NBA 2K6

"Best Basketball Game ever Made... But not worth 20 more dollars"

Competitors EA Sports and 2k Sports have both released a basketball game for the X-Box 360. EA's NBA Live 2006 was a huge flop for all intensive purposes, it looks really good, but its no game. This game, NBA 2k6, is a complete game, but by no means do the graphics stand up to EAs'. This game is a blast to play, but they have cut a few things out from the X-Box and PS2 version, that make the price jump not worth the game.

Graphics: 8/10
Playing this game live doesn't feel much to me like the next generation, even in HD. On replays and such, I was pretty impressed by everything though. The guys really do look terrific up close, at least the big named players. Guys like Lebron, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, they look good. However guys like Andre Kirilenko and Kevin Garnett do not look as good. The sweat simulation looks okay, but not great. There are a few graphical glitches, sometimes a guy will go for a dunk and fly too far past the rim, then appear above the rim to complete the dunk. All in all a good improvement over the past game.

Game play: 8/10
It takes 1 or 2 games to really get the controls down pat. And all the little intricacies takes even longer than that, but the game play is fun. It can take an annoying amount of time to learn how to play defense properly, so that can get frustrating. Its a fun game to watch because there is a lot to get excited about with big dunks and blocks. If you play on the default difficulty level, each team will shoot about 65-70% from the field, and 100% from the line. If you turn it up to a harder level, its around 40-50%, probably around where it should be for a video game. Beware: I have heard a ton of complaints that this game freezes at certain points during games, and I have had to freeze on me in 24/7 mode many times, I would say about 10% of the games I have to restart. This gets really annoying, and its a problem that doesn't occur on the PS2/X-Box versions.

Game modes: 9/10
The Association is the franchise mode in this game, and its pretty cool, with drafting new players, it will keep any big basketball fan busy for awhile. The 24/7 mode is improved from 2k5 but actually worse than it was on the X-box version because they took the customizable uniforms out of this version so you don't win anything when you beat a really good player, accept a pair of shoes that improve your stats. Its probably too easy because you can max out just about every stat and its not that difficult to complete it, but it is still i would say 10 hours of game play in just this mode, and it nearly feels like a complete game all by itself.

Sounds: 6/10
The game sounds okay, but the 24/7 announcer is really annoying and the game announcers aren't all that interesting, The music is really bad, and you get the same song when you start up the game every freakin' time. This wont discourage you from playing this game but its not great.

Value: 4/10
This game is barely an improvement over the X-box and PS2 versions of the same game. If you have online capabilities then the value of this game increases a bit because online is much better on the 360 than anywhere else.

Buy/Rent
If you have never played this title, its a buy. Its so much better than NBA Live. If you have the PS2/X-Box version of this game, then I would MAYBE rent it, but probably wait for 2k7 to come out.

Final Score: 8/10
Bottom line this is the best basketball game ever made. This game is probably a 10 if it was the first game of the year and the freezing glitches didn't almost constantly happen. Its a good game, and something an NBA fan will certainly enjoy, if not just for the very player models that look really good up close. Next generation basketball looks like its going to be something to talk about for years to come.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/09/06