Any one who is a serious sports gamer and a basketball fan ahs played College Hoops 2K8 by Take Two Interactive, released on November of 2007.
Sega’s College Hoops 2K8 is the number one rated game for 2008 and has been the number one rated college hoops video game for the last five years. The game is the 9th installment of the college hoops 2k series. The original game college hoops dates back to 1999 with the release of Fox Sports College Hoops. The first game played on the Nintendo 64 platform received very poor ratings. Sega stuck with the series and continually improved game play.
The original developer of the 2k series of sports game was Visual Concepts, whom was purchases by Take Two interactive in 2005.The College Hoops 2k series has not gotten as much attention as other sports, such as football and baseball games even though College Hoops 2K8 is considered the greatest hoops game ever made.
College Hoops 2K8, featuring Greg Oden on the cover, offers several upgrades from the 2K7 video game. The changes are subtle, like new gameplay mechanics and the new and improved legacy mode. The developers have also added the “Sixth Man Advantage” feature that allows the gamer a better to tap into the energy of the crowd and student body.
It is exciting to see the meter full and listen to the crowd go wild after a huge dunk and give their perspective team energy. The All-American Training Challenge is the latest feature that allows players to go head-to-head with some of the best student-athletes in history of college basketball.
Players like Greg Oden, Kevin Durant, JJ Redick, Jason William. They compete against the challenger in practice drills that will make them better and add a new fun aspect to the gaming experience. It has all the same features as last year. Cheerleaders, mascots, lock on “D”, fans are loud and can be obnoxious in the stands, and coaches’ yell at their players.
The arenas are extremely realistic, the players’ movements are lifelike and it the transitions from move to move is smooth. The game is addicting to play and true college hoops fans and games will get hooked on the first try.
Watching your player improve and begin to dominate is very satisfying or the thrill of your favorite college team beating their rivals makes the game worth playing. In 2009, 27,767,111 fans came out to watch college basketball and that fan base drives the College Hoops 2K basketball series. Each year the best college player in the country is featured on the cover to further entice buyers.
Over its life span College Hoops 2k8 has sold over 390,000 units compared to NCAA College Basketball that has sold only 90,000 units. It comes nowhere near the Madden Football Series and surpasses any hockey video games.
The bottom line this game is fun and comes very close to live gameplay. There are missed lay-ups, bad passes and missed dunks. The game controllers sequences are tricky, especially the passing feature. But on the flip side there are spectacular dunks, conference rivalry games, you can challenge Tyler Hansbrough in practice drills and rev the crowd to frenzy.
Coaches yell at their players, fans yell out their disapproval when the game is bad. Commentators poke fun at players, coaches and the crowd. Thinking about buying this game, check out these two video Clips on youtube: