NBA LIVE 06 – PC – Review

Get it up
the floor and put it in the hole. These are high-flying athletes who defy
gravity, who defy convention and find creative ways to put the rock through the
twine.

Yep, you
ready for some hoops, NBA style. And sporting an eye-popping new graphics
engine, EA Sports roars out of the gates with the latest iteration to the
long-running hoops series with NBA Live 06.

The game
does have some new features, like the Freestyle Superstars (sort of individual
traits that define your players), and the Freestyle Challenge is available
online with this edition.

There is the
create-a-player option, and the game modes include Quick Play, Season, Dynasty,
Playoffs, NBA All-Star Weekend, Freestyle Challenge, 1 on 1, Slam Dunk School
and Individual Practice. The Dynasty mode is quite rewarding, plunking gamers in
the chair of the GM, responsible for player and staff management prior to
actually playing the games.

There is a
bit of a learning curve when it comes to the control scheme, but using a gamepad
(as opposed to the keyboard) is a plus. The D-pad will allow you to call set
plays instantly, and you can precision pass, send in that alley-oop, drive the
lane and power up for that thundering dunk to rattle the rim and crowd. Using
the left and right thumbsticks (on the gamepad obviously) in concert will
produce some nice movement with the ballhandler as well, helping to elude some
defensive players much easier than if you merely try using one movement
controller. The precision passing is also another nice feature, allowing for
pinpoint passes to the players you want to have the ball.

Be
forewarned though, players are rather well defined and show some of the
characteristics in the game that they do in the real world. Take, for example,
Shaquille O’Neal (and will “pick” on Shaq a couple of times here simply because
he is the dominator in the paint and fun to have on a team – for no other
reason). When it comes to free throws, the meter moves much faster than with
almost any other players, making the timing much more reflexive than deliberate.

But for real
kicks, delve into the all-star teams from past decades (nope, no Michael Jordan
here, yet again). Dr J and others put in appearances and this is a great tribute
to the game of basketball. It is fun to play as the classic players and dredge
up old memories. Some of those “giant” post players of the past do not look as
tall now when standing next to some of the contemporary players.

The game
play itself is fun and entertaining, sometimes to the point when you may find
yourself yelling at the screen, as though you were yelling at a television.

“You
idiot! What kind of shot was that???? Block out!!! Block OUT!!!!”

Might as
well put a mirror on the top of the monitor and glance at the one controlling
the action. However, in the defense of one of those ‘coaches’ who occasionally
fumbles the controls and calls the wrong defense, or commits one-too-many reach
in fouls, the AI in the game is a little suspect at times.

Inbounds
play, and Shaq is standing three feet from the passer. Using the AI to pass, the
ball goes to Shaq, who happens to be straddling the end-court line, which equals
an instant turnover. Come on, Shaq knows the floor and would not commit such an
egregious mistake. Players also have a tendancy, on the gamer-controlled team,
to not rotate into position, but rather open up lanes for easy buckets.

The Dynasty
mode also takes into account training players to skill them up, and then puts
you through an NBA schedule (you can customize the schedule) en route –
hopefully – to hitting the playoffs.

The
soundtrack is underscored by EA Trax, which includes a variety of hip hop from
bands like Black Eyed Peas, The Perceptionists, Chamillionaire, Jae Millz, and
others. Catchy and appropriate but for the most part you can tune it out and get
to the meat of the game. The crowd noise and play-by-play commentary make up the
bulk of the rest of the soundtrack. Marv Albert does a good job of describing
the action here.

The
interface can be a bit of a puzzle initially. Some of the action buttons (like
save and load) are imbedded into the menus in less-than-obvious positions and
may have you looking around for them. This is not as intuitive as say MVP
Baseball’s interface.

The graphics
are also a bit hit or miss. The interface looks a little fuzzy on a 19-inch
plasma monitor but the game action is first-rate. There are a few minor clipping
issues, but nothing that really detracts from the game.

NBA Live 06
brings in some nice touches to a solid basketball title. Graphically this game
looks great, and will have you pulling your hair, yelling at the monitor,
chewing on a towel … oh wait, that is the “Shark’s” bit for college hoops …
well, you know, all those things that NBA fans are prone to do. And NBA fans
should get a kick out of NBA Live 06.

Review Scoring Details for NBA Live 06

Gameplay:
8.1
The controls and
interface are not exactly intuitive, so expect a small learning curve. Playable
with the keyboard, the game is much easier with a gamepad controller. The AI can
be a little suspect, especially if you are calling preset plays and rotations.
And sometimes players will not rotate into position but will wait for you to
take control of them and move them. Hence a defensive player may stand at the
top of the key, facing the backboard rather than rotate into the called-for
defense. On offense, the off-guard (shooting guard) won’t always run down the
floor, but will parallel the ballhandler (there’s no offsides in basketball!).
And I know that Jermaine O’Neal is a power forward, but there is no way he can
continually push Shaq out from under the hoop to clear space for easy dunks.
Shaq don’t move.

Graphics:
8.8
You can jack up
the resolution and the interface still looks slightly fuzzy. The game
environments and players look great, and the animation is a little suspect at
times. One player may continually try to throw the ball down from behind the
glass, resulting in an out-of-bounds, while another will do the same move and
score. But generally the new engine used to power this game looks great.

Sound:
8.2
Good, but not
flashy.

Difficulty: Medium
Those new to the
game may find it a bit of a learning curve. But there are several difficulty
settings to adjust it to individual levels. The Dynasty mode will have you
considering the game from a variety of angles and not just looking at the
reflexive element.

Concept:
8.4
While there is
not a lot that is new here, what is new here is very nicely handled – like the
Freestyle Superstars (a nice little touch) and the graphics engine that pops
this game to life.

Multiplayer: 8.5
You got game? You
better bring it for online play against this community. They will make you look
silly fast if you don’t know what you are doing.

Overall:
8.4
Some suspect AI,
but gorgeous graphics sort of atone for that and the game flow is pretty good.
The game can be frustrating, especially when you have a higher-rated team get
owned by a lower-rated one that seemingly can’t miss a shot and takes advantage
of obvious lack of player movement on defense for easy buckets. But much of this
part of the learning curve. There is a great selection of teams and players, the
customization options are strong and the actual game mechanics are pretty good.