Reviewed: November 25, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
EA Canada

Released: November 17, 2005
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone

7
8
8
5
7.1

Supported Features

Despite my indifference about the sport itself, I do enjoy playing a good game of simulated b-ball, and have always taken the time to play just about any NBA title to come along whether it be something as fun as NBA Jam or as realistic as the NBA 2K series dating back to the Sega Dreamcast.

I’ve never been a big fan of the EA sports titles, but I have played them, at least enough to make comparisons for the other sports games that I review. Now that GCM is actually doing reviews for EA titles we’ve had to dig deeper and take a closer look. When it comes to the NBA Live franchise the only thing I know for sure is that the 2004 version was a bug-ridden mess that nearly sunk the series, and that in 2005 the series redeemed itself with some excellent new game modes and solid gameplay that carried over into 2006…or at least until the game got hacked to bits on the Xbox 360.

NBA Live 06 takes everything you loved about this year’s installment on the other systems and strips it away to make room for flashy graphics, fancy lighting, and lots and lots of sweat. While I didn’t play the original Xbox version that much I do know the Freestyle Superstar moves, Dynasty mode, Slam Dunk contest and All Star Weekend gameplay options are a huge part of the game's success. They actually make up about 80% of the content, so with all of that stripped away you basically have a shallow pick-up-and-play basketball game with no substance beneath the fancy new facelift.

You can actually stay in this mode indefinitely and even have other players join in and compete, but when you are ready to explore the game behind this Matrix-like construct you can press and hold the D-pad in any of the four directions to access specific menus for local and online game modes.

Game modes are surprisingly limited in comparison to other sports titles and even other console versions of NBA Live 06. You have your Play Now mode, Season mode, and limited online modes. This is what we endured five years ago – not what we expect in 2006.

Once you make your menu choice the camera zooms into that big screen behind the basket and loads your selection. Often, you will see the words “Building Stadium” which is a clever way of saying. “loading…please wait for as long as it takes to build a real stadium”. I’m not sure what they are “building” but the initial load time, even for Play Now games is probably the longest load of any 360 launch title.

But once you get that first look of the ultra-realistic stadiums, lifelike players, and thriving spectators, you can probably forgive the excessive load times. What is lacking is the overall feel of televised presentation or any presentation at all for that matter. You get a nice lightshow and player introductions for the home team complete with bellowing announcer, but still nothing that can touch the Sega intros back on the Dreamcast - those were the best.

You get some flying team logos and the occasional player photo and stats but nothing comes close to immersing you in the basketball experience. Commentary is lacking and the two guys in the booth spend more time making fun of the player holding the controller than commenting on the game. There is no courtside reporting, camera shots of cheerleaders, or even cutaways to crowd reactions.

Perhaps the most glaring omission is the lack of replays. I’m probably the first one to complain when a game replays every shot that results in a score, but I’d rather hit a button and skip the replay than not have one at all. In all fairness, you can replay your last shot if you are quick enough to hit the replay button, but you have no control over the camera angle or the speed of the replay. What happened to the days of frame-by-frame, zooming in, and admiring the dimples on the ball?

The first thing that took me by surprise when I started my first game was the camera angle, which defaults to Broadcast view. This might look good if there aren’t any humans playing, but it’s way too crazy to try and play a game with the viewpoint changing from camera to camera, sometimes doing reverse angles or popping up to high-angled isometric shots. Since the control is relative to the camera you can often find yourself running the wrong way or totally blowing a lay-up when the camera changes at the last second.

The other camera views are a bit better and you are free to tweak the angle and the zoom on any camera view you choose, but for some reason I could never get just a plain old-fashioned side view of the court. Even when the angle was labeled as side view it was still at some odd angle looking down the court. The camera is also unable to keep up with the action at the closer zoom levels, so you will need to pull it back out on just about any view you decide to use.

Controls are pretty standardized by now with the right trigger giving you limited turbo, the B button performing the typical jump shot, the X button doing a slam dunk or lay-up depending on your proximity to the net, and the Y button jumps, and does a power-dribble which usually results in a charging foul, at least for me.

The RB is your one-button solution to the alley-oop pass and the LB button now brings up the player codes for the direct pass system. The problem here is that unlike most games where the button symbol usually pops up over the player’s head, now the symbol appears as a ring around the player’s feet, so depending on the camera angle you might not be able to see the symbol. Ultimately, I just opted for the directional pass using the A button and the left stick.

