November 25, 2005 @ 1:57 am

NBA Live '06

Quibian Salazar-Moreno

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Storyline:For the past several years, EA Sports' NBA Live series has had some stiff competition from Sega's NBA 2K series. Last year, Live added NBA All-Star Weekend events to its game, while the 2K series added a role-playing element that won critics over. This year however, NBA Live 06 is looking to pull away from the competition with its new freestyle superstars aspect, a reworking of the transition game and a couple of added features to the Dynasty mode. Audio/Visual: The graphics engine has seen some improvement with almost every player looking like their real life counter-part. The freaky thing however is that their faces look painted on with the same emotion. No matter how hard they throw the ball down, they don't yell in excitement or make any type of facial movements. They look like a bunch of Tim Duncans – emotionless. The crowd looks kind of crazy too, like they're straight off of Super Nintendo. Regardless, the animation is great as always. Nothing looks slicker than Kevin Garnett going down the lane and throwing it down. The audio is pretty much the same with commentators stating the obvious, the roar of the crowd and the sounds of the shoes squeaking up and down the court, power dunks and jump shots. The music is okay, mostly hip hop with no custom soundtrack availability. left Controls: While most of the controls are the same as last year, this year they've added the freestyle superstar combos. In the game there are NBA superstars who are assigned a certain characteristic. They're either a highflyer, playmaker, scorer, sharpshooter, stopper or power player and each are represented by a logo under their feet. When you come near the hoop on offense, you can hold the left trigger and press A, X, B, or Y to pull off a dope move and score. But the thing is, unless you have a Stopper superstar on your squad, it is almost impossible to defend the freestyle superstar moves. Every three-pointer that Manu sends is swish – every time! It gets frustrating, but if you got the ambition, you can probably find a way to defend, or even just outscore your opponent to win. Hotness: This game moves much faster than the previous NBA Live titles which is a good thing except for the fact that the camera sometimes starts moving down the court without you, which causes you to pass off quickly so the ball won't get ripped from your hands. But you get used to it. Also, the ability to hire staff in Dynasty mode makes the game that much deeper. Wackness: The faces, man. All of their faces. But you can get over it and have good time with this game. Read our latest game reviews:
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