NCAA Final Four 2004--A Guilty Pleasure

[digamma]

I was at the store the other day and for some unknown reason picked up a copy of NCAA Final Four 2004, by 989 Sports for PS2. I've hated every 989 game I've ever played, and didn't expect this to be any different. However, I was in the mood for a console college basketball game, and they didn't have March Madness or the ESPN game. It was on sale for 19.99, so I fell prey to its evil clutches.

I popped it in the PS2, for some good ol' button mashing, and got about what I expected. Pretty poor game play, but enough fun to pass the time.

I think I played the first game with the volume down, or I didn't notice it the first time, but my second game, I noticed what made this my a "guilty pleasure" for me that I now secretly love. Eddie Doucette (who?) and Billy Packer are billed as the announcers in the game. Just prior to the game starting, Eddie turns it over to Billy for his analysis.

Silence.

A few seconds pass, and its back to Eddie, who says something like, "Thanks Billy for that expert analysis."

I figured I got a buggy game or something without Billy Packer in it. After a little web searching, I find this on Next Level Gaming's review of the game:

Sound is one of the biggest glitches in the game, second only to the controls that I'm going to talk about soon. I am not sure how this happened, and how someone did not catch this. Billy Packer, who is the game's color commentator, apparently was abducted shortly before gametime. He's no where to be found in the game!!! Eddie Doucette, the play-by-play guy, in the beginning of the game says "So Billy, how do these two teams stack up?", and then looks around his vacant booth! Now I tried my copy on three different PS2's, and I picked up a second copy of the game to try, and the same thing. How does something like that happen??

Billy Packer's silence and the thanks he gets for his "expert" analysis has made this game playable for me. I can play that opening over and over again, and laugh every time.

[Easy Mac]

gamespot gave it a 3.3