The Fun Factor 03.05.07: NCAA March Madness 2004
Posted by Cory Moore on 03.05.2007
March Madness 2004 is a dipsy-doo dunkeroo slam-jam-bam, baby!
March Madness.
Whether you're a fan of sports or not, you've probably heard that term before. Maybe it was from a friend, a crazy co-worker, or a nutty family member. But you've probably heard it, nonetheless.
March Madness is what we college hoops fans anticipate all year. It's when the 65 best teams in the nation compete in a month-long tournament, single elimination style. The tradition of upsets is well documented. All of us get our brackets filled out, old-fashioned pen-and-paper style, and hope we're the first to predict that first upset, appropriately dubbed the "bracket buster." March Madness is especially sweet when your college's team (*coughMEMPHISTIGERScough*) is firmly seated in the upper echelon of the nation's best squads.
So in accordance with the conference tournaments beginning this week, I've decided to look back at my favorite college basketball game – EA Sports' NCAA March Madness 2004.
NCAA March Madness 2004
Playstation 2 & Xbox, 2003
The Controlled Substance
You may ask, why did I choose March Madness 2004 instead of 2005, '06, or '07? Well, the first reason is because the later incarnations are filled with too many bells and whistles, in my opinion. Some features like the floor general and senior leadership are nice touches, but I feel they still need work to produce a quality experience. Others, like disciplining your players when they cause commotion, are just downright annoying. Seriously, when I'm playing a college sports video game, I don't want to deal with hoodlum antics. While it may provide more realism for the series, it hardly enhances the overall gameplay.
The second reason I picked MM2004 is because I'm all for developers using the KISS method when creating a game: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
For all intents and purposes, March Madness 2004 is about as simple as you're going to get in a quality PS2 or Xbox college basketball game. Sure, there are only a few dunk animations and the players look like they're skating around the court rather than running, but those are some minor downsides. Overall, though, this game is incredibly responsive. The playbooks aren't overly complicated and the players act as they tell you. I've played newer versions of the series, and I felt they were too complex for their own good. Features like floor general and clutch players are great and all, but I've found they are hit and miss in their accuracy. In my opinion, MM2004 really got the whole feel – especially in regard to the controls – right.
Speaking of ‘feel,' March Madness 2004 is very authentic. It includes 320 schools, almost ensuring your alma mater will be included somewhere in the mix. If not, you can always create your own college in Create-a-School mode. True to the college sports tradition, the crowds are just as rowdy, Dickie V. is just as annoying, and your celebrations after a tournament win are just as emotional as they are in real life. This game also introduced the momentum swing in the games, which means in-game scoring runs are going to make one squad's confidence soar and the other's bench cower on the sideline.
If you're looking for even more features that set this franchise apart from other college basketball franchises, look no further than rivalry and mascot games. In Rivalry mode, you dive head first into one of the nation's top duels that make headlines year after year. Just like in real life, there's a certain degree of difficulty in this mode: it's harder to make shots, more difficult to break defensive pressure, and almost impossible to get the crowd to settle down for more than two plays. That's what college basketball is all about. A lesser but still fun feature is the Mascot game, where you don your school's fuzzy friend gear for on-court supremacy. It's more of a novelty feature, but it's a fun touch.
While all of the above features are great, the game's fun really begins in Dynasty Mode. It perfectly translates everything that is great about college hoops to the digital world. In other words, it is exciting and unpredictable throughout.
The Fun Factor
In short, Dynasty mode is exactly what it says it is. College basketball is notorious for creating legacies that are difficult to surpass. Look at North Carolina's Dean Smith and Duke's "Coach K" for perfect examples. Getting involved in this mode takes commitment, but if you persevere through the 30-year coaching career, you can really have a fun time developing attachments to the programs and players alike.
Dynasty mode is about choices. Each school is ranked up to 6 stars based on their prestige. If you pick a smaller program, you may struggle the first few years, but your goals will only be to win x amount of games and recruit better players for the future. On the other hand, picking a powerhouse squad may seem like an easy ride to early success, but it brings expectations to produce immediately. Not only will you be expected to maintain the team's reputation and finish in the Top 5 year after year, the board of executives will be all over you if you don't win a national title in what they consider a reasonable amount of time. In either scenario, you're going to be challenged.
Starting out a season, you will be asked to schedule games that fit your needs. If you play in a powerhouse conference such as the ACC, you may be better suited to schedule "cup cake" teams as a warm-up to later battles. However, if you're stuck in a weaker conference, you're going to want all the challenges you can get, which means you will probably be facing the big boys early on. Of course, it's all about chance. As a smaller school, you'll sometimes get accepted by the bigger schools because you're not considered a threat, but you can get rejected for the same reason. If you're a big school wanting to play smaller colleges, your invitation will be accepted almost every time, but your opponents will always bring their ‘A' game to knock you off your pedestal. It's about risk and how far you're willing to push yourself.
Navigating through a season is easy, since there are few obstacles to hinder your focus on game planning. The first few games are always experimental drills to find out who fits in your rotation and who doesn't. Towards December, you'll gain attribute points to help develop individual players in time for conference play. January brings about the rivalries and league play, and March begins the madness with conference tournaments and the ‘Big Dance' if you're lucky enough to make it.
While I can appreciate developers incorporating the season-long recruiting process in the newer editions of March Madness and 2K Sports' College Hoops, I still like March Madness 2004's approach the best. All of your recruiting is done at the end of the season within a few weeks. There are only a few menus to poke through. Better yet, the players that are interested in your school have a special page so you don't waste your time with hopeless recruiting wars. Again, I'm a sucker for simplicity, but I think this division works well: focus on your games during the season and your recruits in the off-season. This way, you don't get caught up in the heat of the season planning strategies and tweaking line-ups and forgetting to recruit for that week. That has happened to me in later incarnations, and there are fewer things more frustrating.
Then, of course, the process starts all over again. But unlike professional sports, college-based games always give you a new experience year after year. You have to figure out how to replace the production of players leaving for the NBA and how the new recruits fit in with returning veterans. If you think you're the best in the land, challenge the top teams and showcase your stuff. If you're battling through a sub par year, plan it safe and play the mid-majors. It's a delicate planning for the long-term while you're focused on the short-term. And trust me, the task is just as challenging as it sounds!
The 411
Back in high school, I never focused on homework. Correction, I never really had any homework. So on those senior days I wasn't hanging out at iHop with friends, I was working on my March Madness game. I actually completed the 30-year dynasty mode. Yes, it took a good 6 months or so, but I achieved my goal. I started out as UNC, which was a big mistake. While getting acquainted with the gameplay, I quickly lost a lot of games and was booted after my first year. Then I took a job at Tennessee, where I had more success but eventually tired of the orange colors. Halfway into my third season, I took over a moderately successful Gonzaga program and led them to prominence. I stayed put in Spokane for well over 15 years until arriving at my future alma mater, Memphis, where I also achieved quite a few accolades.
March Madness 2004 is challenging, but it's so simple that anybody that knows a little about basketball can pick it up and have some sort of success with it. That's what makes this game great. Any route you take provides a different thrill. There's always something to explore in this game. And if you make it through Dynasty mode's 30-year journey, you'll really find yourself smiling at all you've accomplished. You won't win a championship every year, but you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you helped a bunch of students through their college career and made a name for yourself among the best in the country – albeit in the digital sense.
So for all the college basketball fans, I suggest picking up this game for a paltry $1.99 at your local EB Games. Compared to newer incarnations, I'd say it's an equally satisfying game for a fraction of the cost!
