"BOTTOM LINE
I say this in pretty much every review that I write, but I feel the need to emphasize this point. Do not focus solely on the final score! In the end, NBA Live 06 plays a pretty good game of basketball with the right slider tweaks. Out of the box, the game is an unrealistic dunkfest, but after some slider changes, the game resembles the NBA. That said, I can’t reward EA's slow pace to fix problems with the game by rewarding this game with a high score. EA was given three years to fix the sliding, the passing and the rebounding - and it still refuses to fix these problems. With the exception of "Superstar" mode, all of the "improvements" are things that should be in any basketball video game. You shouldn’t get credit for adding fast breaks to a basketball game. You shouldn’t get credit for adding more plays to the game for the first time in five years.
Some of you may ask how I can say NBA Live 06 is a better game than NBA Live 2005 - and then give it a lower score. The reason is simple - NBA Live 06 is the game that NBA Live 2005 should have been. NBA Live 2005 should have had fast breaks, more plays and teams playing like their real-life counterparts. NBA Live 06 has all of these things (with some adjustments), but they're a year too late. Again, I simply can't reward a game company for adding things to a game that should have been included or were formerly included.
However, the bottom line is this: If you liked NBA Live 2005, you will love NBA Live 06. But if you didn’t like Live last year, then you probably won’t like it this year, either.
SCORE: 3/5"
