NBA Live 06 Dynasty Mode Spotlight
A glorious sporting career awaits as we take our first steps in NBA Live 06's dynasty mode.
Do dynasties exist anymore in the NBA? Since the Chicago Bulls' run throughout nearly the entire '90s decade and the LA Lakers' three-peat in the early 2000s, we've seen a minor power shift in the league, with teams like Detroit and San Antonio standing in as the new measures of success but not being able to establish the consistent year-after-year championships required to call their teams dynasties. Nonetheless, talk of dynasties continues, both in the real world and in games such as EA Sports' upcoming hoops entry, NBA Live 06. We had a chance to check out Live 06's new dynasty mode, as well as a few other game features, and we're here with our full report.
The mode starts out with you choosing the team you wish to captain on the way to victory. As you scroll through the list of available NBA teams, you get a quick reference point on team aspects, such as cap room and last year's record. You can also check out each team's offensive and defensive playing tendencies. Here you can see if the team you're interested in plays an outside or inside game, prefers the fast break or half court, likes to rough it up or use more finesse, and finally, whether the team plays man or zone defense. If you're not sure which team you want to pick, you can use these attributes to determine your team based on the style of game you wish to play. After that, you make some preference choices for things like quarter length, playoff length, and simulation type (you can choose from regular sims or intervention, which lets you interrupt the action and take charge in the middle of a game) and you're off and running.
Well, almost. You see, before you can hit the hardwood with your team, there's some busywork you'll need to get through, namely hiring a support staff and getting your team through training camp. Your team owner sets a staff budget, and with that cash, you'll need to pick up a scout, trainer, and assistant coach. You'll be able to check out prospects in each category, and a few interested candidates will even send you a note on your PDA to express their enthusiasm. The signing period lasts for two weeks, so even though you've got plenty of time to fill your staff, you'll want to act fast, because the most talented coaches go quickly. You'll have some latitude with contract offers--you'll know how much your prospect is asking for--but you don't have much of an idea as to how receptive your candidate will be to offers that are just short of what he's looking for. As such, hiring coaches tends to be a hit-or-miss affair; because the good coaches go quickly, you have all the more reason to keep your offers realistic from the get-go.
After that, it's on to training camp, which is a pretty hands-off affair. Heading into camp, you simply allocate percentage points along three areas of focus: offense, defense, and athleticism. The bigger the percentage of practice, the more time your players will spend in that particular area. In addition, your coach will have a letter grade associated with each of those attributes--a coach rated "A" in offense will get more out of any practice time devoted to the offensive game than one rated "B" or below. Training will give your players boosts in specific areas of their game, and you'll be able to see post-camp analysis for each player that benefited from this focused practice.
Once the season begins and you start making your way through the 82-game regular season, you'll be able to use your staff to your advantage. You can assign your assistant coach to a particular player, for example, and once again set his practice regimen among the three main areas of his game--offense, defense, and athleticism. In addition, you can also set the length you wish this training to last--anywhere from one week to a full month. Keeping check on your players' progress is easy, thanks to a handy player-development feature that gives you a breakdown on how each player on your roster is improving. With your scouts, you can analyze your next opponent and break down key strategies for victory. Finally, if you have some injuries on your team, your trainer will take over and help get your players back off the disabled list as soon as possible.
NBA Live 06 Quick Links
Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices
Games you may like…
-
NBA Live 07
(PS2) -
NBA Live 2005
(PS2) -
NBA Live 2004
(PS2) -
NBA Live 2001
(PS2) -
NBA Live 2003
(PS2)
Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.
See More Similar Games
1 Comments