NBA Live's fans should like it despite the game's frustrating moments. Love it and hate it at the same time.
Graphics are really nice. Environments look good. Only the crowd looks terribly but that’s not important. There is one thing though – the graphics are good only on highest resolution and highest detail settings. And another detail – net animations after huge dunks are just awful.
I must admit that I like rap a lot. So I found the soundtrack great. It’s much better than the previous one. Some of the songs are just excellent, my all-time favourites. In-game sounds are good.
Freestyle superstars are a fun addition. Although they make the game more arcade than it was, it’s great to see Shaq and Amare dominating inside, Nash and Kidd distributing the ball beautifully. And I can not agree with gamespot review. Superstar passes are not just a nice animation. They actually fool defenders sometimes.
Controls are similar to NBA LIVE 2005. The only thing you have to get used to is freestyle superstars. It should take less than half hour. Then again mastering dunks in slam-dunk school will take a lot of time.
But NBA Live 06 can be really frustrating. In real life I like to play hard on defense and make the opponent to take tough and contested shots. It’s the same when I play NBA Live 06. But unlike in real game when contested shots are rarely made, in Live 06 it almost doesn’t matter either you contest a shot or you don’t. What can be more frustrating??? I mean – you do everything possible to force the opponent to take a deep and contested three in the waning seconds but… 3 POINTS. Next possession - the same happens. But don’t expect to go up the court and drain one contested three after another. Because it won’t happen. Even if you have Ray Allen but the opposing team has Corey Maggette. Although the sliders are equal, CPU can make tough shots much more often than you do. It becomes more apparent as the game progresses. You’ll often be able to hold the opposing team to 20 points in the first quarter (12 minutes; difficulty level: Superstar) on about 35-40% shooting and about the same in the second but do not expect to hold the opponent under 100 points in the whole game. There’s no way. No wait! There is one – steal the ball all the time. Sounds like simulation? Not really. The bigger lead you have, the more impossible jumpers the opponent will make. Unfortunately that’s not all. When getting fouled, the player will adjust his shot very often and most acrobatic and impossible shots will go in too frequently even if the “Adjusted shot percentage” and “Poor shot release percentage” are set to zero. So hard fouls really aren’t a good idea. Blocking a shot without a defensive stopper is also impossible. Guys like Bob Sura and Marco Jaric constantly pulling off a normal shot over the stretched hands of LeBron James and T-Mac is a never-ending… feature. Don’t be surprised if T-Mac has an average of about 0.05 blocks per game in the whole season (if you play the whole season yourself and don’t simulate). Sliders won’t solve this problem. Not even impact it. And on defense there’s no difference between guys like Ron Artest or Peja Stojakovic. They’re both the same. You can score on Stojakovic as well as on Artest. The only noticeable difference between them is strength. Rebounding is also problematic and unrealistic. Top two offensive rebounders in the league are usually my starting center and my starting power forward although they’re nowhere near top 20 in defensive rebounding. Centers and power forwards have more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds on many occasions. And again – sliders are useless. I was really surprised when I realized that there is no box-out play. And as always in Live series – perimeter players are too lazy to go after a rebound. Dynasty is better but still not great. As always you’ll experience only one or two trades between CPU-controlled teams in the whole season. “Stats- engine” also should have been improved. You just have to wonder – how can Steve Nash score about 25 ppg while Amare scores about 15 per game? And since when Carmelo Anthony and Josh Smith grabs about 11 rebounds per game??? And why Tracy McGrady takes only about 10 shots in the whole game while playing about 40 minutes? And Steve Kerr and Marv Albert are just awful at times. When the opponent makes another contested three with the shot clock running out, the last thing you want to hear is: “Man, how can they leave him so wide open?!” And vice versa – after someone misses an open shot, Kerr will sometimes say: “You have to love the defensive intensity that this team is showing…”
Other things could be improved but these are the most noticeable problems. And they really ruin the game. If you love NBA and NBA Live series, it’s really worth it. But if you think this game could turn you into a NBA Live series fan, you’re wrong. This game is just for the existing fans.
I love and hate this game at same time.