TecKMagazine - NBA 06 for PlayStation Portable Review

NBA 06 for PlayStation Portable Review

Written by Don Lee

Saturday, 19 November 2005

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NBA 06 for PlayStation Portable Review
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When the weather season changes from Summer to Fall, sports fans can now look forward to the end of the long baseball season and to the beginning of a new basketball season. Sony Computer Entertainment’s NBA 06 provides a full dose of NBA action with complete rosters with all of your favorite all-star players like LeBron James, Shaq, Kobe, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan as well as this season’s rookie crop like Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Sean May. Although I didn’t find 2005 number one overall draft pick Andrew Bogut on the Milwaukee Bucks roster.

This is the second sports game that I have tried on the PSP (I previously reviewed NFL Street) and I find myself enjoying these games quite a bit. I guess it doesn’t hurt to be a sports fan either I suppose. When I received my copy of NBA 06, I was very curious how a more organized sports game like this would fare. Here’s what I found out.

Jump Ball
One of the things I enjoy about sports video games is that there’s no introduction level or missions that you must complete before you can begin playing. You are usually given the option of playing a quick game immediately. I’m one of those who want to play first and read the manual later. If you’re also one of these people, then you’re probably going to enjoy NBA 06. You will enjoy having full, updated rosters, which will include top draft pick rookies as well as recently acquired veterans. For example, you will find Antoine Walker on the Miami Heat roster and center Jerome James on the New York Knicks roster. Unlike other sports games where the game’s marquee players aren’t available, NBA 06 does include LeBron James, Kobe, Shaq, Ben Wallace, Duncan and Garnett. That was a welcomed surprise and it was a lot of fun to be able to have them available in the games.
NBA 06

Before you can begin play, you will need to create a personal profile. You can modify your profile later if you don’t like the settings you choose initially. You are then shown the main menu where you can choose the type of game you want to play (quick play exhibition game, all-star game or an online game), select a game mode (exhibition, season, playoffs, shoot around and free throw), select mini games (skills challenge, own-the-court, 3-point contest, HORSE, dodge ball), view or trade trading cards.

NBA 06 for PlayStation Portable Review

The controls are pretty easy to pickup with the buttons set to perform different actions when you’re on offense or defense. You control your player using the PSP’s analog stick. The game uses a color based shooting system so you can determine the best time to release the ball. When you go to shoot, you will see a color halo appear around the ball. The green indicator around the ball means that it is a good shot, a yellowish color means that it is a decent shot and red means it is a bad shot. You will see this color scheme appear any time you have to make a shot whether it is a baseline jumper, a three point shot or even a free throw. You also have the ability to do some special moves with the ball. You can do an alley-oop by pressing the X button and the O button while one of your teammates are near the basket. You can also perform a pump fake to free yourself of a defender and give yourself a shot at the basket.
NBA 06

On defense, you have the ability to block, jump, dive for balls, attempt to steal ball and even commit an intentional foul or try and draw an offensive charging foul. The one thing I noticed about playing defense is that your opponents don’t perform the same move each time down the court. They will move around you, make quick passes to open teammates and shoot from anywhere on the court. I know I am new to this game but I was having trouble beating the Charlotte Bobcats while using the Eastern All-Stars. The computer opponent moves well but you will notice a difference in play between playing a team like the Bobcats compared to a team like the Detroit Pistons or San Antonio Spurs.

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