Thursday, March 16, 2006

Total College Basketball

Since this has been the most exciting first day of an NCAA tournament in many years, it's a good time to mention Total College Basketball, a game by Gary Gorski and Grey Dog Software.

It's the gold standard for college basketball text-sims. Recruiting, which is the meat of any college sim, is deeper and far less linear than graphics-based sims like College Hoops. It's solid throughout, and Gorski has some interesting ideas for making text sims more accessible. For one, there are weekly magazine features, and there's also a selection show when the brackets are announced for the NCAA tournament. It adds atmosphere that most text sims sorely lack, and it's these kinds of features that can expand a text-sim's appeal beyond their traditional hardcore audience. The developer support for this game has also been excellent, and it makes me confident that this game has a very promising future.

There's a demo available over at Grey Dog Software (http://www.greydogsoftware.com/), and the game is also on sale until Monday. Check it out for your college basketball fix on the computer.

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