But unfortunately, PlayStation game developers have been “on the bubble” when it comes to college hoop games. There have been decent offerings – EA Sports’ NCAA March Madness series – and dreadful offerings – 989 Sports’ Final Four series. But no developer has captured the realism and flavor of the college game for our beloved gray box. Graphical, control and gameplay flaws have marred both titles from the uber-publishers of the sports-gaming world.
EA Sports is back with the third installment of its March Madness series. Developer Black Ops has created a much-improved title in all areas. In fact, MM 2000 arguably is the most realistic basketball game, period, on the PlayStation. But a few flaws detract from this game and keep it from cutting down the nets as a perfect college hoops experience. Read on to find out why. Gameplay:
It’s very possible to get a realistic, exciting game of college basketball in March Madness 2000. But it’s going to take a lot of work, before and during the game.
The default settings in MM 2000 – game speed, shot difficulty, steal frequency, deflect difficulty, block difficulty and foul frequency – are flawed. You can pick up and play MM 2000 right out of the jewel case, and it will be fun. But it won’t be realistic at all. The game moves way too fast, as human and computer-controlled teams make too many shots, steals and blocks and score too many easy put-back baskets off offensive rebounds. And there aren’t nearly enough fouls committed by either team.
But luckily, EA Sports continued its trend of gameplay tuning that it so brilliantly implemented in Madden 2000. It was a nice tweak in Madden, which had realistic gameplay out of the box. Tuning is absolutely essential in MM 2000. But don’t expect to make just a few changes and see a realistic game. You’ll need to do quite a bit of tinkering – a lot of unnecessary work, frankly – to get realistic gameplay. But it’s worth it once you hit the sweet spot. I’ve found that reducing the game speed to about 20 percent, reducing the steal and block frequency to 0 percent, increasing the shot difficulty and deflect difficulty to 80 to 100 percent and moving the foul frequency two clicks right of center produces a pretty realistic game. But I’m still tinkering after having played this game for more than three weeks. I really enjoy college basketball, so it’s worth the effort. But some gamers understandably may not be so patient.
Problems still remain even after tuning the gameplay, as it sometimes seems that AI tweaks affect the human player much more than the CPU team. For example, I had trouble making more than 40 percent of my shots in some games after increasing the shot difficulty to 100 percent, but the CPU team continued to toss in baskets at about a 55-percent clip. Some of that can be credited to my crummy offensive and defensive play selection, but it often seemed that the computer teams shot well even when I had a player in every shooter’s face. And the computer makes too many free throws at every skill level.
Plus there seems to be sort of a “light-switch effect” with the tuning of foul frequency. When I move the sliders two clicks right of center, increasing the number of fouls, I get a fairly realistic level of fouls, maybe a touch low. But the game becomes a free-throw parade when I move the slider up just one more click. And nearly every steal attempt becomes a reach-in foul, much like when the sliders are moved up in NBA Live 2000. There needs to be a happy medium.
Despite these flaws, MM 2000 probably plays the most realistic game of basketball on the PlayStation. The player movement is excellent, as big men try to post up, set screens for back-door plays and battle inside for position. Guards and small forwards rotate well, trying to create openings for teammates with screens. There is plenty of help defense programmed into the default defensive settings of the game, a welcome addition when facing a team that likes to set plenty of screens.
One of the nicest aspects of the gameplay of MM 2000 is that no passes are guaranteed. In nearly every other console basketball game, the only steals occur when a defender strips the ballhandler. In MM 2000, ill-timed entry passes or passes to well-covered teammates will be intercepted. This is superb programming that really forces players to think as they move the ball around the perimeter. It also accurately simulates the college game, which is much more of a team-oriented passing game than the one-on-one freak show that the NBA has become.
MM 2000 also features fantastic, deep playbooks. Teams can either have all of the myriad offensive and defensive plays and formations at their disposal, or they can choose the more realistic team-specific play books, running sets that only their team uses in real life. Either way, players can map specific offensive and defensive plays to the four front buttons. The offensive and defensive formation AI programmed in this game is very good from the start, but it’s nice to be able to use specific plays to exploit weaknesses in a foe’s offense or defense. The computer-controlled team also does a great job using strategy during certain game situations, such as fouling while trailing late in the game or spreading the floor while leading late in the game. Great programming by Black Ops. In fact, about the only weakness in the programmed offensive and defensive AI is the tendency to rely strictly on man-to-man defense for both the human and CPU teams, even when an opponent is dominating inside on offense. But again, the human player can switch to a zone easily.
The ball physics of this game also are the best of any PlayStation basketball game that I’ve seen. Unlike NBA Live 2000, rebounds take all sorts of different trajectories, including straight up, around the rim and out and long. This gives guards a realistic number of rebounds, something sorely lacking in NBA Live 2000 and other hoop games. There also seems to be an accurate ratio of offensive rebounds if human players do a good job of positioning under the boards both offensively and defensively.
