Even if you're not into sports games, NBA 2K6 really shows off the 360's power. It's actually fun too.
Barring menu presentations and splash screens, NBA 2K6 has three things going for it from a visual standpoint.
Tons of animation, flowing jerseys, and pretty sweat.
It isn't so much the details of the players' faces and their tattoos but the way they approach the basket and the way they defend the player. In the NBA Live series (especially on PS2), player animation is less creative when colliding or guarding each other. Under NBA Live animation, they are similar to paper dolls reacting to each other - clunky and unnatural. 2K6 does away with this with clean motion technology where one motion flows into another making a player look seemless on court. What's really impressive is not so much how good animation looks when the ball is slamed into the basket but more so on how a player transitions from offense to defense and vise-versa. Players react realistically.
In close-up camera shots, the flowing physics-based jerseys float from the skin and look gimicky. Just imagine invisible shoulder pads under the jersey. But from Press View, the game really makes a difference. From this view the game makes a huge statement in graphic realism. This is a great thing since most of the game is played in this view and adds to 2K6's player movements look even more natural. Add a nice set of detailed sweat textures as you're playing the game and you have a very solid formula to compete as the most realistic looking sports game to date.
On the controller, play selection, ball control are very natural when compared to NBA Live's interface. The alley-oops fest which was so prevalent in NBA Live's last previous games never existed here. Instead, you must learn to recognize defensive stances and tactics and run the plays that are effective to cut to the basket. With cross dribbling under a single control stick, it makes things that much easier. Much of what you see in 2K6 has been done on NBA Live albeit more cleaner and more natural. This natural control even flows into free throws - where your timing and manual centering of the analog stick substitutes for the imaginary crosshairs on the backboard. This is perfect for head-to-head play when you deliberately want to miss the free throw in certain situations.
The other nice feature is 2K6's plethora of playcalls to choose from both on offense and defense. Unfortunately, these plays require some form of practice and the practice mode doesn't do much to help you execute those plays. I guess the 2K6 developers expect you to learn through the season. By practicing the plays and recognizing cuts and picks, the game gets suprisingly deeper than expected. Once you're used to expanding past post-ups, isolations, and pick and rolls, 2K6 makes playing a Point Guard a blast to play.
2K6 does have a few drawbacks. If you're a newcomer to the franchise, you'll feel as if there is a huge difference between the difficulty levels of Rookie and Pro in the 2nd half of the basketball game. Under the Rookie level, you can easily run to the hoop alone doing simple juke moves. The Pro level plays similarly to rookie...at least for the 1st half. In the beginning of the 2nd half, you get cold and the AI becomes hot. This is where learning the plays will help you contain those annoying superstar players who seem to make every shot.
2K6's other modes of play are similar to what you've seen in NBA Live and previous installments of the NBA 2K series (i.e. Crib, Season, etc.). There really isn't much to see. That's ok though. On the ball courts of 2K6, the work really shows. It is better than any new gimmicky mode (i.e. slamming contest). That's a good sign of real progress.
Some graphical annoyances include the in-game presentation of the fans. The fans are still a bit clunky and blocky taking a little away from the game and Mike Bibby still looks like a monkey. But thanks to the smooth animations and colorful play-by-play commentary, the game is very enjoyable.
Diehard basketball fans are required to buy this game. 2K6 is one of those basketball games where the hardcore and casual basketball fan can enjoy. For 2006, it is the best basketball game to date.
radcastro.com