March Madness 06 Impressions

[dave360]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I think I'll pick this up in the morning and then get College Hoops for the 360 when I get one. It sounds fun, and after having my dynasty freeze several times last year on CH2k5 and being a little gunshy this year, I'll give this a shot. Thanks for the great impressions folks

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Playing a rivalry mode game as Indiana and hosting Illinois. I may have spoken too soon about the research team. I believe Marco Killingsworth is lefthanded, but he shoots right in the game. Someone may want to check this.

I can't say enough about the announcing --- I like it, though I remain unsure and the longwinded discussions when repetition hits. Nessler just asked Vitale about the importance of recruiting good students and Vitale gave a long answer about Duke's advantage in getting good players and scholars, etc. Again it sounded natural, but with repetition??? Two points: (1) Nesslers play-by-play calling is spot on, and (2) they added some new lines for he and Vitale that are really good (some of the last years' lines are still there too). Nessler has the right inflections at the right times, etc.

I haven't mentioned the transition game. It looks improved, as they listed in their game features list on their gamesite.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

man ur selling the crap outta this game to everybody keep the impressions comin, cuz u've sold me already on gettin it and the guy above ur post as well, are there alternate jerseys this year or at least a code section?

[BigBR]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

You're getting my attention, I was wondering about this game since its only 39.99...

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Happy to keep the impressions coming, though please base your decisions on more of a weight of opinion from mutliple posters.

Just did some quick checking. They still don't have Vanderbilt's court right in the sense that the benches are along the baseline. Does any game have this right? Booted up St. John's vs. Indiana and the game was being played at Madison Square Garden, although the graphic said "Alumni Hall, Jamaica NY". To check whether or not a smaller team would be played at AH, I booted up St. John's against Indiana State and the game was still played at MSG, and the graphic still said AH.

Checked Gonzaga's venue. The graphic said "The Kennel" though that was nowhere printed on the court. I thought it was supposed to be. Also, do Gonzaga's goals hang from the rafters like Duke's. If so, the game is incorrect. They sit on the floor. I need a Zag to address these points.

I'll look for alternative unis.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

I figured the quickest way to check alternate unis was to take Duke to Wake. There was no interface for selecting jerseys pre-game (as in NCAA Football 06). Next, I went to "the Bookstore" and checked. There were no alternate unis in there either. Weren't there some in there last year, or am I thinking of something else?

Don't know what else to do on this one right now.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

yo when does the college bball season start in real life? and do u have xbox live?

[shawnee]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Got the game earlier today. Not bad at all. The player graphics are a bit bland, but the courts and animations are great. Fast breaks are top notch and the def stopper seems pretty balanced so far. The way some shooters come off picks and drain the j is nice. My fingers aren't as fast as they used to be, so I'm not sure how great the AI is just yet. I usually need abt a week to get used to the controls and such, before I can tell for sure.

The auto name feature is also nice. With the plays and scouting, the dynasty might have a bit more depth, but I'm not getting my hopes up...

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

yo when does the college bball season start in real life? and do u have xbox live?

I think teams can begin practice this Friday. The release data (today) was a good choice. No, I don't have xbox live.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

o does alabama have there new unis, there posted in the real college basketball thread if u dont know what they look like

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

Just watched a tutorial video. Noticed a little bit more of the ice skating issue watching that vid that I've noticed playing actual games. I hope others will add to this with their own impressions (that issue has never been a huge one for me). I also noticed on that vid that St. John's was playing a Big East team on Carnesecca Court. So, I went back and booted up SJU hosting Providence. Madison Square Garden. Tried playing Quinnipiac. Madison Square Garden again. Don't know if it's possible to play at Alumni Hall anymore. Probably a good tradeoff overall though. Will leave that for SJU fans to decide I guess.

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

o does alabama have there new unis, there posted in the real college basketball thread if u dont know what they look like

I like the new jerseys. Just checked, and they weren't added. Looks like last year's are still there.

A couple more things for everyone. When I set the controller to the middle and just watch a game looking for ice skating, I will see more of it, though it still seems to have been improved from years past. When I play the game, I notice it even less.

I haven't mentioned how nice some of the new bounce passing animations look. There is more variety in all of the passing animations this year, and it all looks real good.

[MaddenLivER]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

o yeh a important question i was meaning to ask, are the players able to make most of there midrange jumpers? or do they miss occasionally cuz on live 06 if u go for a midrange j its basically automatic especially wit the superstars, which makes it hard to have good games online and makes it easy to blow out the computer in single player

[sparker]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

o yeh a important question i was meaning to ask, are the players able to make most of there midrange jumpers? or do they miss occasionally cuz on live 06 if u go for a midrange j its basically automatic especially wit the superstars, which makes it hard to have good games online and makes it easy to blow out the computer in single player

I haven't had any alarming success shooting mid range or further with anybody yet. Even the AI controlled Redick was missing shots when I was playing against Duke in several games.

I just fouled a guy out on purpose. Nothing special happens cut scene wise, and was the case in the '03 or '04 version(s). It was fun checking though, cause I used the hard foul button several times.

Someone mentioned there are some over the top dunk animations. I have seen one or two myself. I will say this. I thought the dunk animations last year weren't very good at all, and that they had been getting worse over time for some reason. I think they reversed course on that this year and cleaned many of them up.

[Vince]

Re: March Madness 06 Impressions

The dribble handoff thing is something that Syracuse uses all the time with Gerry McNamarra. Very nice feature.