Thing is there were 18 million 'my life depends on this' SLIDER threads for both games last year, trying to get it to play right. Live 2006 plays much better out of the box than any recent Live and 2K6 apparantly does the same.
I know tweaking just a few sliders (speed down a little, steals down a lot, blocks down a little) fixes most problems criticized. I've tested over and over in that way (having the game for more than a week now) so there is no excuse for anyone to say steals are too common (even with the stopper move).
To those who haven't decided yet and keep seeing these comments that it's only a small upgrade on 2005, think of this...
Yes the core of the game looks the same and plays the same. Especially at first.
But in 2006 teams play different (noticeably), the spacing is better which allows for a half decent (still no great) mid range game, you'll see the cpu run plays where the point guard is patient up top while his guards are running off screens to get open or his big guy is looking for post position.
The overall pace is improved (even before sliders) as teams don't (not always anyway) just dribble like crazy until they can get a dunk. You see many jumpers and post moves mixed with the usual Live 'attack the basket' for a collision animation shot.
You'll see the PG come off screens himself and know if he is open or not (something various games in the past failed to recognise).
The fastbreaks are crazy, the cpu runs great 2 and 3 men breaks which are tough to combat (you can do the same on offense as the defense does not mysteriously catch up this year).
The amount of options (via many different controller/button combo's) for jumpshots, runners, hooks, banks, set shots, passes is amazing and the control great - all with the best animation ever in a basketball game.
The Superstar moves and control (as above) are a great addition. It does make stars standout in game.
The models are slightly improved but one thing that converted me from 2K this year is the unmatched animation. I don't think the models are that bad actually after seeing them in hi-res and 60 frames on my PC but yeah, the 2K models are much better. However, I now prefer to have the lower quality models and textures moving amazingly than high quality models that move stiff, sluggish and have strange animations (just my opinion there).
So, yeah, it is still Live, especially in appearance but it's by far the best Live since EA added freestyle.
It also seems 2K is the best 2K for a number of years (if not, ever) so Live and 2K fans should love their respective games. But on top of that, I think this is the year when 2K fans can also enjoy Live and by the sounds of it, Live fans can enjoy 2K also.
Hoop heaven I guess.
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