NCAA 06 March Madness™ - Ultimate strategic basketball experience

Featuring a deeper playbook that covers both ends of the court, NCAA March Madness 06 delivers the ultimate strategic basketball experience.

Play the kind of pressure defense and fast-break offense that wins championships in NCAA® March Madness 06. Use defense to create offense by pressuring the ball, forcing turnovers and driving your opponents crazy with the all new EA Sports Lockdown Stick.

Dominate rivals with a more authentic brand of defense and push the ball on offense with an enhanced Floor General Playcalling system featuring more sets than ever before. Pick your senior leader and watch as his emotion and passion lifts the intensity level of his teammates and excites the raucous campus crowds. Brad Nessler and Dick Vitale call all of the action including the College Classics featuring 10 new classic games, making dream match-ups a reality.

Use defense to create offense by pressuring the ball, forcing turnovers, and smothering your opponent with the all-new EA SPORTS™ Lockdown Stick on Xbox® or online with Xbox Live®. Featuring a deeper playbook that covers both ends of the court, NCAA® March Madness® 06 lets you experience the strategic side of the game as you find and exploit mismatches against every opponent. Your road to the Final Four begins now!

Description

Featuring a deeper playbook that covers both ends of the court, NCAA March Madness 06 delivers the ultimate strategic basketball experience. Players can dominate rivals with an authentic brand of defense and push the ball on offense with an enhanced Floor General Playcalling system that features more sets than before. With the all-new EA SPORTS Lockdown Stick, defense creates offense by allowing players to pressure the ball, force turnovers and harass opponents on the court.

Review by Aaron Holbert

November 1, 2005

Overview

EA's March Madness series has always had something missing. Whether it was a limitation on the number of players you can name, real-life arenas or lack of teams; there was always something that held this series back from becoming a true contender for the top college basketball video game. After a quick look, it seemed as if many of the major problems with the series had been fixed. Will the game hold up after a closer look? Let us see.

Graphics

Regarding the player models, nothing has changed this year. March Madness 06 has always used the NBA Live graphics engine, but for some reason this year, the developers are not using the most recent version. The player models are muscular and well defined in NBA Live 06, but not in March Madness 06. This is not a major complaint, but I would like to see the developers use the latest version of the engine. However, one plus is that the create-a-player allows you to edit any face in order to make the players look closer to their real-life counterparts.

EA has done a great job with replicating the arenas of top schools like North Carolina and Kansas. Small details, such as the correct placement of banners and scoreboards, are included, and fans of many of the bigger programs are going to be happy. While I can excuse using generic arenas for smaller schools such as LaSalle, I find it inexcusable to use generic arenas for teams in major conferences like North Carolina State and Clemson. While I appreciate the detail used in recreating the arenas of the most popular teams, it is sad that EA has not worked hard to create more authentic arenas.

Audio

One word describes the crowd in March Madness 06 -loud. EA did a wonderful job re-creating the sound and energy of a big college basketball game. You really feel the difference between hosting a home game and going into enemy territory as the away team. This is all because of the superb sound quality.

My thoughts on the in-game commentary aren't as glowing. I've said this before about Dick Vitale, and I'll say it again: either you love him or you hate him. I am not a big fan of Dicky V, and therefore I am not a big fan of the commentary. Still my dislike of Vitale is not the only reason I dislike the commentary. It is very repetitive at times, and many times both Vitale and the play by play man, Brad Nessler, will go on long rants about subjects that are unrelated to the on-court action. These rants also cause Vitale and Nessler to ignore big plays on the court.

Gameplay

As I said earlier, March Madness 06 uses the NBA Live engine, so the game definitely has a similar feel to EA's NBA effort. With that said, this game does have a college feel to it, as well. You will see a lot more off-ball movement and the use of more screens by the CPU. Speaking of screens, this is the first basketball game that I've ever played that has picks that result in three different ways. The player setting the pick will either set a solid pick, a pick that has no effect on the opponent, or he will be run over by the person he was attempting to pick. It is small things like this that make the great games stand out from the average games. Also, a few of the issues that I've seen in other EA basketball games are toned down in March Madness 06. The offensive rebounding and skating problems in NBA Live 06 are not as apparent in March Madness 06.

The biggest feature EA is touting this year is the Lockdown Stick. By pressing down on the right analog stick, your player will closely defend his opponent. This is one of the rare new gameplay features by EA that cannot be overused. Using the stick will not automatically lead to more turnovers unless you learn how to defend and when to take your chances. Obviously, using the Lockdown Stick with senior leaders or defensive specialists will lead to better results, but overusing the stick can lead to many easy baskets by your opponents. I would love to see EA add this feature to the NBA Live series.

