It’s hard to fight the temptation. A new game is released months after its competition and you need to find out how it measures up. Even if you love your current game, the lure of something “new” is sometimes just too great to overcome.

The same can be said for College Hoops 2K7 and EA’s March Madness 07. College Hoops is one of the best, if not the best, college basketball games ever made whereas EA’s track record with March Madness is anything but stellar. But it’s new – and it’s just human nature to see what the company has come up with this year. However, you need to fight that temptation, keep your copy of College Hoops in a warm, safe place and hope beyond hope that EA Sports never gets the exclusive license for college basketball. March Madness, despite a few positive strides, is still March Madness – and that’s not a good thing.

Before getting into what the game does wrong, it should be noted that it does do a few things right and in fact even better than College Hoops 2K7. The atmosphere is vastly superior, despite repetitive play by play that gets old after about an hour; the crowd and the arenas draw you into the game, producing authentic college atmosphere that College Hoops fails to provide. The overall graphics package is pretty good, too, although player animation looks a bit weird at times. While the player models look better here than in 2K7, the animations aren’t quite as good.

There’s also a steady stream of fouls called and they all appear to be realistically simulated. Reach-ins (even by the CPU!) hacks down low, body checks, etc. If your game plan is to go to the post expect to draw a good number of fouls. There are still too many blocked shots, even by players who shouldn’t be able to do it, but a lack of free throws is not a problem.

The Floor General feature, calling a multitude of plays with your point guard is a better system than what College Hoops uses; it’s more intuitive and offers more options. The on the ball defense is also very good and lacks the usual “invisible force field” around the defender. A good defensive player is simply hard to get around, which almost forces you to use the Freestyle stick. EA’s Freestyle system is still more fluid than 2K’s ISO system, but it looks a bit flakey as players do these incredible spins that would make a Globetrotter blush. Defense is made even easier by using the Lockdown stick (the right analog) to match up with a ball handler. It works well (maybe even a bit too well at times) and makes playing defense more fun than it usually is in a hoops game.

Finally, the new Impact Moment is a cool idea wrapped inside ridiculous presentation. When certain things happen in the game, an Impact Moment appears on the screen which boosts the confidence of your teammates. Players even have an individual meter that fills up and can be used at certain times in the game, providing another boost. The problem is that EA Sports is apparently targeting the game for 13 year olds who live to watch the And1 basketball shenanigans on ESPN 2. When was the last time you saw a player in a college basketball game (any basketball game) dance with the cheerleaders before going to the free throw line or taunt the crowd in a way that makes the game look like a WWE event? It’s beyond stupid. There are a multitude of ways to add frilly things to add “spice” to a game without going so far over the top as to mock the sport which are you trying to simulate. EA apparently thinks you want to see that sort of thing.

The gameplay, as stated, has its moments but there are loads of problem areas that need to be addressed before the game can be taken seriously. The AI remains a major sticking point as it just does not recognize defensive breakdowns or open lanes. Even more important, the fatigue level is completely busted. Most players simply do not get tired, making your bench literally irrelevant unless a player gets in foul trouble. Even then, the game makes it tough on you by not providing an auto sub feature. Apparently EA Sports doesn’t want you to worry about such trivial things. Finally, the ball physics are almost non-existent and it makes everything feel scripted as a result.