Substitution patterns also are handled pretty well. Subs can be automatic or manual, and fatigue levels in which players are automatically substituted for or re-enter the game can be adjusted. Great feature. The only shortcoming in the automatic substitution function comes at the end of games. The computer doesn’t react well to those situations. For example, it won’t put good free-throw shooters on the floor for a team that is besieged by fouls when trying to protect a lead at the end of a game. Those are perfect scenarios for manual substitution.
Longevity:It’s broken-record time for me: If it’s an EA Sports title, it must be very, very deep. March Madness 2000 is no exception. It provides nearly everything that a college hoop fan could want from a longevity standpoint.
More than 200 NCAA Division I teams are included in this game. All of the major conferences are included, and teams from the Ivy League, MEAC, SWAC, West Coast and Southern conferences were added this year. Props to EA. But smaller schools, such as my alma mater, Marist College, still aren’t in the game. Final Four 2000 has all 300-plus Division I schools, one of the very few spots that 989 Sports can claim superiority in the college-basketball console war. EA Sports should work to include all Division I teams in future versions of MM 2000. That would provide the most realistic NCAA Tournament brackets, and it will allow me to play with my beloved Marist Red Foxes.
Twenty classic teams are contained in the game, including UCLA ’67, Indiana ’76, Michigan State ’79 and Michigan ’93. It’s a nice addition, but EA Sports should add more classic teams to future editions of March Madness. For instance, it would have been great to play Indiana State and Larry Bird of 1979 against Michigan State and Magic Johnson of 1979. Or to play the memorable N.C. State-Houston title game from 1983. That’s not available now. Sometimes there are two or three classic teams in one season, but EA doesn’t seem to recognize that, making the classic teams almost feel like a late throw-in to the game.
The Rivalry Mode is a fun touch. Players can pick a school, hit the circle button and immediately be matched up against their school’s most bitter rival.
Besides the Quickstart and single-game modes, there are Tournament, Dynasty and Women’s Sweet 16 modes. In the Tournament Mode, players can build custom brackets or pick a team and let the computer place it in random brackets. The team will be seeded accurately based on its overall ability rating, too. Then players can try to bring their team through the early rounds, to the Final Four and then to the national championship. The computer simulates the scores of all other games. In a great touch by EA Sports, players are given the option of having the computer simulate the scores for either 10-, 15- or 20-minute games, keeping the scores and stats similar to those in the games involving your selected school. The Women’s Sweet 16 allows players to participate in the last three rounds of the NCAA Women’s Tournament. It wasn’t an essential addition but still a nice touch that adds depth and keeps the gender-equity police quiet.
The Dynasty Mode provides the biggest thrill for college hoops junkies. Players select a team and then the type of schedule they want to play: Random, Cake or Brutal. That’s really, really cool. Then they can choose whether the computer simulates other scores with 10-, 15-, or 20-minute games. Then it’s time to guide your team through the season and hopefully into the NCAA Tournament. All of the subtle details of a season are here, including two polls, RPI ratings, a Bubble Watch approaching the NCAA Tournament, season awards, and complete team and national statistics. Any or all games can be simulated if players lack the time to play the more than 30 games that sometimes comprise an entire season.
When the season ends, players then can recruit incoming freshmen to fill holes in their lineup. It’s a neat touch. About the only flaw that I found in the Dynasty mode was some curious scheduling. I picked Syracuse and chose a random schedule. The Orangemen started the season ranked 14th, but their opening game was at Maryland-Eastern Shore, ranked in the 100’s! National powerhouses rarely open on the road, and they never open on the road against a cupcake opponent.
Controls:EA Sports trumpets the addition of Dynamic Ball Control (DBC) in March Madness 2000 as a breakthrough in control for PlayStation basketball games. And yes, DBC does provide an impressive array of crossover, stutter-step, spin and fake moves simply by pressing the R2 shoulder button and one of the front buttons. Despite the addition of DBC, MM 2000 probably has the worst basic control of any basketball game released recently for the PlayStation for one inexplicable, mind-bending reason: This game doesn’t have analog control.
That’s right: This game doesn’t have analog control. That’s not a misprint. It boggles my mind to think that a basketball game released at the end of 1999 by a major manufacturer doesn’t have analog control of the players. What in the hell was the misguided logic behind this decision by EA Sports and Black Ops? Analog control in PlayStation stick-and-ball sports games is as common as a microwave oven or VCR in American households. It’s just the industry standard, period. I can’t think of another basketball, football or hockey game released in the last 15 months that didn’t offer analog control. This is a horrid decision by EA Sports and Black Ops and one that must be fixed in future versions of the game.
