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Sony’s second basketball game arrives only a few months after the first one. NBA 06 improves on the launch title’s original gameplay by offering a tighter experience, a cleaner look, and some new minigames for on-the-go gaming. The return of the excellent online gameplay is also appreciated, though the developers could have tweaked a few things a more.
NBA 06 offers a variety of gameplay modes. One of the categories is Quick Play, which includes Exhibition, All-Star and Online modes. The first two modes are easy to understand, but it is nice to see the return of online mode. In our testing, online play worked excellently. If online play isn’t possible, the game still supports local wireless multiplayer. Other game modes include the expected Season (choose from 29, 58, or 82 games) and Playoffs modes. For those looking for lighter gameplay, the game also includes Shoot Around and Free Throw.
NBA 06’s most unique modes are the minigames. These minigames once again include Skills Challenge, a more involved practice mode, Own the Court, where you shoot from different areas as you attempt to dominate the court and 3 Point Contest, which is pretty self-explanatory. The new additions are Horse and Dodgeball. In Horse, you’ll have to make shots and hope that your opponent misses so that he gains an H and eventually spells out horse. In Dodgeball, you’ll actually play a decent recreation of dodgeball with actual NBA players and NBA teams. It is pretty in-depth with head shots, fake throws, jumps and catches all being a part of the strategy.
The actual gameplay has seen some improvements. The AI is more intelligent now, offering more of a challenge at the lower settings. The players guard each other better, and your teammates are generally more proficient. The ring-based shooting mechanism of the previous game returns though it is no longer required. Essentially, the game makes you to press and hold the shooting button to make a successful shot. When you pressed it, a color-changing ring would appear above the player. A red ring indicated that the shot would not go in, a yellow ring indicated that it may go in and a green ring indicated a good shot. You had to release the shooting button when the ring’s color changed to green for the shot to go in. The developers have removed the requirement of using this system, and complimented it with a more traditional system for this iteration.
Another notable change is the expansion of the Upper Deck card system from the previous game. The cards appear after a good play. Whereas the previous game displayed these cards for a second or so, NBA 06 displays them for a few seconds. The cards do look markedly better, though the close-ups of the player models don’t do quite as well. These moments are saved as actual cards that you can trade over local wireless internet, though I can’t imagine the usefulness of the feature being high.
The game’s visuals have been considerably changed from NBA. The game now runs at 60FPS which makes for an amazingly fluid and quick-paced experience. The player models appeared more detail on the court, though close ups still reveal the relative simplicity of their character models. Their on-court presence is improved thanks to more animations being present that make use of the improved framerate. All of the animations from shooting to defense look great. The courts, crowd, and arenas are all top-notch.
The game’s audio also recreates the NBA experience. The announcing team is fairly accurate though hardly enlightening. The sound effects accurately show the sounds of basketball. You’ll hear the ball being shot and passed around and the excitement of the crowd when a good shot is made.
Overall, NBA 06 is a very satisfying basketball simulation for the PSP. The quick gameplay, stellar animation, improved graphics, better AI and addition of more minigames make it a very compelling package. The top-notch online multiplayer implementation is also appreciated. Nonetheless, the actual gameplay is still pretty simplistic and more varied plays would be welcomed. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Oct 6, 2005
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