March Madness 06 Impressions

[kennytomson]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

to be honest i haven't played this game that much, but the more i do the less i like it. i feel like i have less control of my player this year due to all these slow animations (when i try to fake or crossover, i become a slave to a 3 second animation). my goofy centers are throwing it down like lebron...the research team did an absolute horrible job with the rosters...i'm sick of this 'tiger woods' clone create a player where i can choose the style nose to cheek size but no matter what i do all these CAP have that same zombie look? why did ea get rid of the 20 face option of a few years ago?...lock down stick is a waste of time, what was wrong with the 'face up' with the L1 button? and why take that away just to assign it hard foul #2?...and these cartoonish player models???

i hope a good slider and roster set can get me excited about this game, because right now i feel like i wasted $30 (had some trade-ins). the developers of this game need to pass it on to someone who actually cares about college basketball and put in the effort to make this a good game again. they may be scared to throw resources at this title since it sells so bad compared to its other franchises, but it will never sell until ea takes this genre seriously.

[sirjam]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

to be honest i haven't played this game that much, but the more i do the less i like it. i feel like i have less control of my player this year due to all these slow animations (when i try to fake or crossover, i become a slave to a 3 second animation). my goofy centers are throwing it down like lebron...the research team did an absolute horrible job with the rosters...i'm sick of this 'tiger woods' clone create a player where i can choose the style nose to cheek size but no matter what i do all these CAP have that same zombie look? why did ea get rid of the 20 face option of a few years ago?...lock down stick is a waste of time, what was wrong with the 'face up' with the L1 button? and why take that away just to assign it hard foul #2?...and these cartoonish player models???

i hope a good slider and roster set can get me excited about this game, because right now i feel like i wasted $30 (had some trade-ins). the developers of this game need to pass it on to someone who actually cares about college basketball and put in the effort to make this a good game again. they may be scared to throw resources at this title since it sells so bad compared to its other franchises, but it will never sell until ea takes this genre seriously.

I am with you. I am trying hard to like this game. However I am about to give up and if I can get any money for this, I am getting rid of it.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I put some rosters in and have been playing some more tonight. I am liking it again, like last night (i.e., more so than earlier today). I have been playing as JamesOn Curry using the controller lock. I switched from Varsity difficulty to the next level up, and I turned the game speed slider down as others have suggested. Things are much tighter now.

Gallagher-Iba is gorgeous in this game. Playing with controller lock on Curry is pretty fun. I've played a couple of home games and a few road games. BTW I believe that Mizzou's new Paige Center is there this year.

I've seen a few new animations. Two different celebration ones on the 3-point play, and one celebration after a blocked shot into the stands. Some of the screens in this game are monstrous, people getting laid out (realistic looking). The play-by-play continues to impress.

I think we will have 2 good bball options this year with MM06 and CH2K6.

[rawdawg71]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Which is better Live or MM or are they basically the same and it just depends on whether you prefer nba or college bball?

Thank you for the impressions guys. I was definately not getting this now I'm getting the urge to make an EB run.

Nba Live 06 is a better game than MM NCAA 06, but MM is a good College BBall game!! I mean live 06 got 720 graphics, playmaker controls, All Star mode, etc, etc, and Live06 still Fail in giving me that true Nba(2K6) Simulation!!!! To me Live06 plays just like MM 06!! EA just got the controls different that 's all!!!

Now on the MM NCAA 06 you U basically getting a better game from last year MM05!! That's a Good thing!!! Not bad at all!!! the game plays fine on Default, a little too fast for me! but that's College ball for Ya!!!! No matter how much I tried to slow down the gameplay in Live06 the players still seems to be going 100mph! Unrealistic!!!!
So I did the next best thing, I went and trade my Live06 for MM 06 and I'm glad to say I did the right thing!!!! For the simple Fact that I already have the Best Nba(2K6) game!!!! and I could'nt see myself playing Two of the same games made by EA, so the MM NCAA 06 is for me until the next Gen. Anyways!!! Run!! Pratt!! Run!! If U can play live06 then U can play MM 06!!!! Period!!!! ONE!!!!!

[JayDub30]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Am I to assume that there is no mechanism to export the MM 06 draft class to the NBA Live 06 draft class? If not then I wont feel bad buying NBA 2k6.


Also, how is the music in the game? The marching-band 'playin' the hits' (ala Papa Roach) really didn't do it for me.

[racerx]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Played a little more last night(After watching my Cards lose), the framerate is still choppy on the PS2. That is what is killing the flow of the game for me. It seems fast in some spots and then drags in others. I lowered the game speed down to 35 because some passes and picks seemed to be happening too fast.

