NBA 2K games.

Naturally, the presentation of NCAA 2K3 is top-notch, thanks to the ESPN license. Stat overlays and tons of ESPN'd menus look like the real thing, and makes NCAA feel more like ESPN than a lot of previous Sega Sports games have with the same license.

The audio, in Sega tradition, is done well, but lacking despite it. The play by play is decent, but very repetitive and dry. At least they call the players' names out; that's saying something. Unfortunately, you'll hear the same phrases dozens of times in one game, with no real variety in the calling of the action. Crowd noises are good, but could have been a lot better. The fans are loud and get behind their team, but it's almost in a robotic sort of way, belting out the same cheer over and over again. Added on-court effects like coaches that scream and squeaky feet on the hardwood are nice touches.