NCAA Basketball
has never had a really good video
game. The license has never been
capitalized on by any developer so
far but EA at least comes close with
its latest rendition of it's NCAA
basketball game. EA Canada develops
the company’s basketball entries so
it’s not surprising that the games
always feel similar. They’ve
basically got the same core. What is
pleasantly surprising about this
game are the slight tweaks made to
that core engine to make it look and
feel more like college basketball.
In gameplay, the
play calling system is what makes
this feel more like a college
basketball game than previous
entries. In the NBA, coaches rely on
the players more than the plays.
Meaning, certain screens and
movements are going to set up
one-on-one matchups in the half
court. In college basketball, the
plays are just as important as the
players. They rely on their plays to
set up shots, not necessarily
matchups. The implementation of a
few motion offenses in the game and
the movement of the players inside
of these offenses are enough to
separate this game from NBA Live.
The play calling system is
implemented relatively easy too, all
you have to do is hit the left
button on your controller and then
choose the corresponding button to
call your play.
The other thing
that makes this game feel like the
college game is the 20 Toughest
Places to Play feature, when you’re
at one of those arena’s in
high-intensity moments the camera
shakes and it’s tougher to score,
defend, and even shoot free throws.
This has always been a cool feature
in the NCAA Football from EA, now
it’s on the basketball side too.
In the visual department this game
isn’t anything flashy with player
animations. It’s all pretty standard
stuff that you would expect on that
end, you’d like it to be slightly
more developed but it is what it is.
The college
game isn’t about the players it’s
about the presentation and the
atmosphere. EA does a nice job
creating atmosphere with two
different broadcast licenses; one
from CBS the other from ESPN. The
CBS license feels slightly more fine
tuned in the graphics department and
it’s really cool broadcast
presentation from the graphics to
play by play by Gus Johnson. The
ESPN broadcast feels slightly
undercut though, there are only a
few phrases in that presentation and
about half of their comments don’t
make any sense. That’s something
that you can live with though
because having two different
broadcast licenses definitely added
something to this game.
There are also
dynamic updates in this game that
deal with ratings, stats, and that
type of thing but it’s harder to
enjoy that with the limitations of
the NCAA license and amateur
athletes. It’s still cool and it
will be a welcome feature come
tournament time.
NCAA Basketball 10
scores points for bringing the
college atmosphere to a game. It did
a decent job at that, it’s not over
the top amazing, but if you’re into
college basketball this is a game
you’re going to like this game. It
has it’s nuances and it’s annoyances
with AI, just like every other game
but there all things you can ignore
and/or get around.
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