Maybe its my old age but 2k5 just flows better.

Not having the Auto sub is killing me as well. I keep forgetting to sub my guys in.

For the guys who have the game what fatigue rate are you using? The default is zero but I bumped it up to 50.

Racerx

[RGmoney]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Am I to assume that there is no mechanism to export the MM 06 draft class to the NBA Live 06 draft class? If not then I wont feel bad buying NBA 2k6.


Also, how is the music in the game? The marching-band 'playin' the hits' (ala Papa Roach) really didn't do it for me.

Yes, your are correct. You can't export your draft classes this year.

[hellbent]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

For the guys who have the game what fatigue rate are you using? The default is zero but I bumped it up to 50.

Racerx

I'm using fatigue at 50 as well.

Even the XBOX version has some slowdown, depends on the arena in which you're playing more than anything. Sometimes it gets jittery after a quick change of posession (long rebound, steal, etc).

I'm really on the fence with this game. It is clearly the best MM I've ever played, seeing as I didn't want to toss it after a day or so. I enjoyed CH 2k5 last year after trying MM on a rental, and agree with the consensus that CH was the best b-ball game (pro or college) last year. There are some things that I missed about the college game from CH that are well implemented in MM this year, but I'm not sure if the good here and there adds up to a game worth keeping in my collection with NBA 2k6 and the soon to be released CH 2k6.

Quick examples of the good:

The BANDS and the crowd - the sound is much better (IMO) than in CH 2k5. It helps immerse you in the game when you're playing at home, kick the pass out to your 3pt shooter, launch the shot, hear the crowd scream "THREEEEE!" and then nail it to take the lead and have the crowd go crazy.

Lockdown stick - a bit arcade-y in its implementation (with the TRON-like sound effect when you D someone up) but still a great addition. It is especially fun to use with Player Lock and you try to deny the ball to your opponent away from the ball as well as playing solid on ball defense and timing your steal attemps just right (at least if you crank up the reach in sliders a bit).

Legacy Mode- the recruiting model just seems cleaner and more immersive than CH 2k5. That, and there seems to be very few bugs apparent in this mode compared to the ones in 2k5 that made you want to give up your dynasty altogether.

The bad - well, most everyone has touched on these so far.

You need to tweak sliders big time to get the dominating post game shut down somewhat for both you and the CPU. I've had a little success fixing this, but still sometimes it is frustrating.

Lack of auto sub feature....Can't export draft class into Live....Cruddy looking crowd graphics....Poor team roster scouting....lack of distinction between good and bad teams at the higher skill difficulties (Wash St. giving Indiana trouble in Bloomington)...

Overall, I feel that I need some more playing time before completely dismissing this year's MM - which is at least a better game than I was expecting given the last few versions.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

i hear a lot of people complaining about lack of auto sub function.... has anyone checked the sliders area for User Substitution Frequency?

I think thats how nba live deals with this.. it should be like that for this game

[sirjam]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

i hear a lot of people complaining about lack of auto sub function.... has anyone checked the sliders area for User Substitution Frequency?

I think thats how nba live deals with this.. it should be like that for this game

I checked it last night. I did not see any auto sub for the user, its there for the cpu but not user. I am just not having fun with this game at all. The rosters are terrible. The graphics are horrible. I think this game is exactly like last years, with the lockdown stick added. I play on the highest level and the plays are still money. Also after playing live, the court in MM seems small and cluttered. The movement of the players are slow as far as when you run it looks like they are running up a hill, there is no explosion. Its hard to explain. The Mizzou Arena is not in the game. The court is with the exemption of I think the lane is black, can't remember. I only played there once, because I was disgusted in how there were players missing, players on the team that graduated and so forth. I am not understanding how its getting good reviews. Maybe its because of the dynasty or something. I played two games last night and said to myself " I can't take it anymore". I then popped in the Nba games and played each one 2 times. Much better experience. So unless you guys tell me about remarkable sliders and rosters to fix gameplay and overall enjoyment, I'm taking this one back. Something I never do. If you have time go over to easports.com and read the producer interview. It talks about how the fastbreak has been redone, there is no evidence of this at all. At least not with the teams I have seen.

[dbrandon]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Just did some quick playing over lunch. Some bugs/glitches starting to show up. When you have a guy closely guarded using lockdown, and you see the 5-second clock winding down, if you go for the steal it will interrupt the 5-second count even if you are able to maintain close proximity to the ball handler. Not good. It forces you to either take your chances on the 5-second call and not go for the steal or go for the steal and give up the possibility of the 5 second call. On the positive side, they 5-second call is not implemented in the backcourt, as it shouldn't be (I would've thought that would be how they glitched it instead of the way I found above).

