If you always dreamed of making your college basketball team but weren't quite good enough, here's your chance to make amends.
College Basketball is a free simulation of the great sport for your phone. There are two different game modes to choose from: Exhibition, which allows you to play a one-off game against any other team, and Play-offs, where you get to try to claim the championship over a series of knock-out games.
Sports purists should be impressed with the attention to detail in College Basketball. You can choose to play as one of a wide range of teams, and the built-in player editor allows you to customize the names of the players (so you can put in real names, if you like). Before a match takes place you're able to set the team formation, adjusting the starting line-up and the players' roles. You can change the difficulty level of each match and choose the team colors. Note that there's no multiplayer mode in College Basketball, unfortunately.
Playing matches in College Basketball is good fun, and the controls are easy to get to grips with. The directional buttons are used to move the players around, and the '5' and '0' keys are action buttons for shooting and passing. There's even an action replay mode that you can activate if you've shot a particularly sweet dunk.
College Basketball has some pretty detailed in-game graphics. The player sprites are very small though and the animation is pretty lackluster. Also, it would've been good if there were some exciting close-ups when you shoot a hoop.
Note that although this version of College Basketball is free, it is bundled with adware that uses your internet connection to display ads. It's harmless enough but something to bear in mind if you don't have a flat-rate data plan.
As mobile hoop-shooting games go, College Basketball makes a good effort at recreating the magic and excitement of the real thing.
