NCAA Basketball 10 Hands-on

Oct 15, 2009

EA Sports' NCAA Basketball series has always had a tough time establishing itself as a viable alternative to NBA Live. There's no question that Live is the bigger name, but NCAA Basketball runs into its biggest hurdles when trying to separate itself enough to deliver a substantially different experience. NCAA Basketball 10 hopes to clear the bar with the use of some fantastic new presentation elements courtesy of ESPN and CBS as well as new play calling that aims to deliver true collegiate basketball gameplay.

First things first, yes this game feels quite a bit like NBA Live 10. All of the gameplay refinements that were made for this year's NBA game make their way into NCAA Basketball 10. That means that you can size-up your man and take him to the hole or assume direct control of a player without the ball and make quick cuts to the basket. The one slight change that has been made to the core basketball gameplay is that NCAA moves at a slightly quicker clip than NBA Live. It's not a huge discrepancy, but it's certainly there. Another change that will please fans of the college alternative is the crowd. They're lively as all hell and will shake your speakers, especially if you're playing in a place like Cameron Indoor.

Where the team at EA Canada is making some key changes is in the play calling and presentation. While calling plays in the NBA is more player-specific to gear towards the superstars of the squad, NCAA Basketball comes equipped with eight different types of motion play calls. While you can access all of the plays with any team, each has a specific play that they're defaulted to. There are plays like four-out where four guys roam the perimeter while one is down low, there's the flex offense, the triangle and zone motion among others. All you have to do to set a play in motion is tap the left shoulder button and your players will start setting screens and making cuts around the court.

Once a play has started your primary passing option appears with a Y button (triangle on PS3) icon over his head that will illuminate when the time is right to pass it to him. You can toss him the rock prior to that moment, but your pass isn't guaranteed to find its target. Your secondary passing option has a B button (circle on PS3) icon over his head if your primary target doesn't seem like the way to go. It's going to be interesting to see how this play calling system melds with the tempo mechanic that's still present in the game. It would be unfortunate to lose out on an attribute bonus for fast-paced run-and-gun basketball because I'm trying to formulate a play. I'll have to spend more time with the game to see if that really is an issue.

While the new play calling works fine in practice and makes it easy to hit an open man as players set screens and make cuts around the court, the real star of the show during my demo with NCAA Basketball 10 was the new presentation elements. EA Sports managed to get both CBS and ESPN broadcast graphics and announcers into this year's game and the difference is huge. Both presentation styles wonderfully mirror what you'd see on television. From the NCAA CBS logo's beating heart during the loading screen to the screen wipes that transition to a highlight package, everything is in there. Bill Raftery and Gus Johnson have even made the trip to fuel the action on the CBS side, while Dick Vitale, Brad Nessler and Erin Andrews take the ESPN duties. While you can select your own broadcast style for an exhibition game, during a season the appropriate station will air your games depending on where you're playing. And, as always, March Madness is all CBS.

When you couple the noise and energy that you get from a rambunctious crowd with the new presentation elements that actually do look like something you'd see on TV, passersby will undoubtedly have to do a double take when they see the game in action. So while the presentation is impressive, I'm still wondering if there are going to be any new college-specific game modes or feature additions to further widen the gap between NBA Live 10 and NCAA Basketball 10. If EA Sports can continue to deliver a unique experience, NCAA could not only match NBA Live in terms of quality, but it might even surpass it. Only time will tell.

We'll have more on NCAA Basketball 10 as it nears its December 1 launch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.