The Blog for the Sports Gamer

(I’m running behind and didn’t proof this. Please excuse excessive typos.)

Armed with the Jistic slider set at OS I went back to College Hoops for the past couple days. The good news for me is that whatever is in these slider tweaks it completely erases my issue with not being able to get my players to drive to the basket (that was driving me nuts). It’s also much easier to stick to your defensive assignment in the half court if you just keep the left trigger pulled down. (Maybe that was a no brainer, but again, defensive control was never an issue for me with NBA2k6.)

One note about these sliders. They’re geared for playing at MOP and the game is ridiculously easy using them on the All-Conference setting. Over the course of several games -I’m playing one of every four games in my current Michigan legacy- I was routinely blowing out teams by 30 points. So when I cruised into the Sweet Sixteen yesterday (#3 seed) against Wake Forest (#2 seed) I bumped it up to All American.

A Whole. New. World.

NBA2k6, in my mind, is still by far the better game of the two, but this game against Wake was classic. Wake jumped on me early (I blame not being used to AA), building a 10 point lead. By half time I was able to chip away at it, getting it down to three points. PG Daniel Horton, in his senior season, was all over the court. Hitting jumpers, a couple dunks, and a couple threes. He was a monster. And it was a good thing too because my front court of PF Petaway and C Sims was getting manhandled. Wake just wouldn’t let me get them the ball in the paint.

In the second half Wake pushed the lead up again, but again I was able to chip away at it. With about four minutes to play (12 minute halves) I actually had opened up a three point lead. But by the two minute mark, Wake had a two point edge. After getting a game-tying bucket, Wake went on to get the back breaker. With Deion Harris (SF) all over a Wake shooter (I forget the name), the guy turns and fires just off the right side of the key, near the free throw line. Harris is all over him for the foul and, to boot, the guy nails the shot. It was one of those plays where you can’t help but shout, “Ohhh!” Dick Vitale style (god I hate that guy). I was literally on my feet because it was just such a sweet looking play. Anyway, Wake hit the free throw and I was unable to recover, losing the game by two points when I failed to get a final shot off from half cout at the buzzer. Unbelievable game.

I’m not going to say I’m converted yet, as I still say the game lacks considerable polish in terms of smooth gameplay. The only thing that helps put this in the realm of NBA 2k6 is that fact that it’s such a great reproduction of college hoops. It does make me wish that the developers could just finish a damn game. (By the way, if it’s something you care about, you should note that the export draft class feature evidently doesn’t work. Supposedly a patch is in the works, but I don’t know that for sure.)

One other plus. The Selection Sunday show is a riot. It’s a bit long (really, it has to be) and may not always be worth watching, but I’m betting if your team is on the bubble then it will really get you biting your nails in anticipation, waiting to see if you get in.

On the other hand (because I can’t help but complain, it’s literally what I do for a living; just ask Bill), after winning the Big 10 conference tourney the commentators didn’t say jack about it in postgame. Is it really that hard to add a paragraph of dialogue to acknowledge the accomplishment?

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 at 9:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.