Another thing, it seems that there are games where the court feels too crowded, and games where it doesn't. When I match up good teams with Duke in Cameron, everything seems less crowded, players move more freely, and the game feels better. When I played Kentucky at Vanderbilt, the court felt crowded, and things weren't as good. It's hard to explain.

I have experienced a few situations where the player I am controlling makes some movements on his own. That's where the ice skating is most evident at times. I believe this has been an issue in past MM games (?). Also, what sirjam said about the on-and-off again triple threat thing is correct. I noticed this last night.

Again, the new animations are great and the announcing is very good. I'm sure more flaws will appear. This should still look to be the best in the MM series though.

Isn't that the closely guarded clock?

[dbrandon]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I checked it last night. I did not see any auto sub for the user, its there for the cpu but not user. I am just not having fun with this game at all. The rosters are terrible. The graphics are horrible. I think this game is exactly like last years, with the lockdown stick added. I play on the highest level and the plays are still money. Also after playing live, the court in MM seems small and cluttered. The movement of the players are slow as far as when you run it looks like they are running up a hill, there is no explosion. Its hard to explain. The Mizzou Arena is not in the game. The court is with the exemption of I think the lane is black, can't remember. I only played there once, because I was disgusted in how there were players missing, players on the team that graduated and so forth. I am not understanding how its getting good reviews. Maybe its because of the dynasty or something. I played two games last night and said to myself " I can't take it anymore". I then popped in the Nba games and played each one 2 times. Much better experience. So unless you guys tell me about remarkable sliders and rosters to fix gameplay and overall enjoyment, I'm taking this one back. Something I never do. If you have time go over to easports.com and read the producer interview. It talks about how the fastbreak has been redone, there is no evidence of this at all. At least not with the teams I have seen.

LOL when has EA ever been honest? They are one of the best hype compaines I have ever seen though. Year after year saying this and that and doing very little if any of what they claim to have done.

[Pratt75]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Nba Live 06 is a better game than MM NCAA 06, but MM is a good College BBall game!! I mean live 06 got 720 graphics, playmaker controls, All Star mode, etc, etc, and Live06 still Fail in giving me that true Nba(2K6) Simulation!!!! To me Live06 plays just like MM 06!! EA just got the controls different that 's all!!!

Now on the MM NCAA 06 you U basically getting a better game from last year MM05!! That's a Good thing!!! Not bad at all!!! the game plays fine on Default, a little too fast for me! but that's College ball for Ya!!!! No matter how much I tried to slow down the gameplay in Live06 the players still seems to be going 100mph! Unrealistic!!!!
So I did the next best thing, I went and trade my Live06 for MM 06 and I'm glad to say I did the right thing!!!! For the simple Fact that I already have the Best Nba(2K6) game!!!! and I could'nt see myself playing Two of the same games made by EA, so the MM NCAA 06 is for me until the next Gen. Anyways!!! Run!! Pratt!! Run!! If U can play live06 then U can play MM 06!!!! Period!!!! ONE!!!!!

I just picked the game up last night rawdog. I wanted to get nba live but just like yourself I already have nba 2k6 so I opted to get MM06. I am trying to wait until the 360 comes out to get nba live but that won't have a franchise mode so that adds to my dilemma of which one to get. I played a few games of MM last night and I am enjoying the game. I didn't think I would like it the lockdown stick but it is pretty cool and I like the floor general and timeout menus as well. They are pretty slick. I barely touched last years game at all because the gameplay imo was to arcadey for my liking. The speed seems a bit toned down and it also seems a bit more difficult. So far I'm glad I picked this up. I just need a roster set so I can start my dynasty and then its on.

[zephyr13]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Thanks..

I just want to say this... EA SUCKS inregards to rosters.... three of these players played last year with UNM but transfered in april to other schools. they did no include ONE new Juco player or freshman. We have two new freshman looking for starting PT, and three juco players over 6-5 looking for pt at the 3,4, and 5.

wow. EA BLEW IT BIG TIME..... there were press releases on these new incoming players in APRIL... many even signed in NOVEMBER. They had atleast 5 months to correct this.

Is there any area in the game where it shines? I better hope so.

I can tell you this... Arizona's rosters are PERFECT!!! They have included new freshmen like Marcus Williams, Fendi Onobun, and JP Prince. I just wish they had 15 man rosters instead of 12.

[aholbert32]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

If you have time go over to easports.com and read the producer interview. It talks about how the fastbreak has been redone, there is no evidence of this at all. At least not with the teams I have seen.

The fast breaks have been redone just like in NBA Live. Players cut to the basket and finish the break this year.