The lack of analog control really hurts when playing man-to-man defense or running a motion offense. Digital control doesn’t provide the kind of precise cutting and movement needed to run a successful man-to-man defense or get easy backdoor baskets from a strong motion offense like that devised so successfully by Bob Knight at Indiana and former coach Pete Carrill at Princeton. I ended up playing more zone defense than I wanted simply because it was the most effective defense considering the limitations of digital control. It’s a shame that a hideous programming decision by EA Sports and Black Ops forces gamers to affect their style of play to compensate for deficiencies.
Dynamic Ball Control is a welcome addition. It’s fun to watch the computer defense try to cope with an array of new, realistic moves offered through DBC. But DBC is a bit flawed because every player can use it. Lumbering centers should not be able to dipsy-doodle and stutter-step through the lane for an easy shot at the hoop. But they can in this game. It’s unrealistic and reminiscent of the poorly designed spin move in EA Sports’ NHL 2000, in which even bruising defensemen could do a Denis Savard-like spin-a-rama to get a quality shot on goal. EA Sports and its developers must model these new control features to suit the positions of each player. They shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all functions.
MM 2000 features all of the standard control features found in most basketball games, including fakes, icon passing, jab steps, steals, crossover dribbles and spin moves. When using icon passing, the icons over the players’ heads are larger and much easier to see than the small icons used in NBA Live 2000. Props to Black Ops. The game also features the ubiquitous speed-burst button, but thankfully it’s not overdone. Much like NBA Live 2000, the speed burst lets players get back more quickly on defense or get a first step on an offensive drive. But it doesn’t let players cruise on repeated open drives to the hoop.
The free-throw interface also is excellent. A basketball moves vertically in a “plus-sign” interface with a circle in the middle. Simply press and hold the X button when the ball is centered in the circle. Then a second ball moves horizontally across the interface. Players then release the X button, pressed to stop the vertical ball, when the horizontal ball is in the circle. The balls move at varying speeds depending on the accuracy of the free-throw shooter. It’s a clean, simple and challenging interface that’s very realistic.
MM 2000 also features a Momentum Meter, basically a horizontal meter that fills gradually with color to show which team has momentum in the game. It doesn’t really seem to affect play all that much, but it is cool to see which team is controlling the flow of the game at one time. College basketball is a game of spurts and runs, and the Momentum Meter does a good job of reflecting that.
The available half lengths are three, five, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. Ten-minute halves give scores about five to 10 points lower than reality. Fifteen- and 20-minute halves create inflated scores. It’s too bad that Black Ops didn’t give players the option to select half lengths at one-minute intervals, like EA Sports did with quarter length in NBA Live 2000. I think 12-minute halves would have been just perfect, producing very realistic scores. Four skill levels are provided – Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior.
Graphics:March Madness 2000 has a nice look. It’s not as vivid as NBA Live 2000, but it’s still a huge improvement over the two-dimensional, first-generation look of the previous March Madness titles.
Players are three-dimensional and have distinct muscle tone and definition through proper use of body shading. In fact, the only major omission in the player models is the uniforms. There are no numbers on the front of the jerseys. Much like the lack of analog control, I have no idea what EA Sports or Black Ops was thinking with this decision. Maybe the product was rushed to meet the launch time of 989 Sports’ Final Four 2000. Take the extra time to add the finishing touches next time, guys. It’s worth the wait.
Animation also is quite smooth in this game, as there is very little slowdown. The players move much more smoothly than the choppy action of NBA Live 2000. There are also nice motion touches such as shaking baskets after dunks and players flying on the floor in pursuit of loose balls. Big men also will raise their hands when open after posting up in the paint. It’s all realistic and adds to the atmosphere of the game.
The courts and arenas look good. The hardwood courts feature a nice, waxy gloss and show a realistic reflection of banks of spotlights hanging overhead. And in a great artistic touch, the shades of hardwood vary. Very cool. The markings are accurate, for the most part. But I did notice a few discrepancies. For example, the large “S” and “Syracuse University” markings on the floor at the Carrier Dome are royal blue, but in this game they were painted in navy blue. Small point, and one that’s not a big deal considering Black Ops had to try to accurately render more than 200 home courts. The stadiums look solid, with full stands and two-dimensional players on the benches. The center table also includes two-dimensional officials and media members.
Normally, fonts used in sports video games aren’t a big concern to me. But the type used in all of the text in this game is just plain hard to read. It’s sort of a 2001: Space Odyssey, futuristic-looking font that just doesn’t work. EA Sports should return to a more conventional font, like those used in its other stick-and-ball sports games, for March Madness 2000.
Sound:Like nearly every other aspect of March Madness 2000, the sound is solid but not spectacular.
