NBA Live 06 Review

Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

As their physical skills rapidly diminish, aging basketball players have to find new ways to play the game. Jordan went from jumper to jump shooter as he lost his explosive first step and leaping ability, while the once-rugged Karl Malone maintained his nightly contributions with improved passing and defense. Over time, we expect athletes to lose a step or two, and we accept their transformation without much more than a shrug.

But video games aren’t supposed to do that, something the folks behind NBA Live 06 for the Xbox 360 seemed to forget. While the next-gen face lift and tummy tuck result in some inarguably pretty players, the game loses more than just a step in its console transition – it lose a boatload of features, modes and playability. A change for the worse, this is a baller woefully unprepared for the future. It’s not NBA Live, it’s NBA Lite.

It’s definitely less filling, having removed Franchise mode, All-Star Weekend, the Slam Dunk contest and the Superstar moves that appeared in the current-gen versions. That leaves Xbox 360 owners with three whopping ways to play – Quick Play, Season and Online, a paltry offering for what’s supposed to be a hefty new meal.

[image1]I suppose you could call the front-end a mode, too. In a strange twist, the main menu is a playable Practice mode set in a weird digital court. You can actually play little one on one matches here, though it’s pretty inconsequential considering there’s no Franchise mode to speak of.

Instead, you can play through a Season. Don’t expect any sort of deep managerial options, because all you get is the bare bones trade/sign/release functionality. No team practice, no hiring and firing of coaches, and no scouting at all. It’s like playing through the ’98-99 lockout season, and it’s simply not deep enough for a next-gen game.

The mode omissions wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if enhanced 360 gameplay made up for it, but like much of this game, that dream is just another brick. In fact, the game travels into its past with some annoying gameplay quirks. Basics like Freestyle control and the two shot buttons (one for shots, one for layups/dunks) are intact, but the pro hop move has skipped its way back into being the overpowered exploit it was when it was first introduced in NBA Live 2004. It was toned down a bit in the games that followed, but those changes have been ditched. You will literally own the paint with any decent swingman, be it Kobe or Kenyon, by simply dribbling around a bit, pressing pro hop and following it up with a dunk.

Vets of Live won’t need the pro hop, though, since the defensive A.I. is so suspect. Scoring is merely a matter of running around the defense while holding Turbo until you get a step on your defender and hammering on the dunk button for an almost guaranteed layup/dunk/foul. Live has always been a bit more arcadey than other NBA games, but it’s almost ridiculous how easy it is to score here. Jump shots are only necessary when they’re behind the arc, and tweaking the difficulty doesn’t seem to affect the overall defensive woes much.

Meanwhile, the offensive A.I. pushes the hell out of the ball regardless of the team. You expect such running and gunning from, say, the Heat, but not on every play. If you miss a rebound, you better get your ass back on defense because they will not wait for you to catch up. That applies to the half-court game as well, as guards and forwards drive the lane incessantly. Apparently the CPU knows how easy it is to dunk, too.

[image2]The only really notable changes are found in playcalling and free throws. You can now make lineup changes or tweak your strategies during a dead ball, which gives you a brief window in which to make some moves. Since you don’t have to pause or call a timeout, your head stays in the game. It’s the best new thing in the package.

The free-throwing, though, didn’t need such an upgrade, and the new system doesn’t work very well. Effectively ripped from NBA 2K, you now use the right stick rather than the classic EA T-Meter. Unlike the 2K game, the sensitivity is hard to get used to, resulting in way too many front rim clangers before you get the hang of it. They really didn’t need to go there.

But you’ll certainly want to go to the game settings right off the bat, because the default game speed is notably sluggish. Players move as if dribbling through mud. Cranking up the speed to the maximum helps a little, but it still feels like everyone is moving in slow-motion. For a game with arcade flair like NBA Live, it hurts.

If indeed there’s a reason why the thing runs so slowly, it’s got to be the graphics, one of the few bright spots in this otherwise lousy season. NBA Live 06 for the Xbox 360 is a beauty, no doubt about it. The player models are remarkably accurate; you’ll recognize the creases in Shaq’s chubby face, the gray patch of luck on Rasheed’s dome and the guilty bags under Kobe’s eyes. A slew of new animations are here, and when they transition smoothly into one another, they look amazing. Sometimes they don’t, leading to some jerky moments as one animation awkwardly breaks into another, but that’s sort of made up for when you get an awesome close-up shot of Baron Davis (who looks like Baron Davis) serving up a facial to Dwayne Wade (who looks like Dwayne Wade).

Perhaps the slowdown culprit is the terrific, fully-rendered crowd, which really adds a sense of life and urgency to the game. The arenas rumble with energy. Even though the on-court action isn’t so hot, the stands sure are.

[image3]Although don’t expect to inspect them, as they’ve inexplicably removed manual Instant Replays, too. Instead, you have to press L3 within about two seconds of any of your own made baskets, otherwise the play is lost forever. You can’t replay the other team’s plays, which is absurd, but I suppose this all just goes with the territory.

Speaking of camera problems, the number of camera views has also been scaled back considerably, and none of them are very good because the camera has a hard time keeping up with the players. Whether using Baseline or Sideline cam, players will constantly run out of frame as the camera slowly tries to keep up. Maybe it pulled a hammy.

Most of the audio is taken straight out of the other console versions, with Marv Albert and Steve Kerr handling the commentary well enough. Much of the ambient audio is unchanged, but the rim itself is apparently made out of Reynold’s Wrap, serving up a cheap, tinny crunch when a shot doesn’t swish.

Admittedly, some of the core A.I. problems can be alleviated online, although again you’re not getting much more than the basics here. You can play two-player games against other folks with lobbies and leaderboards, but that’s about it.

Sensing a theme here? NBA Live 06 looks great – I will give it that – and it’s nice that EA tried to build a new team rather than just play it safe and port over their old game like NBA 2K6, but maybe that was a better idea after all. With a slew of annoying omissions and flaws, NBA Live 06 is proof positive that the new generation should really stay in school.