$20 Game of the Week: NCAA College Hoops 2K8 (PS3, PS2, Xbox 360)

I have always loved college and high school level athletics. In the place of money hungry celebrities whose egos and off-court/field antics seemingly overshadow their athletic abilities (Vick, Rodman, Owens, and about dozens of others, I’m looking firmly at you), you get young and hungry talent willing to do anything to get noticed and make it towards that next level, be it a college scholarship, or an NFL contract. This be-the-best-that-you-can mentality creates an atmosphere where anything can happen. Also, there is a certain charm in seeing local high school and college stars compete that you can’t get watching multi-million dollar celebrities, and who doesn’t enjoy watching the marching band, especially in black college football games? So it’s no surprise that I’ve always enjoyed 2K Games’ College Hoops better than its NBA counterpart. For years, developer Visual Concepts has managed to create a game that captures the atmosphere of college basketball while delivering solid gameplay on the court. That is why I was sad to learn that 2K Sports would not be renewing it’s NCAA basketball license for subsequent years, thereby putting an end to this series. To that end, 2K8 is an excellent swan song for the series. The improvements that it makes are little compared to 2K7, but they serve to refine the gameplay further.

College Hoops 2K8 features lots of cool stuff to keep college basketball fans playing for months. You can create your own chants, highlight reels, plays, and sound clips. While the models aren’t as detailed as the NBA 2K games, they are well animated, and you’ll see fans in the stands cheering, coaches flipping out on the sidelines, and players high-fiving each other after scoring. The game’s much touted 6th man feature, which basically involves filling a meter and getting the crowd on your side after making big dunks doesn’t do much for the core gameplay, but it’s nice to hear your school going wild. Legacy mode is back, and you can either take control of any school in ‘Open Legacy’ mode or play in ‘Career Legacy’ mode, where you start out by coaching lousy teams like the Air Force and moving up from there. You’ll scout potential high school recruits, pick a coaching staff, and decide who to sign. The legacy mode even features Amateur Basketball Leagues, which serve as high school teams. You can even play a prospect’s high school game, making the recruitment process even deeper. The package is rounded out with an underground hip-hop soundtrack featuring guys like Jurassic 5, J-Dilla, and Percee P.

By putting their series on an indefinite hiatus, 2K has virtually given the college hoops crown to EA Sport’s March Madness. However, at least the College Hoops series goes out on a positive note with this entry. Hopefully, 2K will restart in sometime down the road. Until then, College Hoops 2K8 is for college basketball what NFL 2K5 was for football: a complete package that provides something for everyone who loves the sport, and ends its franchise with a bang.