What in tarnation has happened to this once engaging franchise? by StewXX

November 24, 2005 - In an effort to add more realism to the game of basketball, EA ripped the soul out of NBA Live 06. The defaults make for a slower paced game that is sure to send veteran players to the menu in a frenzy to crank those sliders up to try to regain control of their precious series.

NBA Live 06 is going to be fighting an uphill battle. While no one can criticize the amazing graphics, the gameplay has less features than ever before. Some ballers would call this a no-frills approach to replicating the reality of real world hoop. This would not be much of a problem if the developers had focused on upgrading the gameplay, but such is not the case. What we get here is a whole lot less for a whole lot more money.

There are a number of omissions from this version including the absence of the Dynasty Mode and no more Freestyle Superstar System moves. In the place of the Dynasty mode is the Career mode which doesn't cut it as far as a sim is concerned simply because there are no salary caps. Nor are there any financial penalties for trading weaker players and cultivating a more powerful roster. The Freestyle Superstar moves are also gone and in its place are basic freestyle moves and stock animations randomly triggered to correspond to the various situations on the court. This kind of CPU-controlled system might be acceptable when watching games as the GM in the Franchise mode but it's taking away control from the actual gamer. Don't get your hopes up, there is no Franchise mode either.

In an attempt to give the game a more realistic feel with more acceptable real-life scores, the fatigue default is on and quarter lengths are a more natural eight minutes. To further distance itself from arcade ballers the overall speed of the game is slower. You will notice that some of your teammates will run down the court encouraging, or almost forcing, you to play more of the court instead of just heading to the basket all of the time. To this end you find the mid range jumper more effective so you will tend to make more use of the court. The AI does a good job of getting in your way so it's imperative that you pass and set up other players on your team.

Though the game is built on sim soil, the foundation isn't very solid. There are some issues with the camera and the physics of the ball that give certain arcade hoops games a technical advantage and makes them more fun to play. First of all the camera angles are not even close to perfect. The default is too far away, it's like watching the events from a fans' camcorder positioned somewhere in the middle of the bleachers. There are three other angles to choose from but they are very slow to anticipate your moves and appear to have a difficult time catching up to you. When zooming in the camera will sometimes get lost and focus on the wrong area leaving you out in the cold for a few seconds. This can cost you some points if you're looking to catch the rebound. A court-perspective view gets in too close and feels uncomfortable as it limits your peripheral vision, almost like a first-person perspective.

Another problem is the physics engine. The ball doesn't always respond the way it should. It will leave the backboard at different angles and when passing the weight of the ball seems to change. Sometimes it requires a lot of force to throw it down the court and at other times it seems to float, almost like a helium balloon. It's unpredictable, like one of those trick balls that has another smaller ball inside it to mess with the inertia.

Player animations are exceedingly smooth and even though you can't pull off superstar moves on your own there are plenty of fancy dunks and ally oops for your viewing entertainment. Replays are limited to immediate plays. If you press the replay button you'll be able to see your play over and over again but you can't stop the game and go back to see old replays. During a dead ball you can access and assign the various plays through the menu screen that appears as a transparent window at the bottom of the screen that you're already on. You don't have to exit and call up another screen. It keeps the pace rolling but if you're fast enough in making a selection you'll have to call time out to make up your mind.

Speaking of screens, the loading screen is actually a practice mode where you can shoot, dribble and dunk. A small player faces off against a larger player. As the small guy scores he grows larger while the large guy becomes smaller. You can also play this mode with three other players.

The sticks control your basic moves and freestyle moves. There is no black button so the Left B controls the direct passes while the Right B accesses the alley oops. You can back down with the left trigger and kick in the turbo with the right one. Other moves such as pass, shoot, dunk and dribble are mapped on the A, B, X and Y face buttons respectively.

Season mode lets you choose a team and attempt to capture the championship. As I already mentioned there is no salary cap so as long as you've got the money you can buy whomever you can afford. The players' skills or stats don't increase as you win so it's in your best interest to get rid of the dead wood as soon as you can. The Create-a-Player mode gives you options such as players' head sizes, mouths, nose, ears, face, body type, tattoos and scores of accessories. You can even pattern their skills after other famous players.

There are only two online modes, Quick Play and Custom. They only accommodate two players and although there is a lobby and an online leaderboard I don't think I need to tell you how much more fun this game would be with at least four more players. A huge multi-player mode would certainly give this game a better overall rating since you won't have to put up with the same limitations as in the single-player mode. The slower pace and the sim-style may actually lend itself to a more in-depth gameplay style since you will have more time to concentrate on making great plays and not just viewing the court as a wasteland to be crossed as fast as possible.

Steve Kerr and Marv Albert act as commentators. As far as I know Marv is not rendered in panties and a bra. The duo provide a good assortment of comments but more importantly they are triggered at the most appropriate times. Crowd reactions are realistic as you can hear the home crowd and visitors cheer, hiss and boo for their favorite team with varying dynamic. There is some motion blur that occurs on the court when you're zoomed in that tends to get annoying. The players' faces are virtually photo realistic but they are void of any emotion. The most action you're going to see is sweat running down their faces. No anger, no frustration, no joy - just blank expressions.

NBA Live 06 is certain to draw its share of blank expressions from gamers that expect a lot more from this series. While I agree that tons of modes and options do not a great game make, I don't consider this to be a great game. Looks aren't everything.

By StewXX
CCC Staff Writer

Rating out of 5 NBA Live 06 (Xbox 360) 4.6 Graphics This is one gosh all mighty looking game as long as you aren't looking for players that emote. They sweat real good though. 4.0 Control The controls are tight but the ball physics feel a little awkward every so often. You also might want to check those default options and tweak 'em to your liking before you start playing. 4.2 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting Good ambient court sounds, balls boucing off backboards, squeaky shoes and the usual EA soundtrack. Steve Kerr and Marv Albert do an admirable job on the commentary. 2.5 Online Considering EA are the kings of online play, we're wondering why this online stuff isn't bowling us over in Live 06. 3.2 Play Value You'd think GM got a hold of this franchise and decided to downsize. Lots of favorite modes have been chopped. It's still playable but is it NBA Live? 3.4 Overall Rating - Fair Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.