"AWESOME, BABY! WITH A CAPITAL AAAAA!"

Honestly, there are times that I scratch my head and wonder how Dick Vitale keeps up so much energy in an announcing booth. If I spent half the time shouting out with a great sense of enthusiasm, I'd probably be passed out with the empty beer bottles scattered on the floor. But you can't really blame him. College basketball is one of the more exciting sports out there, driving attention away from the rule-based National Basketball Association and instead giving us pure match-ups that show off the hot new talents of tomorrow. And leave it to 2K Sports to once again nail the sport on its virtual head in the world of video games.

College Hoops 2K6 is the latest slam-fest from the company, putting you right into the middle of the excitement of college basketball by presenting a number of modes to draw you into the experience, as well as beefing up the gameplay to give you more control than ever before. And all this comes at a bargain price of $30. Truly, this is a Christmas gift you should give to yourself. Go on, you deserve it.

The gameplay ideas are borrowed from NBA 2K6, Visual Concepts' other blockbuster game of b-ball, but that's okay, I'll forgive it. It's not just a purely recycled game with college teams thrown into it, but an all new experience that will no doubt put college hoops fans into a net-fitted joy. The right analog stick works with a number of motions offensively and defensively. For instance, with the Shot Stick, you can set yourself up for a driving dunk, work your way through a fadeaway, or go for the distant three that will turn the tides in a heated battle. Defensively, you can swat away shots with a quick block, or try for the crucial steal that will set you up for the fast break. The implementation of the right analog stick for gameplay instead of just basic buttons propels it into an all-new level of greatness, and I'm glad the college game gets it just as the NBA one did.

But it's not the same game. With College Hoops 2K6, Visual Concepts put a great deal of concentration into the artificial intelligence. It's just not enough for a certain team to act in a generic kind of tougness to prevent you from getting a 2-pointer from the side, no no. It's concentrating on what made the higher-up teams' defensive systems work, and then putting those features into the game themselves. Washington behaves like Washington and not Duke, know what I mean? It's this kind of devotion that deepens the experience further, and makes EA's college b-ball effort look kind of shallow in comparison. The playbooks run the gamut alongside this balanced AI and make the game that much more exciting.