What does Live 06 mean to you?

[HonorGlow]

Today, I had a chance to update my website(yes, it gets updated once in a blue moon) and notice I haven't updated the Live archive for Live 06:

http://www.livegmc.com/livearchive.html

In the past I've had The X, Sit, and SbHzMaFiA contribute their thoughts on how they about a particular Live version and I want to hear from others regarding Live 06. I know a lot of you have invested a lot of your time playing the game so I'm pretty sure there a lot of gamers here ready to spill their thoughts!

I'll keep this thread going for about a week and a half and then I'll pick two that are I feel are honest, insightful and really defined the essence of Live 06 versus all other versions in the past.

Looking forward to your feedback!

[Jing]

man... live 99 was the one that really got me into it.
when i was first playing it i remember how amazing it was, the graphics, everything totally shocked me. that was a great point in live.

the gameplay was pretty cool, the inclusion of franchise... man. This really gave me faith in Live and EA, and i've stuck with them ever since.

for 06, it is good in that it allows the user to really get the feel for players who can completely take over a game, but it also lets them abuse it. Howeveer the graphics are a bit step higher, and EA has gone to great length to fix as much problems. The game isn't perfect and still leaves a lot to be desired however. I look foward to 07.

[HonorGlow]

Thanks Jing! Hopefully we'll get some additional thoughts as well! But obviously...right now you're the leading candidate!

[Jing]

:p whatever, i didnt even read what you posted until now. i was just randomly ranting.

[Pera]

Well about live 06.
What can i say.Well i think that live 06 isn't disapointment.I play it sometimes when i want some nba gaming its a fun game.The superstar abilitie is a great thing to the series
.Sure hope the superstar thing will be even on a higher level next year.I know some guys say Superstar abillite is nothing more than Bs,but i don't agree.But maybe EA sports can take the game to the next gen ( for the PC),like the things on the Xbox 360 version.But i think they could bring some old features back like create you own team etc.But overall i think NBA live 06 is a great game.But don't get me wrong everything in the game isn't perfect it has some off problems mainly in the gameplay,they can do better thing for the gameplay.

[Moop_Moop]

I've played the 2K games, hell I have 2K4 (the buying of which was a mistake from day one) and without a single doubt, the Live series has proven to be, if not the most realistic NBA game, the funnest, hands down.

What makes Live 06 the game to play for me, is the Freestyle Superstar addition. In Live 2005, I remember it was as easy to take a game over offensively with a Brevin Knight as it was to crush the oponent with Mr. Number 8, or as easy to play lethal defense with a Marko Jaric as it was with a Bruce Bowen or Ron Artest. The ability to have those standout players, well, standout at what they do best is what really floats my boat regarding Freestyle Superstars. I can take Shaquille O'Neal and plow through any lost soul who is unfortunate enough to be between me and the basket for the arena-rumbling jam. I can take one of my favorite players, Michael Redd, and trick the defense with a lightning fast release on my jump shot. I can take Josh Smith and soar over, or through my defender for the tomahawk rim-breaker. Then there's defense. Head jarring blocks, sneaky steals, and lock down D. I would be literally crushed if EA chose to cut Freestyle Superstars out of next years game. Why? Because they give this game, as imperfect as it may be, an identity.

Oh, and on a side note, what also makes 06 the game for me is the ability to actually have fast breaks... something that drove me nuts in last years game.

[HonorGlow]

Thank you guys for your thoughts...I have quite the material here! I'm hoping to here from more people out there...I know some here have played at least 150 hours on the game and has some opinion.

Looking forward to more thoughts, any intense criticisms or life-changing revelation(eg NBA Live 2004 actually was a stepping stone to me moving to Seattle, believe it or not!)

btw...Clippers fans, I'm going to the Clips/Sonics game muahahahahahah Radmanovic vs Wilcox who will win?!

[Silas]

wilcox cuz he isnt incosistent and hes better and hes not rotting on the bench behind brand anymore

[VlaDiv]

live 06 means escape. It's a way to enjoy in a sports fantasy and feel control over a dynasty, control all the players, play better than you ever could physically, call all the shots for a franchise for 25 years in a few hours, and just have fun.

