As the NCAA Tournament has passed, and six months until tip off comes again, college basketball junkies need a fix to get them through the long days of summer. What better time then to compare two of the better college basketball games of our time, NCAA College Basketball 2K3 by Sega Sports and NCAA March Madness 2003 by EA Sports?
Synopsis
2K3 claims to have the music and style of ESPN to their game play. The game offers over 300 Division One schools, along with their fight songs. One of the biggest benefits, compared to March Madness, is the ability to play online and go head-to-head against gamers nationwide.
March Madness has the name power of Electronic Arts, arguablely the finest producer of sports games ever (I still own Coach K Basketball for my old Sega Genesis). With Brad Nessler and Dick Vitale doing play-by-play and commentating, it feels like you're tuned in to watch, not play. March Madness has the new Freestyle Control, which lets you do playground moves at the touch of a finger.
First Impressions
As soon as you fire up 2K3, you feel like you have tuned into ESPN, with the colors and sounds that every college basketball fan knows and loves. However, this is where it ends because the rest of the game is a shoddy version of the sports superstation, at best. Selecting teams seems to be simple, but anytime you need to pull the help menu up just to find out how to get to ASU is disappointing.
March Madness opens up with the standard EA Sports intro: the deep announcer voice, the classic symbol. Following that, a brief video clip of college fans cheering on their school, a nice touch. The game is easy to set up with modes that don't need a set of instructions, or college degree to comprehend.
Good
Analog passing is one of, if not the best, thing about 2K3, By simply using R3, you can pass to any direction you wish. At first, it takes a little bit of practice, but in time it becomes natural. The choice of 300 teams is a noble idea, but you probably have never heard of most of them, and they will never see the time of day on your system.
Sega's use of R3 is slightly superior to EA's; freestyle control is fantastic. By pushing up, you can perform a spin move, while down is a drop step to hit the open three. Combine this with superior graphics and game play, and Madness is an early winner.
Bad
If you're a fan of ASU, you know free throw shooting can either win or lose games for you, and with 2K3, it definitely chalks one up in the loss column. By using both joysticks, you need to maneuver arches under the basket. Even on beginner mode, this was a task.
I never thought a game could be too easy, but even on the medium difficulty levels, Madness is child's play. A simple pump fake can make Tommy Smith look like Kevin Garnett; the defender will bite every time.
Ugly
What!? No Ike? It's hard to determine who is who unless you have a media guide in front of you, but I know one thing - when #5 isn't crashing the board, there's a problem. Furthermore, when ASU is introduced, they play at "Ned Wulk Arena." Fellas, it's Ned Wulk Court at Wells Fargo Arena.
What!? No Goldman? Well I'll let this go, Wells Fargo looks nothing like it really is, giving 2K3 a slight edge. However, mistakes here are few and far between.
The Final Call
Because of the time of year, each game can be found at fairly reasonable prices, but if one had to be selected, I would go with March Madness. The controls are simply enough that you can just pick it up and play while the game offers enough levels to keep you on your toes for hours.
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
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