by:	November 19, 2005

With NBA2K6 you get basically the same system you have with the Xbox version of the game, you still have the shot stick, shooting with the right analog, and you have the isomotion juke system. It has pretty good AI, with only a few downsides, and it plays wonderfully. The bad thing is, that other than somewhat updated visuals, it isn’t a really huge jump in the next-generation. The first thing to know about the game is that the AI can be pretty flunky. It will constantly run into you blocking the shot, having you to free throw—with the hit or miss free throw systems, or it will be constantly running into you. Some games in real life you have this happen all the time, but it can happen to you constantly, almost every other time you have the ball in 2K6. The AI also can be pretty bad on either team, or the defensive AI could be to strong, covering you from even shooting a three-pointer at the right moment. The throwing system is really weird, as you have to pull down the left analog, release, and hope you make it in. If you are good at this system, then yeah things get easier, but it isn’t always going to be the same for all players on the team.

Visually when you first look at the game you aren’t impressed. The menus are all bland, and the introduction, showing the people moving into the stands is horrible, especially since all they are, are blocky 3D models. Then you get to the court, and it isn’t until they get up close to the players, or when you see their clothing sway as they move, that you can really see the differences. Even so, it isn’t really noticeable unless you have a HDTV (or a computer monitor), and when you do, from far away, while you are playing you do see the differences. The characters all sweat, their clothing moves, you can see finer details such as muscle tone, the glare off their sweaty skin, the threads in their uniforms, and decals, and so on look very nice.

When you are in HDTV you can see a difference far away as well, but with a regular TV, the details all sort of scatter so it is hard to tell. With the sweat, the players are pretty dry in the beginning, but as they go further into the game, they become more sweaty, and even their clothes become drenched in sweat. The faces of the players might not always look like who they are modeled after, but they almost always still look good, if not a little strange at times. The animations are done pretty well for each player, although sometimes you will find they don’t connect, or look like the players are moving on ice sometimes. They also sometimes skip, and it can be annoying, but for the most part the game is very fluid in it’s approach. The basketball court also looks pretty nice for the most part, with the reflections of the players going by, but the overall courts could definitely be done a lot better, including the crowds. It is just one of the downfalls of the game, is the contrast of the parts of the game that are just there to immerse you, and the parts of the actual game. Luckily the game does a cool blurring trick to give you better immersion, so that you don’t have to see how stupid the backgrounds look compared to your actual players.

The sound in the game is just as good as the previous versions; expect far more booming than the Xbox version. The announcers do a pretty good job, but you won’t really remember anything either one of them is saying. The sounds on the court, and the crowds help you believe the game even more, but I don’t know how many times I can take a rap song about 2K6.