Those screenshots are easy interesting to see the progression...
the ground between 95 and 06 is huge, imagine a couple more years??

[HonorGlow]

Well my hope is that the PC versions graphics can catch up to the Current XBOX 360's graphics in about two years...am I being too hopeful?

Thanks for your feedback VlaDiv! Let's see if other's have some thoughts!

[Jugs]

25 years in a couple of hours

Garh, it takes me 2 years per hour.

[VlaDiv]

depends if you sim fast or how you play. Maybe that's the beauty of dynasty, you can play it one game at a time or do 25 years very quickly. They gotta add multiplayer dynasty so people can draft a little more efficiently than in that 30 man tourney meloboy is trying to host.

[Jugs]

I sim it like 4 weeks at a time and then I do line-up changes to share around the 11th and 12th man spots and also re-train the players and stuff, so it is a bit time consuming.

[TheBatman]

NBA Live 2005 was the perfect game.

[Scotty]

that Live 06 screenshot is the 360 version aint it?

[Bang]

Live 06 was equivalent to FIFA 2002 of the FIFA series. It was the game that ultimately made me search for a better and more realistic game, and in this case, the game was NBA 2k6. Actually I bought NBA 2k5 first because in all seriousness I didn't really think the 2k series was that great. To my amazement, 2k5 was even better than anything NBA Live 2006 could offer. 2k6 was even better! It was the opposite of NBA Live 2006, which seemed to have turned the series around in the wrong way, like the way they did with 2003. I thought they'd go back to fundamentals, and make the game more realistic, but then they come up with this superstar gimmick that makes the game arcadier than arcady can be. What were they thinking! Enabling crazy dunks in traffic, unstoppable hook shots, and what not. This is not realism, and those people who really think that all that is realistic need to watch an actual game. Only a few players have 200 dunks per season. You know what that means? ONLY 2 FRIGGIN DUNKS PER GAME ARE AVERAGED. Yet in this game with Josh Smith you can average EASILY 10 per game. Oh and don't force me to play bad, because on a 2 player match, I don't give a shit about realism, I want to win! I've been a huge LIVE fan for the longest time and I've defended it for a long time, but this game is the one that finally made me look the other way. I guess I have to thank NBA Live 2006 for that. I still have Live 2006, but I only use it to play 4 people against the computer or any other co-op type game since the player locking works better in Live.

[HonorGlow]

This is not realism, and those people who really think that all that is realistic need to watch an actual game. Only a few players have 200 dunks per season. You know what that means? ONLY 2 FRIGGIN DUNKS PER GAME ARE AVERAGED. Yet in this game with Josh Smith you can average EASILY 10 per game. Oh and don't force me to play bad, because on a 2 player match, I don't give a shit about realism, I want to win! I've been a huge LIVE fan for the longest time and I've defended it for a long time, but this game is the one that finally made me look the other way. I guess I have to thank NBA Live 2006 for that. I still have Live 2006, but I only use it to play 4 people against the computer or any other co-op type game since the player locking works better in Live.

Awesome...that's also something I wan't to hear...was the cons as much as the pros about the game...I agree with you that the Dunks are just crazi unrealistic but that's why I thought we had a community here so we can derive some realistic sliders. Well, once I saw that they brought in the Slam Dunk contest with all the crazy dunks, I was thinking we've delved into Arcade-lore again.

25 years in a couple of hours

Garh, it takes me 2 years per hour..

How come I haven't seen any pstats out of this psycho-speed dynasty Jugs?

...but that's something I'd really love is a Over IP Multi-year dynasty. I grew so attached to my 2004 Dynasty that it's hard to let those generated genome players go into the "Delete" phase.

Any body else? I'll let the discussion go on a bit further...

