Now entering it's second season on the PSP, NBA 06 manages to clean up much of what was wrong with last year's version. The most noticeable of these changes are the graphics, which are much sharper and show off much more of the PSP's potential. Player models have been overhauled and now feature more detail, making it much easier to identify your key players by sight (rather than trying to guess and hope for the best). Animations have also been improved. More dunk and transitional animations have been added, taking away much of the uneasy stutter of last year's game. It's still far from perfect, but the improvements are definitely there. Surprisingly, the visual enhancements also come with an improvement in framerate. Last year's stop-and-go gameplay is gone, making for games that are more up to the tempo of a real NBA game.

Sound hasn't seen as many improvements, which isn't that big a deal in the first place since NBA didn't sound all that bad to begin with. The audio side of the presentation does, however, include a few upgrades like play-by-play. The commentary isn't the best in the world, but considering the dead silence of last year's game, it's better than nothing.

NBA 06 plays like your typical basketball video game. Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a talking point, but those who played NBA last year will see it as a big deal. All of the "enhancements" to last year's game have been gutted and replaced with tried and true methods, opening the gameplay up to the more casual fans who may have turned away from the complicated shooting and mechanics found in last year?s game.

Nearly all of the game modes from last year's version are included. The game's core mode is Season, which can be adjusted to either 29, 58 or 82 game seasons. Overall, the game's flow is much improved and feels okay. Still there are a number of minor issues that hinder many of NBA's strides towards being a good basketball game, not the least of which are the bugs involved with player trades. Last year's trade issues, which allowed you to nab super stars for the price of 4th string waterboys, is still present. This problem alone is sure to annoy some of the hardcore basketball fans, but for a casual fan like myself it was actually rather amusing, especially since it allowed me to shore up my young Hornets team with players like Shaq and Stromile Swift for next to nothing in trades.

Mini-games were what really made NBA worth playing, so it's great to see them make a return in 06 since, sadly, they're still more fun than the "real" game. All three of last year's games (Three-Point, Skill Challenge and Paint) are back and play much like they did last year. This year they are joined by two additional games: Horse and Dodgeball. Horse plays like the game most of you remember playing at the playground. You and an opponent try to match shots. Horse is fun, but isn't as entertaining as Dodgeball which, and this should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me, ended up being the mode I enjoyed the most. Sony just might be on to something with this -- hint, hint.

Wireless multiplayer games are also available, though I can't say too much about them since I tended to have a difficult time finding people to play against and honestly, the standard game of basketball isn't all that fun to begin with.

Aside from the numerous gameplay issues, a key factor in bringing NBA 06's fun factor down was the Gump-like A.I. Sadly, little has changed in 06, once again ruining the challenge. Opponents are very predictable and tend to stick to one or two preset plays per game with little variation. The A.I. is also easily fooled and will fall for the simplest of tricks. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who really isn't that good at basketball games in the first place, so the more advanced players should have an even easier time.

On the bright side of things, NBA 06 does include improvements beyond graphics. The terrible shooting mechanics found in last year's game have been removed, making it much easier to shoot. In fact, the only thing that remains of the old system is the color-coded ring that shows up around your player, indicating when you should shoot. Red means bad, green means good -- it's that simple. I was happy to see the ring return since it was one of the few great additions in last year's game, especially for a basketball noob like myself. Plays have also been mapped to the D-pad, so play calling is much easier and can be done on the fly.

NBA 06 shows signs of one day being a good game of basketball, at least one day. The number of flaws still remaining in the game outweigh any of the game's improvements. As was the case last year, mini-games are the real star here and frankly, the only thing really worth checking out. Still, the excitement is short lived. Even hardcore basketball fans should avoid NBA 06.