Submitted by DOMination on 7th January, 11:20PM

Good:

Better graphics

Smoother and more realistic game play

Good Soundtrack

Bad:

Dynasty mode could be improved

Rosters ridiculously out of date

Poor update features on EA website

Ratings:

The current NBA season is upon us and it has been quite entertaining thus far with many trades particularly at Miami who hoped to build a good team to compliment Shaq. Australia has seen its first number 1 draft pick in Andrew Bogut playing for Milwaukee and Phil Jackson has returned to coach the Kobe Bryant lead Los Angeles Lakers who scored a whooping 62 points in three quarters of play. However, it looks like we are in for a repeat of last season with the two finalists, the Detroit Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs dominating their respective conferences.

Having seen and read about all this action, I wanted to play EA sports NBA Live 06 badly and when I finally got it I wasn’t disappointed. Upon loading the game I thought it was going to be a re-hash of last years version which to an extent it is but they have improved a lot of things.

Firstly, the menu system is laid out in a cleaner presentation. I know this is the simplest thing but it makes the game easier to navigate (there is nothing I hate more then scrolling through menus). There are a world of game styles to chose from like Season or Playoff mode, All-Star weekend which is exactly the same as last year and the involving Dynasty Mode.

Dynasty Mode has seen some improvements but also opens up NBA Live 06 to a world of flaws. Firstly you choose which team you want to play as and then you are hit with the first new feature, you are asked to hire coaching staff who will train your players or scout up and coming prospects. Gameplay is a lot smoother and realistic with blocking and stealing being seriously toned down and makes playing d a whole lot harder. EA has introduced superstar controls for certain all-star players which can make or break a game. When you activate this control in the game these players will do something unbelievable – you can slam some awesome dunks with Kobe, swat the crap out of someone with Shaq or hit the long bomb with Michael Redd. The problem with the actual game is that sometimes this moves make the players unstoppable and can cause blowouts even on the harder levels. In comparison with other games out there the graphics are average but the game looks a whole lot better then previous NBA Live games with better player models this year. All the players are rendered better and look more rounded, not squarish and jagged like in the past.

Besides these changes NBA Live 06 is very similar in gameplay to its predecessors even the token “bugs” that hinder the game. I found my assistant-coach would train players that I never asked him to train and for the wrong thing. For example, I asked him to coach Bogut in offense but I got a message back saying T.J. Ford has improved his speed around the court. There also seems to be an issue with shots being counted after the buzzer. There are several other little things I noticed that irritated me but not as much as those two things.

It’s not a bug but player trading in Dynasty mode is impossible. I’ve not been able to make a successful trade because not only do both teams need to be interested in the player, the salary of the player needs to be identical due to salary caps. The easier way to get fresh talent on your team is through scouting but the problem with that is it’ll take time to train up your rookie players.

Something else that irritated me was the fact that the rosters were ridiculously out of date. I’m a Lakers fan and we didn’t have several players in the line up but it was more noticeable with Miami who are missing half their list. NBA Live 06 has online play facilities so I thought they’d have roster updates online but either I am mistaken or the EA website is hiding them somewhere because it is the worst supporting website I’ve ever seen. Also speaking about rosters, I was upset that Michael Jordan who is possibly the greatest Basketball player ever had been omitted from the All-Star teams…he is no where to be seen.

NBA Live 06 has a great soundtrack this year that is worth mentioning. It features artists such as Jurassic 5, the Black Eyed Peas and M.I.A in the jukebox. You can move the tracks around to create a playlist and even turn off the ones you don’t like but if you’re into RnB, Rap, Hip/Hop you wont find the need to.

Overall I think this is the best Basketball game EA sports have created. I wish SEGA sports released their NBA 2K series on computer because they are a superior product but I am content with what I have in NBA Live 06