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Product Description One coach, whether its the head honcho or a new assistant, can lead the team to the Big Dance or back to the drawing board.Only one game truly realizes the passion and pageantry of the college hoops game. So, break out your clipboard, whistle, and best calls as ESPN College Hoops 2K5 brings you the unbridled emotion and wonderful magic only exhibited in a real college basketball game. ... Read more
Features All New Graphics Engine Raising the bar on visual realism, graphics and animations are given a face-lift using an enhanced ESPN NBA engine. New, detailed animated jerseys, shorts and new 3D crowds help create a true college basketball experience that is ESPN College Hoops 2K5.Reactive Court Sense Computer-controlled players now have the ability to decide independently how they can best help their team and realistically react based on each human players actions. The result is the most natural looking college basketball as players run timed catch and shoot passing plays, lead passes that hit cutters to the basket, and CPU players determining the best way they can help win within each coaching calls and team philosophy.Revamped Legacy Mode A textbook full of additions to Legacy Mode include new coach settings for both head coach and assistant coaches allowing players to tailor training time, scouting and recruiting. Critical decisions on how to recruit both juco players and foreign players will impact the success of your schools program, and with all new small schoolprogression even the tiniest programs have a shot of making it big.Coach Mode Feel first-hand the heart-pumping action as you are really put in command of a college basketball team. You watch and call all the important plays from the sidelines, direct your players and make key OT decisions.ESPN Presentation Jay Bilas and Mike Patrick return to the booth this year with insightful commentary, completing this authentic ESPN-style experience. The emotional tide of the game is complemented with enhanced audio delivering the most accurate college chants and fight songs.
Reviews (15) 
Best College Hoops Game of 2005
I have played all college hoops games of 2005 (March Madness, Final Four, and College Hoops).This one is, by far, the best.It is very realistic and I really like the controls.I also like the camera angle.This was just a really good game.
Gameplay 9/10: The actual gameplay is great.Allthough sometimes cheesy, such as when your player commits a foul your mascot claps, this game has by far the best gameplay.During the game you almost feel like your sitting in Row 20, Seat 5.The controls are the greatest, as it takes little effort to move from one action to another and the controls are set up perfectly for a basketball game.
Graphics 9/10: Everything looks great except sometimes when you look close the players look kind of crappy.Other than that the crowd and all of the other stuff is very realistic and bold.
Realsticness 9/10: The game is pretty darn realistic.Not only in graphics but also in the players actions.Such as when they are covering someone and the kind of ride up against them or when they commit a foul and argue to the referee.
Replayability 10/10: I play this game all of the time.I enjoy it just as much as I did the time before.
NOTE: This game has one of the best season modes as well (Legacy Mode).You can handle emails and recruit and it is very well organized.
Overall 10/10: Although if you add the numbers up it come out to roughly 9, this game definitely deserves a 10.It doesn't matter as much as how those things act alone, but when they come together that they make one heck of a game.
Buyer Beware!
This is a fun game, in fact it may be one of the best basketball games ever created.
However, Visual Concepts didn't properly test this game and they shipped a peice of garbage to consumers.What am I talking about?
Well, this game will freeze on you if you buy it-I garauntee.Don't beleive me?Check out espnvideogames website forums under this game and you will see thousands of complaintes about freezing. I am through with (VC, take-two, sega whatever you want to call them, they sell cheap games, and there is a reason for it, they have to cut costs somewhere along the line and with this game, they cut costs on testing.
Why does this game have to make up name
Yes I like this game but well you probably heared Gerry Mcnamara well on this game sometimes they say his name is john smith or josh little or somthing like that you will find this out when you go to practice mode or to the roster. They also change the rating around a little bit. I mean one time 3pt rating is 90 the next it 86 or something.
For all of you who play the legacy mode.....
This game is awesome. I haven't played but a handful of actual games but it is pretty fun. I like to play the legacy mode and simulate through the seasons which takes a couple hours to do but is very fun. However, when playing a game, the free throw system is a bit hard (biggest complaint I've seen for this game) but the trick is to wait until the "ready to shoot" message pops up and hold onto A and release when the guy is moving his arm up towards the hoop. Let it go when the player would let it go in real life if that makes sense. Same way when you actually shoot a free throw. You let the ball fly when you get the ball up and make a motion towards the hoop. It's not too hard with enough practice but some players it's just impossible to make free throws with because they are crappy. Practicing free throws in practice mode is a good way to get better to. There will never be a system everyone like so deal with it!!!!
