From the very first time you crank up 2K8, you know that the presentation is lacking at best. Greeted with deafening silence, you must pick your favorite college team before any music will start. Even stranger, the music that then starts is not even your college’s fight song. So, why the cold shoulder?
When performing additional modes, like the All Star Skills Challenge, the game still does not make use of your favorite team. Instead, it chooses a random school and player for you to use. Occasionally while navigating menus your team’s fight song may play; like the Illini fight song playing in Legacy career when you are coaching another school.
The game uses the same right stick controlled menu system that 2K Sports titles have used in their most recent iterations. They feel no better, or easier to navigate, this time around. The game’s ‘Creation Zone’ allows users to create their own plays, chants, players, and even school. Sadly, the play and chant creators are not quite up to par; feeling clunky and leaving you often disappointed in the results. The chant creator especially could use a few additional phrases to make it more entertaining. It would be wrong to include four-letter words in there, but what is wrong with ‘sucks’?
When you first turn it on, the game asks you whether you would like to have it auto-generate random player names and numbers, or just numbers. Oddly, there is no option for neither; so that you can easily decipher real players on each team. This leaves you little option, other than to just accept the auto-naming function, which is badly broken.
First, relatives seem strangely frequent throughout the league. It is common to find two sets of the same last name on each team; and not common last names, like Smith. Secondly, when the game does want to show its creativity, it takes it a step too far. Seemingly impossible last names badly in need of a vowel or three are a common eyesore while playing through your season.
Once in the game, the presentation is fantastic. The commentary is top-notch, performed by real CBS analysts Vern Lundquist and Bill Rafferty; with Tracy Wolfson handling the sideline reports. The trio does a better job than most sports titles of staying on top of the action, most notably Wolfson with notes on gameplan changes made by a coaching staff right after they happen.
Halftime is called ‘Halftime Adjustments’ for a reason. It is no longer the time for you to check your stats, and focuses instead on tweaking your team’s gamelan. It is a smart decision that gives the game a more authentic feel. Adding to the authenticity is the ‘Sixth Man’ meter, which shows how fired up the home team fans are; matching the roaring crowd audio perfectly. It follows the momentum of the game well, never taking much for the fans of a team down several points to get back into the game.
