NCAA Basketball 10 Release Thoughts

While NCAA Basketball 10 released today it has been difficult for many to find copies. Apparently some shipping issues have kept it from reaching stores and it will be arriving in most locations tomorrow.

One person who was able to get a copy is Chris Jacobs over at ncaaStrategies. He has been posting some impressions up and plans to get some more videos up soon (one after the break). Head over and check out this thread to read through and ask any questions about the game.

Unfortunately because of the lack of media (outside of having a demo) or community interaction with NCAA Basketball 1o the first indications of how it has turned out may come from reviews. Websites have been embargoed from releasing reviews until tomorrow though IGN’s leaked early. They have given it a 7.8 basically stating that it is a collegiate version of NBA Live 10 with the enhanced presentation. One other issue being discussed amongst those with the game right now include the lack of authentic schedules. That should be fixed by the dynamic updates but the first should have already taken care of this.

Based on the demo I wouldn’t necessarily agree completely with the IGN description. While the games sharing an engine means they share some of the same problems, NCAA felt more wide-open and wasn’t as half-court based as Live. The most disappointing thing about the game to me is the lack of features. Live had Adidas Live Run, Online Team Play, and Dynamic Season. NCAA does not have any variation in online modes and didn’t implement an Online Dynasty or a career mode in the mold of Road to Glory. The game really needed to have some kind of pull outside of just implementing TV style presentation.

As I discussed in my earlier article the game just seems like it is being sent out to die. There is very little promotion and absolutely no hype around it even in places where you would expect some to be. While the market for college basketball games is tiny I would still expect to see more support from EA especially if they have plans for it to continue in the future. Again it calls into question whether the NCAA Basketball series will go on past this year. I do think it is likely there will be another “March Madness edition” available for download come tournament time though.