College Hoops 2K7 (Xbox 360) Preview
Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 11.10.2006
Introducing Team Unity.
The College Hoops series has slowly taken over the college basketball genre and College Hoops 2K7 seeks to expand upon that success. With fine tuned graphics and several new features to enhance the gameplay, 2K7 might be the best college game ever.
Hoops 2K7's newest feature is clearly inspired by George Mason's Cinderella run trough the NCAA Tournament last year. But what is this feature? The concept of team unity. Team unity means that even when you don't have the best players, but they play well as a team, you have a shot to beat even the best. When teams have a high team unity, they are better at doing everything they do in the court, from simple things like setting up screens, to getting a high field goal percentage or fight for the offensive rebound. Factors that affect team unity include how experienced your players are and how much time they spend in the floor together. Having high team unity wont guarantee huge upsets, but can keep you in the game against power houses and allow you to beat weaker teams with ease.
In the game, your unity level is designated by a meter--to fill up the meter, you have to make plays happen on the court and increase your players' confidence ratings (which are indicated visually by a white semicircle underneath each player's feet). The higher your players' confidence, the better they'll play and the more your unity rating will increase. Miss some open shots, or have the ball stripped by your opponent a few times, and your unity will suffer accordingly. As the coach, the actions you take will have an affect on your team's unity, as well. For example, substituting fresh (but inexperienced) players into the game to relieve your starters will certainly take a notch or two from your unity meter. As a result, there will be even more importance for you to make substitutions at the right times.
From a control standpoint, one of the biggest changes is that crossover and spin moves normally associated with 2K's isomotion system have moved to the Y and B buttons on the Xbox 360 controller. While you can still pull off the moves using the analog stick and triggers, this control change was made to add more ease to the system. In the past, you had to choose your spin direction based on which ball your hand was in. Now, it's simply a matter of hitting the spin button and letting the computer execute the context-sensitive spin for you. Another change: The free-throw system has been borrowed from NBA 2K7 for the college game. Just as in NBA, you move the stick back and release at the right moment in conjunction with the player animation. You'll also want to make sure the stick is pulled straight back to ensure an accurate shot; if you want to miss the free throw on purpose and give your team a chance at an easy rebound, you can move the stick back left or right before releasing the ball.
To complete the package, the game features a robust create a player mode and more than 330 playable teams. To add to the college atmosphere, the game allows you to create your own chants and fight songs by combining preset phrases and sound bites. You are even able to control your players during their pre-game warm-ups and a good performance in them will add a small confidence boost at tip-off.
With all of these new and improved features, College Hoops 2K7 might be the best college basketball game ever. The game will be released on November 20 2006.
