Gameplay
- NBA Live 06 – In Live the focus is all about individual players and making superstars play more realistically. There are several different categories of superstar freestyle controls and each one offers gifted superstars different abilities that normal players lack. Steve Nash has special passes he can use and Shaq is a power player and can dominate people in the paint, just for a couple of examples. The game is very fast paced and high scoring and is just a heck of a lot of fun to play.
- NBA 2K6 – 2K6 switches up the controls completely and gives you “aggressive modifiers” on the triggers that change the way the game interprets things like passes, shots, and ball handling moves. This gives you an incredible amount of control and lets you play a very realistic and much more finesse oriented game than previous basketball games which were much more straightforward. Another big improvement is that the AI has been beefed up significantly in order to make entire teams play like the real deal rather than just individual players. 2K6 offers a more realistic and slower paced game of basketball than Live, and thanks to the new controls it is actually more satisfying even if you might not score as much.
- Winner: NBA 2K6
Features
- Both games offer dynasty, exhibition, and online play and it is very solid in both titles. Live has the All-Star Weekend festivities including the three point and slam dunk contests, which is fun, but 2K6 offers a street ball mode as well as a create-a-player centered Entertainer’s Basketball Challenge mode that is separate from the NBA stuff. 2K6 also uses the VIP feature from the 2K football games so you can play against your friends’ profiles when they aren’t around.
- Winner: NBA 2K6
Graphics
- I think that the player models, the court, and the overall presentation in the menus looks a lot better in NBA Live 06, but NBA 2K6 has considerably smoother animation. This is a tough call.
- Winner: NBA Live 06
Sound
- Both games sound great and absolutely nail the bounce of the ball, squeak of shoes, rattle of the backboard, and other sounds of the game. The biggest difference here is in the announcers and I have to give Live’s Marv Albert and Steve Kerr the nod here.
- Winner: NBA Live 06
Value
- NBA 2K6 has a few extra modes, but the majority of your time will be spent in the franchise modes and things are pretty even there. Online play is also very solid in both games. 2K6 does give you better gameplay for a lower price (2K6 is $40 while Live is $50) so I’ve got to go with Visual Concepts here.
- Winner: NBA 2K6
Bottom Line This comparison of sports videogame heavyweights is a bit more one sided than our hockey comparison. NBA 2K6 is hands down the best basketball game on the market right now and is the one I would recommend. Live isn’t a bad game, though, and thanks to its faster pace and fun superstar freestyle controls some people might prefer it. For the hardcore basketball fan, however, NBA 2K6 is the game to buy.
Overall Winner: NBA 2K6
