NBA Live 06 tries to take the freestyle controller to a whole new level and lets you use different types of "superstars" to dominate the game, by pushing a shoulder button and then pressing any button you can send a no-look pass, make a quick three or make a reverse slam dunk. This comes as a fresh addition to a formula that pretty much stayed the same the last few years.
Gameplay hasn't changed much from last year, with the only important addition being superstar controls and most players don't even have superstar abilities. Some problems with gameplay in the last game have been greatly improved, it's far harder to steal a ball (although it's still quite easy) and defense is far more interesting than last year. Rebounding has been tweaked and this time around you actually get some rebounds. When the game was still being developed I remember listening this time around small players wouldn't be able to block power players, it's hard to say, while it's true it doesn't happen as much, well... J.R. Smith managed to block Ben Wallace. The AI has been improved (or the lack of so many steals has made it harder) and the games are far more interesting, I went to double overtime in the elimination game of the NBA Finals against Detroit which ended in a nail-bitting shot that put me above by one point, in NBA Live 2005 I usually won by a 60 point margin. I think that's the best improvement, AI is hard enough to keep all the games close and interesting, but you still get to be the hero most of the time.
Dynasty mode has been improved slightly. If you are a veteran of the series the first thing you'll notice is there's no training this time around (if you are a veteran of the series you will also find this to be good) but instead you hire a coach and assign him to different players, eventually he reports back and tell you their progress. The coach also trains the other players at random. This is a great improvement since I had Kyle Korver outplaying Carmelo Anthony in 2005 with only two seasons worth of training. One thing that really gets on my nerves though is that every single time one of the opposing coaches trains any player, you are informed through your PDA, I don't need to know if Earl Boykins improved his speed by one point, specially if I recieve about 15 messages each week from different coaches.
Graphics are a bit darker than last year, I'm not sure why is this, but it's the first thing that jumped to sight upon first playing. Sound is awful as in "it made my ears bleed". I'm not a hip hop fan, but I had never felt the necessity to turn off songs from NBA Live's soundtrack till 06. While there are about four tolerable songs, most of them are worse than anal surgery.
While it's not greatly improved, it contains updated rosters, it's far more balanced than last year and games are much more interesting. If you are a PC gamer there's no other NBA title coming this year, which could seem like a bust, nonetheless NBA Live 06 is one of the best basketball games out there, definitely must buy for basketball fans.
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