Onto the legacy mode, it is soooooo much better. Most of the flaws are gone from the old game. One being OT games. You would win by 25 in the old game. That is unrealistic. 15 seed teams like Quinnipiac would win the tourney. That doesn't happen in this game. Recruting is VERY detailed and takes at least twice as long as the other game but is more realistic. I recruited a PG in the 2k4 version and a PG had 29 rebounds! Unrealistic and still, you have no clue if they are going to be any good. In 2k5, you scout their game 4 times or so and you get an idea about each of these aspects: shooting, offense, rebound, defense, hustle, quickness, leaping, and potential. Each has a letter grade. You will be able to recruit the exact type of player you want and it also lists priorities of the players to. So you know not to recruit a kid who wants to stay close to home if they are in the Bronx and you are in Cali! If you recruit hard and heavy, you can turn a program around just as in real life. It's DEFINITELY A LOT MORE REALISTIC than the 2k4 version.
With the Xbox, you can also add sountracks to play in the game to which is cool but you can't really find any roster files out there. You can buy Xbox memory cards but hardly anyone out there makes the roster files. So your favorite player may be named Manny Hooglesbee instead of Gerry McNamara if you turn on generate names! Oh well, it's all good. This game is soooo much fun and the time you spend playing it easily equates to $20 in no time or even cheaper if you buy it used. Great game and I would DEFINITELY reccomend.
If you don't play legacy mode, playing a season is still so much fun. You have to play smart and beat the defense the other team is playing. You can't just run around them all the time like in ESPN Hoops 2K4 (the NBA version). You actually have to use some strategy so it's better to play on an easy level and advance your way up or you'll just get pissed and throw the controller if you think you can play on MOP when you should be on Junior Varsity!
AWESOME GAME!!!!!
Most realisitc and best college game so far
[...]I am a college student who closely follows college basketball year in and year out.I feel I have a very good sense of how college basketball is played (much different from the NBA), andI think that this game is easily the best representation of college basketball to date.
People who are looking for a game that is about draining rediculous 3's, bigtime dunks and alley oops, or any other kind of flashy basketball, get March Madness.Given this is fun in a video game, but if you are looking for a real simulation of NCAA basketball, ESPN is the way to go.
In ESPN, you really have to know the team you are playing with.It is very accurate in the type of play each team has.The Big East is all about physical play down low and strong defense, while the ACC is about finesse...just like in real life.I saw a lot of the reivews saying that "teams dont dunk enough" or "alley oops are hard to do."That is real college basketball.College basketball has its share of dunks, and the game has its share of dunks...but most of college basketball is teamwork, and ESPN forces you to do this.
I found that I had to play differently with different teams.For example, I usually play with Boston College, working the ball down low and using the 3-2 zone to shut down my opponents in low scoring games.Then, I decided to play a Duke / UNC game, and the gameplay was very different.With Duke, I found I succeeded more when I worked it low, and kicked it out to Redick behind the arc.Teams are designed to play like they play in real life.Cuse plays a 2-3 zone, Redick is nasty from behind the arc, and Charlie Villanueva is a beast on the boards.Everything is very accurately represented.
One review I saw said that a negative was that they dont have player names.I actually think the game did a better than normal job with names.No college games are allowed to have player names because that would require them to get licensing from players, which is against NCAA rules.However, they make it very easy to enter the names, and the announcers even say all of them...there is a database of names that contains every college player's name I could think of (including obscure ones, such as Nate Doornekamp of BC).It is really easy to rename players, and very cool to name your favorite team and hear the announcers and PA announcer say the names, something most other games dont have.
Sega has finally come up with a free throw system that works.Its a pain in the butt to get used to, but once you get used to it, it's amazing.There is about 4 different free throw animations, and you have to press the shoot button and release it at the top of the shot.It is easy to tell for good players, and difficult to tell for bad players.Makes for very realistic free throw percentages, and doesnt have an annoying meter like other games have.
Little things are annoying about the game.The crowd graphics during cutscenes are awful, but its really not that big of a deal.The mascots are well rendered, but a bunch really dont look like they do in real life (ex. Otto the Orangeman).These are easily overlooked tho, because the gameplay is so good.If you are a die hard college hoops fan and want a game that represents the game closely, ESPN College Hoops 2k5 is the way to go.
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