Gameplay wise, there is not much for me to complain about. There are only two issues that I have with the on-court part of the game. First, there are no auto subs in the game. EA's reason behind removing auto subs appears to be to encourage people to use the timeout feature. During each timeout, you are given thirty seconds to make substitutions and to call a play. It is a great feature, and one I think should be included in every basketball game - but I would still like to have an option to use auto subs. Finally, the fast breaks seem to be a step slow. While it is still possible to successfully run a fast break, there are times when the defenders catch up when they should not. Bottom line? If you like the EA style of basketball (fast paced with a little bit of skating), then I am sure you will like March Madness 06.

In some ways, Dynasty Mode has also greatly improved. Gameplan scheduling gives you the option of sending your scouts out to observe upcoming opponents. The scouts provide reports with your opponents' statistical leaders, strengths and weaknesses. This is a feature that further immerses you in the game and makes you feel like an actual basketball coach. Looking at the foundation for the Dynasty Mode, it appears that EA has borrowed heavily from its NCAA Football series. Recruiting is very similar to NCAA Football, and that is a good thing. The recruiting interface is simple and user-friendly. Each week, you decide whether to send a recruit a recruiting package, send a scout to watch them play, personally visit the recruit, invite him to a game or offer a scholarship. The awards section has also been expanded and now features weekly awards. On its surface, the Dynasty Mode looks pretty good.

The problem is once you dig a little deeper; you will find some big problems with the Dynasty Mode. I'll start with a small thing: Scheduling. First, EA refuses to put in real schedules. Also, the simulated schedules are really out of whack. The game will schedule games on consecutive nights, which is something that never happens in real life. The scheduling quirks will also cause a week and sometimes two to pass in between games. Once again, EA refuses to include a multiplayer dynasty mode that allows you to play games with teams other then your own. This is mainly a personal issue, but I am sure there are other people out there that hate having to play with only one team during a season. EA did include a multiplayer season mode, but it limits you to eight teams, and you are limited to using only those teams in any game.

The biggest problem that I've seen is a progression glitch that occurs after the first year of a dynasty. After the training session in your second year, most players' overall ratings drop instead of rise. Some are insignificant drops of one or two points, but I've seen some that are 10 points or more. This is a big glitch, because it can affect the balance of most teams. In some cases, freshman will have higher ratings then fourth-year seniors because of this. Thankfully, this glitch only occurs after the first year.

Online

The game is slightly different online because of a lack of sliders. The game plays unrealistically fast, and there is not a way to slow down the game's pace. Also, there were very few people on Xbox Live during the times I logged on, so it made it very difficult to arrange a game. Finally, I've read a few reports that mentioned March Madness 06 having a big problem with lag. I did not experience any problems with lag during the few games I played.

Bottom Line

I have to give credit where credit is due. With a few slider tweaks, March Madness 06 plays a darn good game of basketball. The major issues are off-the-court bugs and features that should have been included. These problems are incredibly frustrating because they take away some of the enjoyment and playability of the game. In the end, EA has produced a solid college basketball game this year - and that couldn't be said in the past.

Review by jkdmedia

May 4, 2012

EA's March Madness series has always been synonymous with college basketball. However, although it outsells the competition, and features the voice of college hoops himself, Dick Vitale, there have always been a few shortcomings that have kept each year’s respective title from making it to the Final Four. Thankfully, 06 has implemented some key new gameplay aspects that really help balance out the action, and possibly even make this the best so far in the series. The shortcomings I speak of also still exist, though, and ultimately keep 06 from being as enjoyable as it could've been.

The biggest addition to this year’s game is no doubt the new Lockdown Stick, which lets you counter the explosive offensive ability from past years. By pressing and holding the right analog stick down while playing defense, you are able to play pressure-tight defense on the ball carrier in hopes of causing a turnover. This is not as easy as it sounds; however, as you also have to move your player in sync with the ball carrier or he will blow right by you. There is also a good chance that if you play tight aggressive defense that you may be able to trap the ball carrier, or force his body into a position that makes it easy for you to strip the ball.

Another new defensive ability that plays heavily into the Lockdown Stick feature is the option to call plays on the fly. This is particularly important for people who like to use defensive or guard-heavy teams like Kentucky that have the ability to use the full-court press and cause turnovers. By using the lockdown stick and play-calling features in conjunction, you can really set up traps and make it hard for your opponent to beat the press. I did find that this worked excessively often, and even after adjusting the sliders to the best of my ability, I was still causing around 20 turnovers a game, even against good teams. To make matters even worse, the same repetitive stealing animation is used over and over again, which becomes slightly bothersome to say the least.

The Dynasty Mode, which is no doubt the biggest selling point for the series, has been improved upon, but still manages to drop the ball occasionally. The roster problems from the past couple years are still present, as you can only have 12 players on your team instead of the usual 14. This creates a big problem for serious b-ball fanatics because at least two of your favorite team's players will have to be left out, which is absolutely unacceptable. I am not sure if this is due to limited disc space or what, but simply leaving out a few unnecessary things like the 20-plus intro sequences might have solved the problem and cleared enough room to get the rosters right.

Not all is bad, though, as the new Gameplan Scheduling allows for greater opponent scouting. This gives you full access to their top scorers, best rebounders, and even which type of plays your weekly opponent prefers to run, but there are limited amounts of times you can use this feature, so only doing this against key opponents is an absolute must. When the game is over you are treated to either a plus or a minus in each category that you selected, which lets you judge your coaching success for that game. This is not exactly groundbreaking, but it does add some much-needed variety to the Dynasty Mode, and makes you aware of the best players in the league if nothing else.

Recruiting has also been retooled as well, and now plays out much like March Madness’ football cousin, which is definitely a good thing. Recruiting is now something that takes place weekly, and so much so that not giving your recruits their much-needed attention from week to week could cause them to go elsewhere. There are really only a few options available each week and it usually pays off to do all the things on the list which include home visits, player scouting, and campus visits just to name a few. As long as your school is reputable, and you spend the appropriate amount of time recruiting, you can probably lock down all of your scholarships before the season ends. While playing with Kentucky this became increasingly easy, but in my other Dynasty Mode with High Point it was a few years before I could land a difference maker.

Another issue that hardcore college fans will have a problem with is the horrible statistic and player balancing. What I mean by this is that every time you check the leader boards, All-American, or Player of the Year race you will notice that at least half the players are noticeably out of place. The last time I checked players from Brown, Canisius, and Southern Methodist did not exactly light it up last year, but in March Madness 06 they're up for the All-American list. In fact, I recall seeing one finalist list, Player of the Year to be exact, that had three teammates from the same school on it, which is just impossible in college hoops. These may in fact seem like minor gripes and are overlookable for the average Joe, but to the serious college fan, it is minor details like this that make the game enjoyable and seem life-like.

On the bright side of the action, though, players will be happy to see that many new animations have been created this year. Most of them take place on the defensive side of the ball, which is mostly due to the new features like the Lockdown Stick. Players now run around picks, or are flattened by them. Your smarter players will now actively try to get open, and will push off to do so, which really helps the play calling aspect of the game. There is also a noticeable difference in the low post action, as players will now stop in mid-air collisions instead of going through the defender as if he did not exist. All of these new animations are welcome additions indeed, but there still just is not enough variety down low, especially on offense. It really feels as if you have little influence over the type of shot that happens, as most of the animations on the low block are insanely out of control. Drop steps and spin moves happen so fast that you rarely have time to control them, and it usually just pays off to go for a dunk instead, but some of these even look plain silly. I hope that the next generation consoles will allow for more variety, because it is quite apparent that we have reached the end of the line for now.

The visuals in 06 are mostly improved, and are a slight step ahead over last year’s game. Player models do appear more polished, but still sport the whole bobble-head look from past iterations. You might notice that many of the big-time arenas look dead-on, but some of the smaller schools are still way off, and even a few of the Mid-Major schools have been neglected as well, which is somewhat puzzling to me.

Dick Vitale and Brad Nessler are back to headline the play-by-play, and do an admirable job. They still repeat themselves too often, but at least this year Vitale goes off on rants about other things, just as he does in real life. The major problem with the audio is mainly due to the awkward soundtrack. The typical EA Sports Trax is present, it is just that most of the songs are questionable at best, and to make matters worse they are all of the orchestrated variety. I know that this adds to the collegiate atmosphere, but there is just something about these songs that make them seem horribly out of place. Thankfully, the crowds are very responsive, and react to the on-court action nicely.

Overall NCAA March Madness is not a terrible game; in fact, it is quite enjoyable at times. The new defensive abilities really help balance out the action, but the game still becomes repetitive at times. A lack of roster control, and shoddy low post moves drag the experience down a bit, but 06 is still a must try for serious college basketball fanatics. Just do not expect perfection and you will not be disappointed.