"Not the best NBA game available, but simply the best nba portable yet"

Introduction
Think about it guys. NBA live on a portable, and still able to look exactly the same as the console version? That's downright cool. It even included 4 of the 6 new freestyle abilities for players. It has included the 3- point contest, the dunk competition, the allstar game, and the rookie challenge. How could it be this good when it's on a portable game system? There's a new feature also, just for the PSP, it's the superstar challenge. In which there are 20 different challenges. Winning them and getting medals will let you unlock vintage jerseys and retro all-star teams. Plus, the challenges are fun in the first place.

Gameplay- 10/10
Its gameplay is incredibly fun. There are many different modes- you can play a single game, a playoff series or a whole season. You also have the whole Allstar weekend too. The superstar challenge mode is exclusive to the PSP, and lets you memorate the good achievements of a player last year. You get to play as one of them and complete their achievements for them, with a time limit, like getting 40 points for Vince Carter with 3:56 left on the clock with him starting at 24 points. Its all well planned and adds replay value to this package. I guarantee to you that you'll find the whole NBA live 06 really worth playing, even if you hate basketball. The varieties won't let you stop playing until half a year at least.

Graphics- 9/10
Great graphics for a portable system. Players look like their real life appearances, while the animation is real-looking too. For a portable system the graphics are really good. Even the courts, and the basket net with the ball swishing through it rarely has glitches happening with them and the frame rate is pretty smooth. But there are a few glitches that keep me giving this a 10/10.

Sound- 8/10
This game also has great sound, as in games the sound of the crowd, NBA themes, and commentary are very realistic. Though the commentaries are repetitive after a while, it still includes quite a few different new comments about plays and players. But remember- this is a on a portable game system not a console right? This is more than good enough. The menu songs are taken from real life too, just like the console games. They're songs from artists like Black Eyed Peas, Fort Minor, if you like these types of bands, the songs here in this game are for you.

Replay Value- 9/10
Like said in the Gameplay section, the varieties in the game makes it long lasting. Allstar Weekend, Season, Playoff, Superstar Challenge and Play Now are just some of the modes. Expect to spend more than 50 hours on this game because of the variety and how easily you can get addicted to it, especially if you like basketball. And you could easily take more than 20 hours just playing through a entire 29 game season, so get the idea?

Control-8/10
The controls are surprisingly laid out well for this system. Due to the shortage of buttons to use (like a right analog stick) people thought the controls will be very hard to use. But there efforts were very successful. Even the cross over has a good amount of varieties without the right analog stick. But there are still room for many improvement, like how the sensitivity could have been better, how the players shouldn't halt on the second they perform a successful steal. But all in all, it's pretty good controls.

Overall-9/10
Except for the occasional occurrence of the small glitches, overall this game is a dominating franchise that should be bought no matter who u are, even if you have interests in other sport. PSP owners would do well to give this NBA title a try.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/02/07