First NLSC Review for those interested

[Andrew]

From the main page:

I think I've finally played NBA Live 06 enough to offer a fair and comprehensive review, so here it is: my review of the PC version of NBA Live 06. I'm sure not everyone will agree with me on every point, but it is my honest opinion of this year's game. Once again I have refrained from giving it a numerical score since I'm comparing it to the rest of the series rather than video games in general.

My first roster update for NBA Live 06 will be coming soon, as well as the DBF Editing Guides and perhaps a couple of other FAQs and Guides as well, so keep a look out for those in the not too distant future.

Comments welcome in this thread. Flames can be directed at that brick wall over there, money can be sent to an address I'll disclose privately.

[Ty-Land]

Great review, pretty much summed up how I feel about the game. I think the improved graphics and freestyle superstar have really improved the game this year, even though I'm a little dissapointed that there's no MLE and with the high frequency of offensive rebounds. Can't wait for the roster patch and some good sliders too get a solid dynasty underway. Cheers

[Matt]

My advice to EA would be to avoid making huge overhauls at this point, instead opting for tweaks and fixes.

this is what i think too.

Tone down offensive rebounding and i think that the game is free of MAJOR gameplay flaws.

[J@3]

Nice review Very objective and informative. I wasn't a fan of Live 2005 at all so I'm still not completely sold on Live 06, but I might give it a go when it comes out on Xbox.

[Andreas Dahl]

Great review Andrew Basically all of it was on point there.

I was thinking of doing one myself, then I remembered I suck at writing...

[SHAFT23]

What about the online gaming? he didn't review that part of the game. Like where guys are shooting 3's from mid court and taking charges all game. And the fatigue factor. It is still on 0 on ranked games.

For me personally online gaming is the main reason to buy games like these and if it sucks, i will not buy the game. Eventually the dynasty will get boring and you will beat the CPU by 30 on superstar even with adjusted sliders. Playing good games against others makes it worth while for me. I don't know about the rest of the people here, though.

The review was a bit mild, but pretty accurate.

My advice to EA would be to avoid making huge overhauls at this point, instead opting for tweaks and fixes.

exactly what i think, but they won't do that, because the sales will go down dramatically, because people in general (not the real gamers) will see it as a small update from this version. They won't have to spend as much on developement, but they will also have nothing to market the next year. Their marketing and promotion will be useless if they just make a better version of this years game.

[Andrew]

I didn't really review that part of the game because:

a) I don't play online much
b) Playing online against a human opponent doesn't give you much of an idea about the AI

Please also understand that a majority of people play Dynasty Mode and against the computer. Online experience is in contrast greatly affected by your human opponent, connection speed etc. I'd also like to know what you mean by the review being mild. If it's because I didn't throw around a lot of profanity and direct personal attacks at EA/the production team, that's just not my style.

[shadowgrin]

Good review by Andrew, almost makes me want to buy NBA Live 06.

[EZ Snappin]

Andrew - just a friendly FYI:

in your review you state the following:

I was once again sorry to see that we are unable to have less than 12 players on the active roster. That was a fantastic and very realistic feature, one I hope will find its way back into the series.

According to the new CBA (quoted from InsideHoops.com)

G. Rosters

Each team is required to carry 12 players on its active list and one player on its inactive list (which will replace the injured list). Teams may have a maximum of three players on their inactive list (subject to hardship rules, which will apply in the event that a team with three injured players on its inactive list has a fourth player that suffers an injury). Players sent to the NBA Development League (see below) will continue to count on a team’s inactive list.

The league has agreed to guarantee that, on a league-wide basis, teams will maintain an average roster size of 14 players over the course of the season.

So, though they have had it wrong in the past, by not changing it this year the developers got it right.

Thanks for the well written and thought out review.

[Null17]

Nice read. Haven't gotten the game yet so can't say if I agree with you yet

[Jackal]

Great read, an issue I came across today is where I get stuck to the opposing team's player. So, if I'm helping out on defense and the player I'm defending passes the ball to the player I'm supposed to be defending, I'll briefly be stuck to the other player before I can run to gaurd my own player.