[flipz]

Live 06 was equivalent to FIFA 2002 of the FIFA series. It was the game that ultimately made me search for a better and more realistic game, and in this case, the game was NBA 2k6. Actually I bought NBA 2k5 first because in all seriousness I didn't really think the 2k series was that great. To my amazement, 2k5 was even better than anything NBA Live 2006 could offer. 2k6 was even better! It was the opposite of NBA Live 2006, which seemed to have turned the series around in the wrong way, like the way they did with 2003. I thought they'd go back to fundamentals, and make the game more realistic, but then they come up with this superstar gimmick that makes the game arcadier than arcady can be. What were they thinking! Enabling crazy dunks in traffic, unstoppable hook shots, and what not. This is not realism, and those people who really think that all that is realistic need to watch an actual game. Only a few players have 200 dunks per season. You know what that means? ONLY 2 FRIGGIN DUNKS PER GAME ARE AVERAGED. Yet in this game with Josh Smith you can average EASILY 10 per game. Oh and don't force me to play bad, because on a 2 player match, I don't give a shit about realism, I want to win! I've been a huge LIVE fan for the longest time and I've defended it for a long time, but this game is the one that finally made me look the other way. I guess I have to thank NBA Live 2006 for that. I still have Live 2006, but I only use it to play 4 people against the computer or any other co-op type game since the player locking works better in Live.

Just so u know, there isnt any nba player in the league who wouldnt dunk if there was a wide open lane...playing ANY VIDEOGAME requires the player play the sim way,if u cant keep ur damn hands of the superstar trigger then plz stop complaining and having ur shooting sliders at 50% wont help either

[HonorGlow]

that Live 06 screenshot is the 360 version aint it?

Yeh, it is...I know I should have kept the PC purist way since it is a PC-related page..but heck, the picture looked cool. ...and I can only dream that 3 years down the line, the PC will have that cool of graphics!

[Bang]

Live 06 was equivalent to FIFA 2002 of the FIFA series. It was the game that ultimately made me search for a better and more realistic game, and in this case, the game was NBA 2k6. Actually I bought NBA 2k5 first because in all seriousness I didn't really think the 2k series was that great. To my amazement, 2k5 was even better than anything NBA Live 2006 could offer. 2k6 was even better! It was the opposite of NBA Live 2006, which seemed to have turned the series around in the wrong way, like the way they did with 2003. I thought they'd go back to fundamentals, and make the game more realistic, but then they come up with this superstar gimmick that makes the game arcadier than arcady can be. What were they thinking! Enabling crazy dunks in traffic, unstoppable hook shots, and what not. This is not realism, and those people who really think that all that is realistic need to watch an actual game. Only a few players have 200 dunks per season. You know what that means? ONLY 2 FRIGGIN DUNKS PER GAME ARE AVERAGED. Yet in this game with Josh Smith you can average EASILY 10 per game. Oh and don't force me to play bad, because on a 2 player match, I don't give a shit about realism, I want to win! I've been a huge LIVE fan for the longest time and I've defended it for a long time, but this game is the one that finally made me look the other way. I guess I have to thank NBA Live 2006 for that. I still have Live 2006, but I only use it to play 4 people against the computer or any other co-op type game since the player locking works better in Live.

Just so u know, there isnt any nba player in the league who wouldnt dunk if there was a wide open lane...playing ANY VIDEOGAME requires the player play the sim way,if u cant keep ur damn hands of the superstar trigger then plz stop complaining and having ur shooting sliders at 50% wont help either

I used to play nba live against my brother or against a friend a lot, so if I forced myself to play realistically, I would basically lose since my brother or my friend would abuse the freestyle superstar button and throw three point hook shots with Nowitzki. We could have some kind of agreement to "play realistically", but that's just so vague. NBA Live basically repeated the same mistake as always. They always introduce a new gimmick and make it way too powerful in order to convince others to use it (2003- Freestyle, 2004 - Pro Hop, 2005 - Nothing too overpowering I liked 2005 actually, 2006 - Freestyle superstar).

Basically saying My Desire to Win >> Desire to Play Realistically. Now if the game was balanced enough, or at least had some sliders for Freestyle superstar, then I would be able to do both.

[HonorGlow]

Maybe Next year they'll have Freestyle Sliders! Unless there are others who want to add to the comments, I'll think I'll be doing something special and adding as many as I can and do a mouse-over thing where you can read additional reviews!

And yes, 2005 was nice in that there wasn't anything too much you can abuse, I like the fact that they controlled the pro-hop.