Nobody can seem to agree on a good system for shooting free throws so EA keeps it simple with a rhythmic pull back and push forward of the right analog stick. This is a fairly challenging system, and it took me six tries before I nailed the rhythm and sunk my first extra point. It’s mostly about the timing, but your player’s free throw stats also influence the shot.

Another thing that surprised me was how serious this game was despite the skill level you select. I was getting all sorts of fouls called on me within my first two minutes of playing. Searching the game rules and options I found that everything defaults to “on” including player fatigue, which means that unless you turn it back off you will need to be swapping out your players regularly. There are also sliders to adjust the difficulty of some settings like the referees.

One feature that I really enjoyed was the integration of the strategy menu. Basically, during any stoppage in the gameplay, you can use the D-pad to access offensive, line-ups, strategy, or call a time-out. It’s all handled with a small icon of the D-pad down in the corner and small pop-up menus that never take you out of the game.

The strategy menu allows you to adjust the tendencies of your players for rebounding, fast breaks, or Box Out to help reduce opponent rebounds. You can also tweak your defensive strategy to zone defense, or man to man. This also includes assigning double-team options or matching up players based on stats or position.

The Play Now mode is great for the quick pick-up game when friends drop by, but most of you will want to head to the Season mode for a full 82-game season and your bid for the championship. It’s a poor substitute for the missing Dynasty mode, and with no training, player stat evolution, or draft, the season is basically nothing more than a calendar of games. Money never comes into play, which means no salary caps, so knock yourself out in creating your own dream team that can walk over the rest of the league.

Perhaps the highlight of the entire NBA Live 06 experience on the Xbox 360 is the player creation feature. Since most of the effort has gone into player models and graphics it’s no surprise that this mode excels. You can create just about any type of player you can imagine changing all sorts of facial features, hairstyles, and even tweak their skills before entering them into the league. It’s just a shame there isn’t more gameplay here to keep you and your custom player busy.

Online game modes are limited to two-on-two in custom and quick games, which means that you can probably have more fun playing four-player co-op than you can online. There is no online season but Xbox Live does track your stats and keeps leaderboards. You can also chat with other players in the lobbies, but that’s about it.

Sweat seems to be the buzzword for the sports launch titles and yes, these guys sweat…a lot. It drips, it runs, it stains their jerseys. I’m surprised they didn’t have those kids running out to the court with towels to mop it up. Sweat looks good in the close-ups but from medium distance with the light reflecting off it, the droplets appear white and it looks like texture tearing.

Player models are insanely accurate, both in facial features and body types for each and every NBA player. They are accurate right down to the cornrows and tattoos. Oddly enough, with so much attention given to the players’ faces, there is a disturbing lack of emotion. In one post-foul encounter two guys were squaring off in what I hoped would turn into a shoving match or an all-out brawl, but the two guys just stared at each other nose to nose like they had a bad case of gas then parted ways.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the poor framerate. Depending on your chosen camera view the game will be panning up and down the court to follow the action. During these larger pans with lots of players, crowds, lights, shadows, and reflections, the court will jerk across the screen like a slideshow. Once you get to the other end player animation is fluid as ever – it’s just during the major hoop-to-hoop transitions.

Sound effects are pretty simple and include the bouncing of the ball and the swish of the net or the bounce of the backboard. This is a disturbing lack of squeaky sneakers. The crowds are very active, visually and audibly, and they will cheer and moan for their home team depending on how well they are doing.

Commentary is provided by Marv Albert and Steve Kerr, and they do a decent job when they are actually talking about the game. Most of the time they were chastising me for accidentally hitting the dunk button from half court or jumping when I wasn’t near the bucket. Every now and then they would offer some quality advice like having me call a time-out to regroup if the other team pulled ahead too far.

There are numerous Achievements you can unlock to earn Gamer Points for your Xbox Live game card. Some of these are as easy as winning a game on a certain skills level, while others require you to play and perform in online modes or complete a season. It’s a minor temptation to keep you playing longer than you might otherwise.

Chances are good that if you have an Xbox 360 you probably have another console as well, and while NBA Live 06 might not look as good as it does here it will certainly offer a better gameplay experience on those other systems.

I can’t even imagine why EA removed half the stuff they did. They had a rare opportunity to capture the hearts of a new generation of gamers, but serious basketball gamers will likely head over to the 2K Sports camp, at least this year.