NCAA Final Four 2001
Score: 70% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: 989 Sports Developer: Killer Game Media: DVD/1 Players: 1-8 (w/Multi-tap) Genre: Sports
Graphics & Sound: NCAA Final Four 2001 was my first experience with a PS2 game. I had heard all the hype of this great system and anxiously embraced NCAA Final Four 2001 as a father would a new-born son. I was pleasantly surprised as this 3 oz. baby boy was delivered into my PS2. The graphics were brilliant! Perfectly polished hardwood floors. Players that were different sizes and weight even... The stadiums and crowd looked awesome. NCAA FF 2001 definitely made a good first impression on me. As I got into the game, I noticed that the players move -oh so- realistically. They did double-pumps, scoops, windmills, and even the occasional 360. All of it looked so real. The only thing that I docked points from was the close-ups of the players (while they shot free throws). It made the players look like they were straight out of House of the Dead for the Sega Dreamcast . Their faces were warped, and there arms were sharp and sinewy. I attribute this to the difficulty in programming for this PS2. The other soft spot in the graphics was the fact that these huge guys would do lovely motioned captured dunks and the rims or nets wouldn't move! Come on, there's got to be some noticeable rim rattling if you want to be the best game. The sound, on the other hand, is not so impressive. First off, to have a 'real' experience, you should have fight songs. There were no fight songs that I even faintly noticed. All the songs are made up, and done rather poorly at that. The sound effects in NCAA FF 2001 are quite nice from the raucous roar of the crowd to the squeak of the tennis shoes. Commentary is provided by the legendary Quinn Buckner, but is so limited, you've heard everything he has to say in one half... If only they had spent more time with Mr. Buckner, it would turn decent to excellent. Alas, it was not to be...
Gameplay: 300 real NCAA teams are stacked real nicely in NCAA Final Four 2001 . The rosters aren't realistic, but then again it's very hard to get all the rosters for 300 teams. There's the standard Exhibition Mode which provides ample practice and two player fun. There's Season Mode as well where you try to take your team to the championship. It looked fun, until I started actually playing. 989 included a 'Shot Meter' which has you trying to time a red line to stop inside a green line while you shoot. It's very hard to find this little meter when you're in the middle of the paint with bodies flying around. When you do finally find it, it's relatively easy to master resulting in almost 100% of your shots going in if you get the red bar in the green area. For example, I shot 94% from the 3-point line last game, and my SG for LSU was 15 for 15 from behind the arc. I think that's a bit impossible... If you feel bad that you're going to blow the computer out, don't, because it never misses a shot either. You can turn this 'Shot Meter' off, resulting in a bit more realistic game, but still nothing like real basketball. I was still shooting in the 80's percentage-wise. The difficulty levels aren't very difficult at all, with Senior (the most difficult) being really fast and stealing all the time. Defense is nigh impossible to play not only due to the 'never miss' syndrome, but also that you can rarely steal (which if you miss the steal, the comp usually drives around you for the non rim-shaking stuff), and EVERY block results in a foul. My strategy became to shoot a 3-pointer, get fouled, and complete the 4-point play. I would end up winning by fifty on Junior level. Of course, you're setting NCAA FF 2001 records from 3-point land while trying to play on sluggish controls. NCAA FF 2001 supports the analog pad, but to no avail, because it's just as sluggish and just as frustrating. This game put on a real pretty face, but a bit disappointing in the gameplay department.
Difficulty: Four difficulty levels (Freshman, Sophmore, Junior, Senior) are available to choose from. Unfortunately they aren't hard at all. Again, it's impossible to play defense, but that is no cause for alarm! Simply find your best shooter, and voila, a 4-point play every time...like real Basketball!
Game Mechanics: For being on such a state of the art system, the load time is comparable to the amount of time it takes a small child to eat a bowl of peas. The load time is entirely too long. It takes up little Memory Card space, but with an 8 meg card, relatively little takes a lot. Did that just make sense? It feels like you're controlling school buses instead of highly tuned athletes, which contributes to the frustration factor. Riot Rundown: NCAA Final Four 2001 is a gorgeous looking game. Unfortunately, its many small flaws become quite irratating so much that you can only play one game at a time and you're done for the night. It's not very addictive, though I think it would make a great two-night rental.
-Sydney Riot, GameVortex Communications AKA Will Grigoratos
FIFA Soccer 2002 Fire Blade