When
things are working though they aren't too bad. I'm glad to be able to finish a
fast break now where last time I tried an NBA Live series, the computer would
always find a way to catch up to me and cause my fast break to turn into a half
court offense even if I was ten feet ahead of them. Momentum of the players
don't seem to break up now with a pass and they'll glide nicely to the basket
for the layup or a rim rattling dunk. The times when you run around the picks
to lose your defender and nail that 15 foot jumper is a thing of beauty. When a
team moves the ball around with crisp passing to find that open person, the
game plays well. It’s just too bad those times are over shadowed by the
problems the series exhibits.
EA's
timing on releasing the game and lack of roster updates is really horrible. I
can understand some moves not being in like DaSanga Diop on the Mavs but not to
have Joe Johnson on the Hawks, Bobby Simmons on the Bucks, or Jeff McGinnis on
the Nets to name a few really shows how little EA paid attention to the
rosters. Yet, some off season moves are in the game such as Larry Hughes on the
Cavaliers. Yes, you can get updates and move them around yourself but there are
a lot of moves EA missed when they had plenty of time to put them in the game.
If you
want to be the GM, NBA Live 06 gives you all the necessary tools to run
the team. To trade players, the game follows the NBA rules of matching
salaries. Because of that, I know the pain of Isiah Thomas and trying hard to
trade away dead weight with large salaries. I tried fooling the computer in a
few lopsided trades but I couldn't accomplish the feat with much success.
Besides dealing with player salaries, you'll also need to hire coaches,
trainers, and scouts. All play an important role to the success of the team and
you'll need to balance the amount you spend on each individual.
To help
keep you abreast of the news in the NBA, you'll be using your pager to gather
information as it comes in. The news is separated into different categories.
Injury news on other teams coming in can help you prepare for them should you
face them in the near future. You'll also get updates on your players and how
they are doing in training. The pager is a nice little quick way to keep up to
date.
EA has
always presented games that looked great and NBA Live 06's graphics are
pretty good. I still think 2K Sports' series looks better but for the most
part, the players look very close to their real life counterparts. From the
different body types and the style of play, EA did a pretty good job of
modeling and animating the players. Your players can morph into different
shapes if you don't keep them training right. You won't have a team of Shawn
Kemps but you will see them change over time.
The movements
of the player are a hit and miss though. You’ll see a lot of skating or gliding
which can lead to easy baskets but look very unnatural. Because of this,
computer guards do seem to slide through your defense a lot easier than they
should. The Freestyle animations are really well done and when you pull off
these moves, they look just like ESPN highlights. Transitions from one type of
animation to the next aren’t too bad but you can see some breakups in some of
them. When you get picked, you do see a nice animation of your player trying to
fight through.
Marv
Albert and Steve Kerr are the play by play guys for the game. As with most
sports games, you'll get a large amount of repeat comments which can become
annoying. Playing as the Cleveland Cavaliers, I hear the two talk about how
Lebron came right out of high school and surpassed expectations about 3 times a
game. A few times the line was repeated right after another. The two do follow
the action on the court well though unlike some of the basketball games I
played before. The two aren't the worse commenting duo for a basketball game
and the they sound very natural during gameplay.
NBA
Live 06 is still a
very arcade like game that relies heavily on guard play a little too much.
There's still that horrendous rebounding issue and the addition of Freestyle
Superstar mode makes some players score too easily. The on court action has improved
a little bit but its' still pretty lacking. While the game will surely sell on
name value alone, I can't recommend the game too much to basketball fans
looking for a good solid representation of the game.
More On:
NBA Live 06 Companies:
EA D+
The NBA Live series still has some ways to go. While it's got some good graphics and some good options, gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.
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