College Hoops 2K8 ( PS3)

I know this game has been out there since September, but with March Madness in full swing and the sweet 16 getting underway I'd like to talk about this game anyways.

I've been a huge fan of the not-EA sports franchises, and I have to say that this one ranks up at the top. It could be that I'm a huge college hoops fan, and I have an obsession with certain teams, but I think its also the fact that this is a really well made game.

The graphics are always going to be close to the top for a sports game, especially on the PlayStation3. Sure there are small hiccups from time to time on my SD TV, but I can ignore them because I'm into playing the game. The crowd, though generic also look pretty decent, and the cheerleaders are almost as crisp as the players.

The game play is also pretty solid. The problem I have is that in real life the game of basketball is played with ever changing strategies, you wouldn't run the same play 10 times in a row, especially if the other team picks off a pass every time after the third time. I understand why they do it though, its to decrease the chance of a lot of collisions on the court and as a result someone going through another player. The low post moves really need to be looked at, the mechanism for backing down and posting up doesn't really seem to be present. My final problem with the game play is the interpretations that the system takes on what I want to do with the ball, while shooting. I sometimes want to do a layup but instead I get a pull up jumper. There are also times where I want to do a turn around jumper towards the basket but instead I get a fade away jumper. Finally there are times where I want the shooter to take the shot like he did when 6 feet from the hoop at 9 and his entire shooting mechanism changes to a slow developing shot instead of a quick throw up.

Now we come to the sound. If you don't play legacy mode, or season mode you might never experience this, but if you play into Legacy mode at least 3 years through certain things are going to happen. The announcers are going to start stating things that sound weird to you such as while shooting a free-throw, "He's wide open, and he hits the free throw". My personal favorite though is "They are down by 9", upon looking at the scoreboard it is 7-2.

There is one more game play thing that I forgot. At half time you get coach's tips. Its basically a list of things you're doing well, and a list of things that need improving. What I don't understand is when I have only shot baskets close to the hoop, and am up by double digits why the tips tell me that "don't shoot the ball down low our shots aren't falling.". The other one is "our press is backfiring we need to ease off of it", this being said after I've stole the ball 10 times because of the press defense.

After all is said and done, and the fact that there is a chance for underdogs to pull of victories in this game I'm going to give it a 8.2 out of 10. There is a lot of room for improvement which I've quickly talked about above, but the game is solid enough that I can ignore most of it.