Overview

While NBA Live 06 offers virtually all of its consistent season mode, NBA 2K6 is a viable competitor. The 82-game season, of course, but also a real training mode, a quick game mode, an association mode that allows managing a club for years, a street mode, and a situation mode where the player can set the remaining time of a game, the score and which team has the ball.

The famous 24/7 mode, where you make a player who dreams of becoming a star of the orange ball evolve, is once again present. By winning numerous challenges against NBA stars, the basketball player who comes out of the player's imagination a few minutes before gets some phone numbers and earns a few points for spending on various features to improve. He gradually becomes a terror across the Atlantic. The Xbox 360 version even allows you to walk around your apartment, decorate it, and unlock a mini dart game. A small detail, but always enjoyable.

Gameplay

There's no secret; if the NBA 2K series has become more and more successful over the years, it's mostly due to the gameplay as clean as the floor that the new version offers each time. Like a certain Pro Evolution Soccer, NBA 2K6 only refines already well-established gameplay. Here and there, we note some minor new features such as double control, but it's more details than anything else. More pleasant but paradoxically harder to handle than NBA Live 06, NBA 2K6 offers a plethora of gameplay possibilities. The interception is here favoured by the choice and implementation of a good defence. In 1-3-1 defence for example (you still have to know how to play it), the two catches on the wing that receives the ball from the pivot give rise to a high interception rate, to the delight of the most tacticians who find themselves frustrated with an NBA Live, except perhaps during the offensive phases. This is the general conclusion drawn from NBA 2K6, which is sharper and more elitist than the competition.

For those who are new to the game, the first modes of difficulty are there for them and many indications that make initial introductions easier during the games. A small icon above their head indicates each player's speciality. There are a lot of different viewing angles, and the camera follows the action well. In the new features of this 360 version, we note the console's analysis of your playing style. This feature allows the 360 to memorize the way you play so that you can later give comments in the form of: "Leaves the field open to shooters" or "Likes to slow down the game". Statistics on your choice of shots (three points, half distance, in the racket, etc.), types of shots (lay-up, dunks, suspension shots...) and others are also on the menu. You can thus find your weak points and correct them, but above all, you can make the console memorize a friend's style of play, before attributing it to the AI which will then play like this friend.

Graphics & Sound

Unfortunately, there had to be a point where the 2K Sports title was a little bit below NBA Live 06. The protagonists' modelling has made a giant leap forward, and the textures are more beautiful than ever. The title is fluid no matter what happens and the animations are once again closer to reality than ever. But as for the rest (street scenery, menus, etc.), much is left to be desired.

To finish on the soundtrack, who says basketball says Rap or R'n'B. We're getting used to it, and the different titles fit the mood. All the sound effects part is not left out and continues in the level of excellence to which the developers have accustomed us. In English, the comments are excellent, and the purists should be overjoyed to feel like they are watching an American broadcast.

Conclusion

Ultra complete, always additive, with a genuinely giant lifespan, and more beautiful on the Xbox 360 - NBA 2K6 was a success. The gameplay with tiny improvements and the considerable content quickly make us forget these small inconveniences.