In case you’re unaware, 2K Sports dominates the basketball video game market. Both NBA 2K7 and College Hoops 2K7 are head and shoulders above their EA Sports counterparts. After just a few days of playing College Hoops, it’s likely they’ll hold that crown for another season. It’s a fantastic game from top to bottom.

There’s some new features added to this year’s version of the game but for the most part, the gameplay is relatively similar to past titles. In my opinion, that is a good thing. 2K Sports didn’t need an engine overhaul; they just make tweaks from year to year and deliver a great product. College Hoops offers over 325 Division I teams, with accurate player likenesses for each team.

One tweak 2K Sports has made is the inclusion of real college coaches. If you prefer to play coach for a game or two, you can watch the game from their vantage point, making substitutions and calling plays on the fly. If you don’t feel like playing as Joakim Noah, this game gives you the option to pace the sidelines like his coach Billy Donovan. It helps keep the game fresh, although I’m not sure how much use I’ll get out of it it. One of my favorite features is the “Team Unity” feature, which combines the experience of your five players along with their skill level. If your team is loaded with upper-classmen, your team will have lots of unity, which gives you an advantage in close games or tough road games in hostile arenas. You may have that great freshman point guard but if he doesn’t have the experience, you’ll see your unity go down and your play will suffer because of it. College basketball is so reliant on a balance between veteran experience and young talent so this is a very cool feature.

Another new feature 2K Sports has added is the Custom Chant Creator, which lets you create an arena atmosphere to your liking. I’ve fiddled with this feature and it looks a bit complicated. If you want to add a vulgar chant to your student section, you may have to spend some time getting accustomed to the interface of this mode. 2K Sports struggles with the concept of a simple menu system so this may seem tougher than expected. But fortunately, there’s already tons of atmosphere added to this game, including over 200 fight songs and lots of chants.

Most people buy college games for the legacy/dynasty feature. It’s phenomenal in EA Sports College Football 2007 and it’s great on this game. Recruiting is a large focal point throughout the season, as coaches have to schedule official visits, interviews, etc. Throughout the year, you can see your positioning among the nation’s elite. The legacy feature provides you with constant updates of Bracketology, a projection of the NCAA Tournament. You’re also treated to a weekly highlight show within legacy mode called College Hoops Tonight, which gives the run-down on all of the news in your legacy, including highlights, upsets and rankings. If your team is garbage and fails to take part in March Madness, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to play in the Postseason NIT, which is also included in the game.

Many gamers gripe about the lack of player names in college sports games. While this is true in College Hoops 2K7, the game does feature the player likenesses for all players in Division 1 basketball. But don’t worry, there’s a fix. Rosters are available for download on on various sites and with the purchase of a transfer kit (XBOX 360) or Action Replay (PS2/XBox), this problem is easily fixable. One of the very cool parts of this game is the name recognition for all the players. While the game isn’t allowed to feature player names, they had the announcers record all of the names anyway, just in case you went the extra mile in obtaining custom rosters. Therefore, the announcer will recognize it’s Nick Fazekas making that jumper, and not just #22.

Because of its depth, great gameplay, and new features, College Hoops 2K7 is my recommended choice this year for college basketball.? The fact that PS2 and XBox versions of this game are only $20 help matters greatly.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5