College basketball is much more of an atmospheric game than its NBA counterpart. NBA franchises try to create atmosphere by blaring music and sound effects during games, but it’s a feeble effort compared to the real pageantry created by students, pep bands and rabid fans in some of the college game’s most intense rivalries. Think about it: Which is a better atmosphere for basketball, the Cameron Crazies bouncing up and down at Duke or a bunch of fair-weather celebrity fans sitting in the front rows of the Staples Center, talking about their latest “achievement” and watching the Lakers?
MM 2000 does a noble job at capturing the pageantry of college basketball. The crowds are chanting almost constantly, including such cheers as “DEE-fense (two foot stomps), DEE-fense (two foot stomps),” “Let’s go, let’s go,” howling when the visiting team is shooting free throws, yelling “You, you, you” when a visiting team commits a foul and yelling “Whoooosh” when a home-team player makes each free throw. This is realistic and really gets you in the spirit of the college basketball when playing. EA Sports really lives up to its motto, “It’s In The Game,” in this regard. In fact, I noticed only one quirk with the crowd noise. The crowd yells, “We’re No. 1, We’re No. 1” at the start of every second half, even if the home team is ranked No. 189 and trails by 20 at the half. That’s odd.
The accurate fight songs that are played before and after each game and while navigating the menu screens add more atmosphere. Real brass bands play the songs, unlike the synthesized brass garbage that 989 Sports used in Final Four 2000. That’s a nice touch by EA Sports and Black Ops.
Games are filled with accurate on-court sounds. Errant shots clang realistically off the hoop, and smooth shots rip through the net with a realistic swish. Sneakers squeak nearly constantly, and a resounding thud is heard when players hit the floor. The players are conspicuously quiet, though. I would have liked to hear some trash talk and players calling for the ball, something that EA Sports modeled so accurately in Madden 2000 and NBA Live 2000, respectively. I know the autocratic NCAA regulations restrict what game developers can do regarding player identification in college games, but even the NCAA can’t control generic trash talk and player communication in a game – I hope.
The big news in the sound department of MM 2000 is the addition of college hoops’ clown prince, Dick Vitale, as the analyst. He is paired with veteran college sports announcer Ron Franklin. Their commentary is a bit disappointing.
Both Franklin and Vitale are repetitive, especially Franklin. He says, “Pulls up” during nearly every jump shot. It gets excruciating after a while. Some of Franklin’s calls are inaccurate, too. He calls many two-point attempts “three balls.” So you expect to see your score grow by three when the shot is made. But it grows only by two. Frustrating and confusing. But Franklin does a decent job of providing basic information about the game, such as foul totals for individual players, etc.
Vitale also is repetitive. He uses such terms as “Dipsy-doo-dunkaroo,” “He’s a Dow Joneser, another up-and-down player,” too much. And Vitale really doesn’t give much insight. Sure, he is renowned for his colorful vocabulary in reality. But the man also knows the nuances of college basketball probably better than any other analyst. And he does a fine job of presenting that knowledge in a friendly way on TV, unlike the condescending Billy Packer. But Vitale shares none of that knowledge in this game. His audio basically is just one giant cliché. EA Sports’ idea of insightful commentary by Vitale is for him to say, “Number 5 needs to shoot the ball more” after that player has buried a three-pointer. Wow, that’s deep.
Vitale chatters quite a bit in his unique, effusive style, but I think he’s underused. Love him or loath him, Vitale dominates every broadcast that he works. He is the focal point of the broadcast team. That’s not the case here. He’ll erupt from time to time, but I think he’s a bit too quiet. If EA Sports has landed Dickie V’s services, they should use him. EA and Black Ops should add more audio to Vitale’s repertoire in future MM titles and weave it into the game instead of simply repeating his thin list of phrases more often.
Overall:EA Sports and Black Ops have created a very solid, workmanlike PlayStation basketball game with NCAA March Madness 2000. It’s better than both of its predecessors and absolutely crushes its only competition, 989 Sports’ limp Final Four 2000.
MM 2000 does everything well but nothing great except for providing a very deep game. But since it’s the only PlayStation basketball game on the market without a major flaw, it wins the title of top basketball game for our beloved gray box. There is no matador defense or shooting-percentage bug like in Final Four 2000. There is no offensive-rebound or lack-of-foul bug like in NBA Live 2000. There are no framerate or gameplay bugs like those that cripple FOX NBA Basketball 2000.
But EA Sports and Black Ops shouldn’t pop the corks yet. This is not a benchmark game for the basketball genre like Madden 2000 and NCAA 2000 for football, Hot Shots Golf for golf or Gran Turismo for racing. EA Sports still needs to add analog control, all of the Division I teams and create much more realistic and balanced default gameplay before the March Madness series is a must-have in all PlayStation sports gamers' collections.
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