March Madness 06 Impressions

[sirjam]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I have a 42' Samsung DLP and it looks great.

Its not grainy or anything? Also what about the crowd, what do they look like on your tv? On mine it looks just like last years game if not worse.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I just went into NCAA tourney mode, selected the Washington Huskies. The bracket came up, and the regionals were named after their city hosts. They are Minneapolis, Atlanta, Oakland and Washington, D.C. Someone should check for accuracy.

I don't believe this was the case with '05 --- I think the regionals were West, East, etc. (I could be wrong).

I simulated the first two games after reading earlier that the courts were generic in the first round. The Huskies won the first two simulations, so I got to play Louisville in the regional. The court looked generic with the NCAA logo in the center.

Right when the game tipped off, Nessler said something like "So, Dickie V, who do you think is the best player in the history of college basketball?" Vitale's answer went on for days. He started talking about Lew Alcindor and ended by saying Magic Johnson was the best (though I think he threw in a comment about Jordan). I will say this, it sounded like a natural conversation, very realistic.

Who ever made the comment that the announcing can be hard to hear over the crowd noise is generally correct. There are times where you can hear, and others where it's difficult. I'm playing on a low t.v. volume right now, though.

The animations continue to look good. I'm noticing that, unlike last year, the guards don't all have the same jump shot animations. Taquan Dean's was better looking than some of the others. Also, there is a nice looking baseline drive and jumpshot animation.

In the game, the Louisville guards found a weakness and kept exploiting. They drove to hoop and drew foul after foul.

Also, there is a red 5-second clock that appears near a 5-second call.

I'll experiment some more.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

yep exactly another reason i waited to buy it today ...the great impressions ill be waiting for gamestop to open tomorrow morning to get this, thanx guys any word on the Edit player limit yet?

[Chairface1]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

As I pointed out in another thread, not every team's roster can be edited. EA goofed again and left out the All-Time teams.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Just played the NCAA title game as Louisville vs. Duke.

Some of the animations have been smoothed out this year. The behind the back dribble looks to have been polished up some, and possible have two variations (not quite sure yet). The lockdown stick continues to be fun, but you can get into trouble against good PG.

When you successfully draw a charge, the play reverts to a cut scene that looks good. All of the cut scenes look good, they just don't pop up enough for me. I could stand a little more. I have always hated the way instant replays look in MM so I cut them way down. I wonder if this is reducing cut scenes as well. If so, I may have to turn the replay bar up.

I don't think the "CPU shot control" is in this year. My guess is that most players control release themselves. If you don't like to, you may have to do it yourself this year.

The NC celebration looks the same as last year's. They kept "One Shining Moment" in the game.

One new animation I just saw. At the end of the game DeMarcus Nelson attempted a driving jump shot and spread his legs wide to prevent getting into a charge situation. It looked good.

They also have implemented the 5-second call properly. If you create space, the countdown ceases, only to begin again later if closely guarded again.

The shot behind the glass bug looks to have remained. It results in a turnover of course.

I'll get to some more negatives later.

The atmosphere is top notch. I like the announcing and crowd sounds (bursts and lulls are properly implemented). MM has always been pretty good here, and this year seems better than years past even.

[LHT69]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Thanks all for the great initial impressions. had one question, is there auto subs this year? I think last years game did not have auto subs. Thanks in advance.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I just went into rivalry mode with UNC hosting Duke. The scene looks amazing. I paused the game to relay a few things.

At the beginning Nessler asks Vitale what his greatest game as a coach was. Vitale again gave a really long answer, involving a win his team had against Al Maguire's Marquette team during the year that MU ended up winning the NC. Though long, it sounded natural.

I just saw a great sequence. It started with me pulling off the "dribble handoff" (it looks awesome; the CPU has been using it against me all night). I got a quick basket, and then my UNC's #34 (Noel?) created a loose ball with a a wrap-around steal attempt from behind, the ball flew into a UNC player's hand who hit a streaking #34 for a thunderous dunk. The crowd exploded and DU called a TO.

They have really smoothed out the behind the back dribble animation, and the defensive animations using the lockdown stick look real nice.

I'm not seeing alot of subbing --- none for my team. I need to check for the auto sub feature and report.

[flip2101]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Thanks for all the great info guys I really wasn't sure about this game at first glance but i'll pick up a copy after work and give it a shot !

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

yo can u see if u can play wit ur named players online? like ncaa football

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Some bad news, there is no autosub feature as far as I can tell. It also looks like EA put the default for fatigue effect real low (so as to avoid the need for subs). My guess is that the autosub feature went out so players would use the timeout interface that they put in last year (I would much rather have auto sub that the timeout interface that they were so proud of). This is a big negative to me also. Saw a hard foul animation earlier, and Vitale commented that the fouler was sending a message.

Just saw a great split-two-defenders layup animation in at Alabama-Auburn game in rivalry mode. They have all the little details on Auburn's floor added in this year, but EA still has Auburn's lanes blue instead of orange.

From my last game, Josh McRoberts for Duke is nice. Good news for Tar Heel fans: Noel is a monster.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Alabama is destroying Auburn. Here may be some indication as to the effort EA put into the game this year. (1) I saw on the Internet the other day that Auburn's basketball program is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. The site has a logo dedicated to it. That logo is on AU's court in 2 places in the game. (2) #23 on Auburn is a frosh (Quantez Robinson). He just shot the ball --- lefthanded. I don't know if he is LH, but if so, it is a good sign (I know the overall ratings have upset some people, but this is a good sign I think). In the past we had to fix Lefthandedness, even for well-known players, not to mention less freshman on losing teams.

EA never has Auburn's fight song in its games, and the fact that the lanes remain blue may be some indication that Auburn is simply a licensing hardass on EA (?). I don't know.

More time with the game still has me really liking the graphics and animations this year (I haven't mentioned but I play X-Box).

One small thing. I'm sure everyone remembers the addition of the halftime and postgame highlight they added last year, the one that stopped at the climax of the play (usually a dunk). They fixed that --- the play continues till the ball is through the hoop and almost o the floor.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

sweet keep the impressions comin, but do u get to play wit ur edited rosters online this year?

[sirjam]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

After playing it some more it may not be as bad graphically as first thought. I wouldn't suggest playing on press box though. The defense is what is keeping me into this game. The lockdown stick is awesome. I love the defense this year.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

yeh i dont play press box for madness anyway cuz i cant see the full play diagram

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Some possible negatives:

1. I played as the Auburn PG and got several steals near the end of the game against Alabama. This is first I had seen this, and was alert then to the expectation we all had that the lockdown defense would be overdone. I checked and the AU guard had a decent steal rating (80) while the AL player had a low offensive aware rating (56 I think). If anything in this regard is overdone and I just haven't really seen it yet, sliders can address that I suppose. The lockdown stick is making defense fun to play.

2. At the beginning of the AU-AL game Nessler asked Vitale if the basketball knowledge of college players is increasing. Again Vitale's answer was long-winded, but good and natural sounding. Though natural, I'm not sure how these interchanges will play out once the repetition factor kicks in. They do come at the beginning of the game, making them natural. They also seem to parallel the (new?) NBA Live 06 dialogue that involves longer stories about things like Dwyane Wade's history at Marquette and Shaq's move to Miami. We'll see. I can say that Nessler is overusing the phrase "V-cut" this year. Having said these things, there are some new phrases added that are quite good.

3. There is some ice skating, but not as much as in the past. I think they slowed down some of the micro moves this year, so that the IS is toned down also. (I know that this issue is a gamekiller for some people, and there are some that don't want to see any of this at all.)

More good stuff. I like the menu screens and music, etc., like others have posted.