Best Use of Sweat

Everyone knows that ladies don't sweat, they glisten. Pro athletes, on the other hand, well, they'll drop a pound or two after a game from sheer perspiration alone. When it comes to the games based on sports, perspiration simulation has always been woefully behind the times. Lucky for us, 2005 was the year that all turned around and sweat finally came into its gleaming, clammy own. Thanks to some detail-conscious developers, and the increased graphical horsepower of the Xbox 360, sweat has never flowed more freely or looked more realistic than it does right now. All that's missing, it seems, is the smell. The nominees:

FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup
	Developer: EA Canada Platform: Xbox 360 ESRB: Everyone Check Prices Do you have any idea how much running a typical soccer player has to do during the course of a match? It's enough to leave even the greatest of athletes drenched in sweat, and FIFA 06 shows them all sopping wet with the stuff. Stinky!
Fight Night Round 2
	Developer: EA Sports Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation 2 ESRB: Teen Check Prices Getting punched in the face repeatedly is hard work, and Fight Night Round 2 renders the naturally perspiration-inducing conflict between rival boxers with never-before-seen detail.
NBA 2K6
	Developer: Visual Concepts Platform: Xbox 360 ESRB: Everyone Check Prices All that running, jumping, and taking dives must get tiring, but watching as your favorite basketball superstars gradually sweat through their jerseys in NBA 2K6 is surprisingly cool.
NBA Live 06
	Developer: EA Canada Platform: Xbox 360 ESRB: Everyone Check Prices Sweat and basketball go together like peanut butter and jelly, a fact that NBA Live 06 for the Xbox 360 proudly celebrates. But we're still not sure if that's sweat or vegetable oil those dudes are covered in.

And the winner is... NBA 2K6

Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB: Everyone

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Based on quantity, NBA Live 06 would have taken this award hands down. However, it was NBA 2K6 that did sweat right this year. Unlike in other games, players in 2K6 don't begin a game looking as if they've been on the losing end of a dunk tank. Rather, they begin relatively dry and, as the game progresses, work up a good lather only after exerting themselves on the hardwood. Certainly the technical merit of adding sweat to finely animated character models is no small achievement, and even if we feel a little funny writing this much about sweating men, the end results are certainly impressive.

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