I'll first finish my story about the visual aspect. The courts have been cleaned with spic&span, the audience is goodlooking, the player models lifelike (you easily recognise the stars, and their individual muscles and skin look beautiful) and all sorts of details make this game rock in this part. Only the animations unfortunately aren't of the same level. Although the dunks are to lick your fingers, just like all the other moves, the whole can't really convince me. You never get the feeling that everything nicely flows over in each other, players tend to act strange and also you get slowdowns from time to time.

Now that we're talking about finishing: the sound deserves some credit. Especially the audience reacts as it should and lives along with their team. This time, contrary to so many sports games, the commantators are prepared for their job. They not only give suitable comments but also their way of talking and interaction adds an authentic touch to the game. Basketball without hip-hop is of course incomplete and so it's not more than normal that the EA trax on the NBA Live 06 disc are a nice overview of the genre.

Now I have to put your attention to the fact that basketball games have never been my strongest point. Luckily the controls haven't changed since the last version. It does look a bit more difficult to pass your man with a dribble which results in you passing the ball more often. It doesn't remain with passing the ball though; the options are endless. You can dunk, fake, spin, hit the ball out of someone's hands, block, and if that isn't enough for you: the tactical booklet is also pretty fat so you've got no lack of options in either defense or offense. Although for me as basketball noob it isn't always clear what you achieve with which option, there's no doubt that everything is very accessible and adjustable so that the really good players will also have challenge.

Without a doubt, the biggest downpoint of the controls is the way you need to score a free throw. The makers have looked at the swing of Tiger Woods, as also here you need to move the analog stick from back to front to have a succesful throw. Unfortunately this is very difficult, so that you often miss. A somewhat more forgiving solution would have been welcome.

For those of you that like to know what their purchase has under the hood, I'll sum up the modes: season, quick play, online options, and a part where you can create your own player. Big absentee is a franchise mode so you'll never start living as coach of a team. I'd rather not say anything about the online mode as I couldn't find enough opponents or they were all in the US resulting in a nice amount of lag that ruined all possible joy of playing through XBox Live!. Just so you're warned if you want to purchase the game for the online options.