‘COLLEGE HOOPS 2K8’

‘COLLEGE HOOPS 2K8’

(2K Sports) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2

Genre: Sports; Rating: E

Grade: B-

At some point, the gaming world is going to crown 2K Sports the new dean of sports gaming, but the title hasn’t been pulled away from EA Sports just yet (perhaps it’s the “Madden” influence). But when you are looking for hoops — NBA or college — 2K just gets it done.

That’s not to say it’s perfect, but the package is an overall success. The game play is once again much improved, mainly in the form of player movements. Dribbling around, making passes and proper defending all look better here, and that makes it a much more realistic basketball experience.

Two main things hurt this — the cumbersome Legacy mode and the pace of play. The pacing is disappointing, because to succeed you need to be patient and run plays. You can design your own, which is awesome, but there’s no team that can run a fast-paced, “40 minutes of hell” brand of ball. That’s just ridiculous and hurts the overall game play.

The Legacy mode is deeper than ever, but confusing menus, horrible help screens and no instructions make it nearly impossible to learn what to do to make proper recruiting and coaching decisions.

It sounds like I’m bagging too much on this game, but really it’s because this is a strong basketball game that just misses on a few areas that could have taken it to the top. Don’t fear buying this one.

‘NCAA MARCH MADNESS 08’

(EA Sports) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2

Genre: Sports; Rating: E

Grade: C-

It’s no secret that both 2K and EA crib their NBA games and retool them with college aspects, but “March Madness 08” shows flaws in this method.

The first big “what?” moment comes from the game play. Low-post play is given all sorts of prominence, which worked well in “NBA Live,” where there’s a glut of talented big men. But that isn’t the case in the college ranks, so bringing this aspect over from the “NBA Live” series was a mistake.

And if you think the game play is slow and methodical in “2K8,” wait until you see the cement bricks these college players apparently are wearing on their feet in “March Madness 08.” The game looks good, but the audio is nearly the same as in the last two games, so you should listen to music or have a friend narrate the game instead.

The Dynasty mode is much simpler to navigate and control, and while perhaps not as deep as 2K’s, at least you know what you are doing.

“March Madness 08” suffers from more issues than its competitor, so for another year it’s better to avoid this game unless you are loyal to the franchise.

‘SOULCALIBER LEGENDS’

(Bandai Namco) for Wii

Genre: Fighting; Rating: T

Grade: D-

The Wii’s motion-sensitive controls beg for a realistic sword-fighting game, but no company has gotten the fluidity down. “Soulcaliber Legends” takes this disappointment to new levels, and makes me wonder if a sword-fighting game is even possible on the Wii.

The point of “Legends” is to learn the backstory of all the characters from previous “Soulcaliber” games. This is lost by the overwhelming slowness and repetitive nature of the game. In less than 30 minutes of playing, you’ll find yourself back in familiar levels. Apparently, creating new levels for this version was just too much work.

The game play itself is decent, if unspectacular. You wield the Wii remote around to slash and chop down enemies, but the movements are not mapped precisely, so you feel like a rotator-cuff injury is not far away. It’s frustrating and makes you feel bad that such a successful franchise has devolved into this.

—Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard