Lvlone.com Review: NCAA Basketball 2010

With the release of NCAA Basketball 2010, EA Sports shows us one thing; they always stick to a formula, even if that formula might not be the best one. Last year, 2K Sports stopped releasing their version of a college basketball game, leaving EA Sports uncontested in the field. Now, while this also happened in football and Madden 2010 was nothing short of phenomenal, I can’t exactly say the same for NCAA Basketball 2010. Don’t get me wrong, some improvements were made to the game compared to last year’s, but not nearly enough for me to classify it as an elite sports title.
Signature Motion Offenses
The big change to this year’s title is the addition of a free moving motion offense. When activated, the players run out their plays with the target highlighting to show the opportune time to pass the ball or make a shot. With several different options to chose from, finding the best style to compliment your team might be tricky, but it will pay off in the end.

New TV Broadcasts
Along with Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale, and Erin Andrews on ESPN, this year, Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery from CBS join the broadcasting crew. Along with the two different “broadcasts,” the two offer different aspects to the game, as well as different graphics and fillers that make it seem like you are actually watching an NCAA game on TV.
The one good thing I can say about this year’s title is the fact that much more attention was brought to the presentation of the game. This year it has much more of a feel of watching a game on TV than any other year.
Dynamic Updates
When going online, you are able to access and download the real life RPI ratings and stats of all Division 1 basketball teams for free. Just a little extra to make the game have a more realistic feel. It’s nothing major or groundbreaking, but it does add a link to the actual season going on.

There are other areas in the game that I had hoped would be improved but they weren’t. The first one, for me at least, lies in the dynasty mode. Much of the information you receive in the dynasty mode is done through in-game phone messages while will beep or buzz as you advance throughout the calender. However, getting to those messages is unnecessarily difficult. Rather than having a button to press that will automatically take you to your messages, you need to go through several different menus just to read them. It’s nothing that is absolutely horrible, but it is one of those things that I found to be tedious in NCAA Basketball 09 and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
Another miscue, that followed again from last year’s title, is the seeming confusion of the crowd. At times, the crowd seems to get loud and tries to cause a distraction when the home team has the ball. Kinda defeats the purpose don’t you think? This year’s title put emphasis on the Toughest Places to Play but if the crowd is hooting and hollering at the wrong team, the question then becomes is it the toughest place to play for the home team?

Overall, I would say that this year’s release is a bit of a let down. Although graphically it is improved a bit, and the game presentation is better, I feel that not enough was added, and not enough was fixed to make this game an absolute must buy, but like they say in the sporting world; there’s always next year.
Overall Rating : 8.0

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