As the "next-gen" consoles start to lose some of their new-toy luster, one genre that is starting to show cracks in its armor is sports games. As the versions roll by, it becomes increasingly obvious that you're paying for basically the same game each time. Some franchises buck this trend, like EA's NHL 08, but if a game was great in 2006, it's a tall order to demand full price for a "new" version less than a year later. That is precisely the problem with 2K Sports' College Hoops 2K8. This is clearly a top-shelf college basketball game -- but so was College Hoops 2K7. So the question is: Is it really worth another 60 bucks?

There are admittedly some nifty new features this year, both on and off the court. The 2K Share technology should be a mandatory feature in every sports game released for the Xbox 360. This seemingly innocent feature lets you upload rosters, game settings, slider settings, etc. to Xbox Live, allowing other gamers to grab your stuff within seconds. This is especially great for a college game because the default rosters that ship with the game are not allowed to have authentic names due to the fact that the players are amateur athletes -- but thanks to the College Hoops game community there are already accurate rosters available, for free, on 2K Share. This is simply marvelous.

Another fantastic feature is the new Play Designer. If you want to dig deep into your imagination you can whip up new plays from scratch. You can literally tell every player where to go, what to do, and how to do it: set screens, curl off a pick, work the block -- you name it. It's a virtual coach's dream.

The rest of the new goodies are a mixed bag. The 6th Man Advantage is basically a way to simulate the home court advantage that you see in college basketball. Trying to quantify something like that is very hard, though, and this feature ends up coming off like a blatant cheat for the home team. You can disable it, but surely there is a better way of simulating home court than to have the opposing team play like 6th graders.

Maximum Passing, a name brought over from the 2K NFL series, allows you to try different types of passes: lobs, bounce passes, etc. by holding down the shoulder button. The problem is that you don't need to use these -- it's all for effect. There are very few cases in which a simple chest pass (the default pass) won't do the trick, which makes this new feature somewhat meaningless.

There are some new ideas brought over from NBA 2K8 such as PlayVision, which brings up a play diagram on the floor so you can run each play correctly, and the Lock-On D feature, which allows you to play tight defense with the help of the artificial intelligence (AI) by holding down the trigger button. These are nice additions, but again, are they enough to warrant a full price tag?

The recruiting model, which is the lifeblood in any college sports game, is still extremely deep, and if you want to take advantage of all its features, it is a huge time-sink. Last year, the recruiting method took a lot of time, but this year 2K has added the new "ABL" leagues, which is the game's term for the real-life AAU circuit. Here you can scout high school talent, play games in the summer league, etc. You aren't forced to take part in this section of recruiting but it just adds another layer of complexity. Recruiting is fun as you battle other teams in your conference for the same players, but it also comes with a lot of needless busywork, and the ABL section doesn't alleviate this problem at all.

One area that has improved is the atmosphere. The play-by-play commentary remains fairly bland and almost a carbon copy of what was heard in last year's game, but at least the crowd makes an appearance this year -- and goes absolutely crazy during crunch time and with a good sound system, the game's arenas are absolutely rocking. Visually the game still lags far behind NBA 2K8. The animations are better this year, but the player faces, models and movement animations are nowhere near as smooth as the NBA game. College Hoops 2K8 isn't a bad-looking game -- it's just not going to blow you away, especially if you have played 2K's NBA game.

The most important aspect, the way it plays on the floor, remains a bright spot. There are some frustrations, like the lack of CPU non-shooting fouls, too few turnovers, weird substitution patterns, and other basketball basics that the game manages to whiff on (will we ever see regular traveling calls?), but the tempo and feel of the game remains top-notch; each game feels like its own individual story, and nothing seems too canned. The gameplay isn't a huge step ahead of College Hoops 2K7, which was brilliant, but there are some improvements, particularly in how the AI attacks the basket.

Online play is a blast, and if you can find people to play in tourney mode, simulating March Madness, it's one of the finest online sports game experiences available -- but again, last year's game was great online, too, so you are still going to have to weigh your options as to whether or not the new features are worth the price of admission.

That's really the big question: Are these additions worth another $60? It's a tough sell. If you skipped last year's game, then this is without a doubt worth picking up, but if you're looking to upgrade, then perhaps a weekend rental is the way to go to get a feel for the new stuff and to gauge if it's worth the yearly donation.

This review is based on a retail copy purchased by Crispy Gamer.