As March Madness approaches, the excitement for the upcoming NCAA college basketball tournament ramps up. Wolverine Sports' developer, Gary Gorski, has recently released its latest text-sim Draft Day Sports: College Basketball, which offers the opportunity to live out the dream of being a college basketball head coach. It is a deep game with a wide range of gameplay elements to enjoy, but does it do enough to put it among the text simulation elite on the PC?
The game starts by using an automated set-up process to create the new college basketball association. The process allows for several modifications to the association, leagues, schools, jersey colors, etc. It is great to see this many modification options available in a game, especially when it does not use the official license. Favorite teams and leagues can be altered as much as is needed; even allowing a change in conference affiliation if a team switches conferences in the future. Also, fictitious teams or leagues can be created to provide a whole new experience for those who want to try something different.
The coaching profile is also created in the automated process. Decisions can be made on how aggressive the coach will be in pursuing new jobs, recruiting, coaching temperament, etc. Also, the coaching profile can be set up to provide the AI with information about substitution patterns, speed of play, and rebounding tendencies. The coach can also make selections on their ratings to start the game and also the maximum potential that coach can reach. A 'randomize' option is also available which creates a random coaching profile rating. The randomize ratings option has been in more than one Wolverine Studios game and it is a great addition for those that want a new challenge each time.
Once the new association is set up, the main office screen is displayed. The developer has created a graphical interface to access the coaching tools and view stats/records for the team. It is a good step in the right direction, but it still could use a bit more refinement. It just does not provide enough information to be as fully intuitive as a normal menu system at this point, but it is getting better. A nice touch is that certain options are highlighted when they require an action before the simulation proceeds. It is a subtle addition, but it helps the newer users become acclimated to the process. E-mails are sent by players, coaches, and the AD to notify the coach of any situations that need attention, which helps in the immersion factor of the game. Buttons across the top of the screen provide alternate ways to access things like rosters, recruiting, schedule, and other various functions. The buttons and their icons are a bit small, but the option is available to scroll over the buttons to get a written description of the button's function.
Recruiting is a major part of college basketball and Draft Day Sports: College Basketball is no different. Each team has a set recruiting budget after coaches' salaries and other expenses are removed. Multiple recruiting services are available for a cost. While some of the services are more expensive than others, the information contained in the better ones can prove invaluable. Coaches can also view results from regional and national camps to get a better idea as to the quality of a recruit. Also included is the option to bribe players with various goods, though possible sanctions and a hit to coaching reputation can result if things go wrong.
Rankings of the players constantly shift as the season progresses. If a kid starts playing well, his ranking will move up. There is nothing better than recruiting a kid to the school and seeing his ranking skyrocket as he improves. It is a great way to add more life to the fictional universe in the game. Coaches can use their budget to call recruits, view tapes, attend games, visit recruits, and arrange campus visits. All of these tasks can occur in certain windows of time, with various restrictions depending on the week. For example, 'dead' periods allow no contact with the recruit, while other periods such as 'contact only' and 'evaluation' allow the coach to only talk with the player or scout the player. There is a steep learning curve in the process, but e-mail notifications and a few help screens make it a bit easier to get into the recruiting process. It can be a bit confusing, but it becomes much easier to understand after a couple of seasons.
Roster and team options are plentiful. Depth charts and a substitution matrix can be used to help the AI control the team during a game simulation. Multiple options using drop-down menus to view both ratings and statistics for each player are readily available. Graphics display team and coaching chemistry for each player on the team, allowing for diagnosis of any problem areas. Coaching and training options for practices are controlled by assigning percentage of time devoted to each of the offensive and defensive sets. Coaches can choose to master one or two sets on each end of the floor or they can choose multiple sets with the intent to confuse the opposition by running several different looks. A play designer is also included in the game, allowing armchair coaches to take a shot at drawing up plays that will wreak havoc on any opposing defense.