Hope that made sense.

[LeBronze]

Great read, an issue I came across today is where I get stuck to the opposing team's player. So, if I'm helping out on defense and the player I'm defending passes the ball to the player I'm supposed to be defending, I'll briefly be stuck to the other player before I can run to gaurd my own player.

Hope that made sense.

Yeah i have that problem too but it isnt annoying...to be honest, i really dnt care bout this bug.lol

[Jackal]

It annoys me a bit, till now it's the most annoying bug I've come across. Given I play with player lock & the PG position, if I'm helping out on Bryant, McKie just gets a wide open 3 just because I'm being magically sucked in to Bryant's arse.

[Voxel]

i guess i'm the only one with the problem of the cpu AI attempting to skate inside the key for a layup 95% of the time.

then again, it might be that i've only played exhibition games between spurs and pistons as the spurs and the pistons have their tendency slider set to "inside". maybe with teams with more balanced coaching that issue does not show up a lot.

[lafce]

Thanks for the review.

[Wormy10]

Very nicely put there Andrew
I pretty much agree with about everything you said
Thanks for the review

[cyanide]

Very nice objective review. It's a similar review that I would write, except I would be a little more harsher when it comes to the bugs and flaws

[fgrep15]

I think the only huge overhaul needed would be to change the gameplay engine and remove sliding. With next-gen that will happen, and their will be more animations, supposedly realistic collision, and hopefully the sliding is gone. All that added to the game can make it very good.

[tsherkin]

Neat review; meshes a lot with my own thoughts on the matter.

I'm curious, have you figured out your slider settings yet?

[SHAFT23]

I'd also like to know what you mean by the review being mild. If it's because I didn't throw around a lot of profanity and direct personal attacks at EA/the production team, that's just not my style.

I meant that sometimes you notice some things that need improving, but you talk about them in such a way that it seems not so bad. I guess it's my style to be direct whenever i am frustrated with things like this years game.
Like you said...... a lot of people buy th game for Dynasty. i am interested in the competition as i am in real life. After a couple of months the game just isn't enough for me, because you can anticipate the CPU's shot-selection. My sliders are what made the game better to me over the past days. But online gaming is messed up, because of the ranked settings. That won't make me buy the next version before i know what the deal is first in contrary to what i have done till now.

[Jackal]

All in all, I would've really considered NBA Live 2005 to be the best Live ever if it had:

A) Superstar Features.
B) Fast Breaks.
C) In Game Saves.
D) No Sliding.

That'd just do it for me, I think Live 05 was better than 06 but I'll stick to 06 given it's got the Superstar abilities + fast breaks.

[[L3]1101]

awsome review andrew as always
I like this year's Live, and the "Superstar" feature is a lot better than i thought.

[k083]

But I must say, the Highflyer and Power superstar moves are way too overpowering. Sometimes too much control can be a bad thing. Perhaps the Highflyers shouldn't be dunk moves only. The CPU should decide between a high flying layup or a dunk depending on traffic.

[Anthony15]

Nice review. I hope your roster patch is comin out soon!

[JWL2672]

for longer than 15 minutes.

So tired of those reviews written by run of the mill game reviewers who aren't even basketball fans. Andrew is probably one of the few harder core NBA Livers than me. I've owned every year since Live 95 on the SNES and then all years on the PC (except 2002 when EA screwed us PC users). Plus I play year round at least 5 games a week until the next version is on sale.

Hope the game is as good as you say - a lot of the other reviewers were negative about the game. For a hard core NBA Liver, nothing's more disappointing then getting a new version and having it suck ass compared to the previous year. You know you're pretty much stuck with it and you won't go back to the previous year because you wasted $40 bucks and the graphics are glitzier. 2004 was horrendous compared to 2003 for instance. Totally disappointed - there was crazy sliding all over the place and the ballhandler had to face his offensive basket. The dribbler looked like a frog each time you pressed the direction stick away from the hoop. Completely gay.