NBA 2K6
- January 27, 2006 13:19 PM PST
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Step onto the NBA basketball court and you'd better ready to play-NBA 2K6 proves that it is.
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Offensive Firepower
2K6's control scheme has become one of its strengths. Transferring shot control to the right analogy stick has opened up a delicious degree of offensive creativity. A simple flick lets loose your shot and you can work angles to the left or right by moving the stick slightly towards those directions.
In the paint, you can also create power moves and dunks by holding down the right trigger (called the Aggression button) as you yank the shot stick, too. And you can do a drop step move by pulling both triggers. Mastering these controls is entirely worth the practice time, too, particularly as you battle the A.I., which shows a noticeable increase in brainpower from last year.
Consequently, basketball junkies should get a kick out of learning to use the dual player control as well. This enables you to set up classic moves like the give and go or the pick and roll by selecting a teammate and making him automatically move into position by pressing the directional pad.
Protecting the House
2K6 doesn't neglect the defensive game either. That shot stick becomes a Strip N Rip stick when the other guys have the ball, and holding the Aggression button makes you a quick-handed defender. You can also cheat towards the passing lanes to steal passes, too. Don't worry if your man gives you the slip, you're A.I. controlled teammates help out on defense much more so than with last year's NBA 2K5.
The controls for both the PS2 and the Xbox versions worked flawlessly and with precision. Just a flick of the shot stick for example produces nice pump fakes and shoulder twitches that can fake out an opponent.
The NBA Way
Naturally 2K6 features its own brand of extras, too. The franchise mode called the Association is fun in that you don't just concentrate on dollars, cents, and the price of beer. You get to do all that fun coaching stuff like ranking and hiring assistants, scouting college prospects, and improving team skills and chemistry by running practices.
There's also fun street ball mode called 24/7: Road to the EBC. That's the Entertainment Basketball Classic where you match NBA superstars with Def Jam artists like Method Man. The in-house favorite? Flavor Flav, of course.
All this action is powered by a load of good-looking, intricate, new animations and improved character models to produce a great little NBA show. NBA 2K6 has great appeal for that gym rat inside all of us.
KEY MOMENT: When you finally learn to execute a pick and roll, you'll realize that the simple pleasures are the best.
