This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content. It was written by Eric Dayday.

The start of the new NBA season is almost upon us and what does that mean – the newest version of EA’s NBA Live franchise of course. The only truly new thing in NBA Live 2006 other than the updated rosters is the new Freestyle Superstar system. Besides that, the question remains is it different enough from previous Live’s to warrant a purchase.

Those familiar with the Live series will feel right at home with the 2006 iteration. It offers all the same modes as the others such as play now, season, franchise, All-Star Weekend events, as well as Xbox Live features. Again, nothing big has been changed amongst those modes as they’re standard fare in almost every sports game nowadays anyway. But, playing another opponent online is definitely one of this game’s greatest highlights, so fans looking to school others online will easily get their money’s worth, even if at times it feels like you’re playing one of the older games.

The biggest change that EA Sports has implemented is the new Freestyle Superstar system. Certain superstars on each team are deemed worthy of superstar status, and thus given abilities that others don’t possess. There are different freestyle categories – power, highflyer, playmaker, shooter, scorer, stopper, etc. For instance, Shaquille O’Neal is known for his power game and is thus a power superstar with a lot of inside power moves, whereas Dwayne Wade is a highflyer and can light up a highlight reel with an array of thunderous dunks. These moves are activated by holding the L trigger in conjunction with a face button. What makes this system useful is that some superstars can enable a different Freestyle Superstar category. You can change D-Wade from a highflyer to an outside scorer. However, you can only enable one category at a time, so think about how you play and who you are playing with and against when deciding what to enable.

It’s also nice to see the AI tightened up as well. Your computer controlled teammates do a good job of setting screens to give you open shots, and on defense, they’ll actually rotate if you’re playing man-to-man, which can lead to some difficulty in defending since this leads to some horrible mismatches. Luckily, you can take advantage of that on your offensive end as well, though this happens a little too much at times. I can count more than a dozen times when I had Amare Stoudemire dunking over Mike Bibby due to a defensive rotation in one game alone. It’s a little too frequent for my tastes, but that can be adjusted.

The audio in NBA Live 2006 is fantastic. The crowd roars and silences at the right time, and the commentary duo of Marv Albert and Steve Kerr is simply outstanding. They sound very natural and their comments are timely and fit the current situation about 95% of the time, thus flowing very well with the tempo of the game. Some of the things they say will repeat, but it’s not much of an annoyance, and they’ll even go as far as to explain some background on a player or talk about why a player made this move. They’ll even critique coaches for not calling timeouts to try and quell an opponent’s rally or for not using a certain type of strategy. Overall, the development deserves a big hand for the audio package, which includes a handful of licensed songs in EA Trax.

With the only significant addition being the Freestyle Superstar system, NBA Live 2006 really feels like you’re playing an older version of the game, and not even with a new coat of paint. EA reused the same graphics engine they’ve used the last couple of years and it’s starting to show its age. The player models are as detailed as they could be and there are still instances where the ball will magically warp to a player’s hands and players will still slide across the court at times as if on ice rather than moving forward step by step.

The addition of the Freestyle Superstar isn’t all the big a deal either. It actually makes the game feel more arcade-like than it has in recent years. In fact, there are times when it feels like I’m playing a 5-on-5 version of NBA Street. Even worse is that the skills are overpowered. You can still win a game without them, but they will make the game a little easier than it should, even on harder difficulties.

Speaking of arcade-like, a lot of people complain that the Live series has been that way since it hit the PS2 and this one won’t change their minds – at least initially. It does feel very arcady at the default settings, but if you play with the AI sliders, you can easily give it a sim feel.

The slam dunk competition is back, and with easier controls, though that is a relative term. Trying to do a flashy dunk in Live 2005 was impossible; this year it’s merely aggravating. It’s still overly difficult, but there is some upside – when you start getting a feel for the timing of the button presses, nailing that first sweet looking dunk is gratifying beyond words. When I finally landed that one, my friends and I were jumping all over the room high-fiving each other.

The last bit deals with the franchise mode. When will developers realize that gamers hate text-heavy menus to drive their franchise modes? The decisions you make in Live 06 seem useless, especially when it comes to coaching. You can hire coaches who specialize in upping skills like defense or athleticism and have them work with the players to improve them in these areas. However, all you do is go to a menu, tell the coach to work with the team, the game simulates a practice, and the results are shown. In most cases the biggest improvements aren’t even the areas you asked the coach to work on specifically.

Despite the addition of the Freestyle Superstar system, NBA Live 2006 doesn’t do much to distinguish itself from its previous versions. For fans of the series, though, don’t let that discourage you from getting the game. By all means, even if it’s just that addition, playing with the superstar skills is pretty fun, and changing them and experimenting to see which ones fit your style of play is very satisfying. The online matches are also highly entertaining as well. I just hope that with the upcoming next-gen versions of Live approaching, EA does something to spice up a series that’s starting to get a stale.

Still solid as ever, but still feels arcady. Superstar skills are overpowered.

The engine is starting to show its age.

Music and effects are good; announce team is magnificent.

The Freestyle Superstar controls are fun to mess with, but a pure game is just as fun.

Franchise mode is still deep; online options are plentiful.