NCAA March Madness 2004
- November 17, 2003 15:04 PM PST
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Are you ready for some March Madness? Find out if your Xbox is.
NCAA March Madness 2004 manages to capture the excitement of the college basketball experience and is a great game of hoops to boot.
Ghost of Coach K
Old-school gamers often point to Coach K Basketball for the Sega Genesis as the quintessential college hoops game. That title?s main claim to fame was its tough but rewarding difficulty setting. NCAA March Madness 2004 follows in the right footsteps with a fun yet challenging hoops sim. Starting things off is a comprehensive Dynasty mode that can be played up to 30 years and includes offseason training and dealing. NBA Live 2004 owners will recognize many similarities, but you can?t argue with an already solid Dynasty system.
Mascot and Rivalry modes are nice bonuses, but the former is more of a novelty and the latter doesn?t seem a great deal different than normal play, except it?s louder. What is noticeable are the 150 new teams, bumping up the total to over 300 schools.
School Spirit
The players are nicely detailed, and they animate in a satisfying way. The speed of the game feels natural, although some movements are a bit exaggerated. Even so, the controls are smooth, and the only learning curve comes from the somewhat high difficulty at all settings except the lowest.
The gameplay in March Madness is nearly identical to that of its big brother NBA Live 2004, which is a big plus. The frantic pace, the tighter defense, and the importance of set plays is actually a much better fit for the college game than it is for Live. The computer plays like it?s on a mission, so you really have to maximize your school?s playing style to come out on top. Team-specific quick plays help out in this regard, and they?re customizable. It?s refreshing that you have to play solid, fundamental basketball to succeed since that?s a big part of the college-ball mentality. Visuals and controls for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox are about on par with the PlayStation 2 version controlling a bit better and the Xbox looking a touch sharper.
Awesome, Baby!
The commentary is solid, and although it can get repetitive, you can?t help but want to hear more from Dick Vitale during the game. The big band sounds and authentic crowd chants are handled extremely well, sucking you into the thrill of it all. The new videos featuring various college coaches are neat, but it would be more useful if these could be interjected during the game in key situations.
Online play for the PlayStation 2 version under closed conditions worked fine, but how it plays in the real world could not be tested by press time. If play on NBA Live 2004 is any indication, the system will have some hiccups and particular setup nuances. The Xbox version does not feature online play. Both versions do support memory-based tracking of how many EA Sports games you play.
By a fair margin, NCAA March Madness 2004 comes out on top in the showdown against ESPN College Basketball 2K4. Online support for the Xbox version would have made its victory complete for this year.
