Visually this year’s NCAA game seems to be taken from the NBA 2K2 engine of last year, with some of the nuisances that follow. The player models all look great, but since no real faces are sculptured, the overall faces look pretty generic. The animations are a step up from the NBA engine, allowing for more varied moves and dunks than offered in the pro game. The one big issue returning from the engine is there is a force field of sorts that separates a person trying to post up. It’s very annoying and very obvious. One thing that does look nice is the venues. Each court is recreated for every team, and brings a new atmosphere each time. You may be playing in a huge auditorium, or in a small gym. The effect here is very pleasing a keeps the appearance fresh. The crowd seems to be utilized from the old engine as well, with pixilated models. One thing the crowd does properly is holding up brick signs to distract foul shots. You’ll also notice the crowd holding up ESPN and their home teams names throughout the game. Lastly, when the game is really heating up, you’ll notice that the band section of the crowd really gets into the game, and is noticeably different from the rest of the crowd. This was really a surprise addition. All in the entire total atmosphere has been captured, if not for the graphical glitches, the package would be perfect. There’s always next year.

Audio is outstanding, featuring many levels of detail. The crowd is very involved whether you are losing, winning, or hitting a streak, the crowd reacts intelligently. The band music is played sparingly, but enough to know the existence that a band is present. I would have like to see more interaction on that front, but you really don’t hear the band until crucial moments of the game, which is a bummer. The commentary is actually very good, and I think is better than the Pro commentary. While like most sports games, you’ll hear a lot of the same expressions, this doesn’t happen here as often as most. The play by play always seems new. The game supports Dolby surround sound, but not 5.1, which is disappointing. Overall the audio package is superb.

Game play is spot on NBA2k2, which is good and bad at the same time. The controls are tight and responsive, but the force field issue mentioned before makes the game feel constrictive in ways. You don’t seem to have the freedom to move about at will. I don’t mean driving the lane should be easy, but an invisible barrier shouldn’t be the cause of the issue. The default controls also seem off in terms of button layout, as the option to pass to another player by choosing an icon is offered in the black and white buttons on the Xbox version. This was a weird choice by the programmers. Thankfully this can be changed. The A.I. is very tough, just like the NBA engine. With the wealth of teams that vary in experience, lesser-known schools may be tougher to get a win with. One last thing that is annoying is the spot of the starting slam and lay up animation is too particular. You will not see many slams and lay ups as it seems the start of the animation is to objective. The makes for clumsy looking jump shots right under the basket, and usually missed. All in all, the game play is fair, but Visual Concepts should have really tweaked the 2K2 engine more to support this title.

One thing that Sega’s game has over EA’s is options. You have a deep dynasty mode that you can either choose open or career. The difference is with career you start with a little school and build your coaching stats up to meet the expectations. You then can sign with bigger schools and so on. With Open dynasty, you can pick any team and try and make them champs. There of course are the usual exhibition and practice modes that follow, but what you’ll get into most is the online play. Online, whether on Xbox live, or with the PS2, you’ll find a solid game of hoops with very little lag issues. Unfortunately you cannot use the fake names online, only numbers, which takes away from the game’s personality. Ranking online is very much like the NBA game where you have wins, losses, and drops. Everything was running smooth while I was online, which was pleasant to see considering the issues in the past with the NBA games online. Top it off with over 300 schools to choose from and you won’t get tired of this game any time soon.

Sega’s first trip to the line is a flawed, but fun experience that should satisfy any college hoops fan. All 3 versions play the same, but with the option to go online, you may want to stick with the Xbox or PS2 versions. Either way, it’s a great run to the Final Four.