NHL 09

Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Canada
Genre: Sports
Release Date: September 10, 2008
Platforms: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC

Reviewer: Dan

What you've been hearing is true. It doesn't even matter if you're not fan of Hockey. It doesn't matter if you only know of Wayne Gretzky because you wanna make his head bleed for superfan no. 99 over there. NHL 09 is a must-own game for either console.

EA Sports really nailed it with this one. There is not one area of this game that is weak, only parts that are better than the others. If I had to start somewhere, I guess I'll choose gameplay, probably the most important point of any game.

You have your standard set of choices for gametypes; Play Now, Go Online, a Franchise Mode, and my personal favorite, Be A Pro. Fans of NCAA Football and Madden will recognize the premise of this mode. You start the game as a 19 year old prospect stuck on the third line of an AHL team. You have several options as to what type of player you'll be ranging from Playmaker to Defensive Defenseman, each with different expectations of you.

The customization options you have for equipment is fairly extensive. I was pleasantly surprised you were able to choose the flex and curve of your stick as well as the radius of your skates (fortunately, for those of you without 13 years of Hockey experience, they have nice little star ratings to show the affects of your choices). You do have a standard set of choices for faces and hair, but what really would have been neat is if they incorporated the GameFace feature from the Tiger Woods games.

Once you're done making your character, it's time to hit the ice with some of the best controls with the most realistic feel around. Skating is simple enough; just push the left stick in the direction you want to go. The realism shows up in how long it takes you to change directions as well as how you handle your momentum. Shooting the puck is also done very well and should be familiar to Tiger Woods fans. A wrist shot is as simple as pushing forward on the right stick while a slap shot requires a pull back and a push forward. Aiming the shot is done with the left stick, but I suggest you put on auto-aim to save yourself some initial headache as you learn the game. Passing is as simple as picking a direction and pressing a button.

Don't have the puck? Get it back with a thunderous check by just using the right stick or use your stick in numerous ways to get it back. At first, I didn't notice this because it was either the other team or my player who always had the puck, but if you're not ready for it, it might throw you off. When playing in Be A Pro mode, unless otherwise configured, you only have control over your own player even if your team has control of the puck. This also extends to your shifts.

Like any normal human, you get tired and come off the ice for a line change, but your control of the game stays the same. You must sit patiently on the bench while the other lines play on. Think of it like if on Madden you only played as the Quarterback and didn't have any control after you hand the ball off or pass, then watch from the sidelines as your defense took over. You may think that sounds boring, but what I found myself doing was actually rooting for my team to score and on more than one occasion, did a fist pump when they did.

While you're on the bench, you can keep track of how well you're doing in three different areas: Positioning, Team Play, and Stats. Positioning is how well you stay in your position (which is indicated on the ice by a big blue arrow). Team Play is how good of a team player your being by passing to open teammates and blocking shots. Stats is simply how many goals and assists you have that game as well as your +/- rating (your +/- rating is calculated by subtracting the number of times you were on the ice when the opponent scores from the number of times you were on the ice when you or someone on your own team scores).

It's important to keep these ratings up because they're necessary to work your way up to the NHL. There are also experience points you earn for offensive, defensive, and physical skills, but I'm not quite sure how you obtain them in Be A Pro (which is really the only mode I've played). You can even take your created player online in a sort-of Hockey MMO, but I'd avoid the online play for this game for a few weeks while EA sorts out their server issues. I suggest you keep to the single player modes to get used to the controls, which can actually be changed to match NHL '94.

Visually, the game is top notch on the 360 as well as the PS3 version with both running at 60 frames per second. In fact, the only reason I got this for the 360 was because I thought the controller felt better for the game. Keep in mind that the last Hockey game I bought was NHL 2005 for the PS2, but the player models are the best I've seen yet. Goalies actually look proportionally correct, which is something that nearly every 3-D hockey game, even back to PS1, never got quite right.

The audio aspect of the game is also very good. The ambient noise of the game is done very well and the commentary from Gary Thorne and Bill Clement doesn't seem to get repetitive and actually points out whether or not your gameplan is successful. The 360 version even allows you to add your own music to the game. So if you really feel like having Agoraphobic Nosebleed playing before each faceoff, you may want to get the 360 version.

Even with all of these positives, there are a few things that prevent me from giving this game a perfect score. I have a bit of a problem with the defensive A.I., or lack there of. Maybe I'm not controlling the game correctly, but there have been times when an opposing player will skate rings around my team and score without so much as an attempted poke check by my teammates. I've also noticed a few visual glitches, like the shooting targets showing up in the net during a game, but nothing that actually prevented me from playing. The only other major thing I found wrong with it was line changes on Be A Pro mode. You're supposed to just skate over a glowing semi-circle near your bench to come off the ice when you're tired, but sometimes it won't let you and you have to call for a complete line change to get off the ice. This rarely happens, but it has happened enough for me to take note of it.

Final Verdict

It pains me to say that I can't give NHL 09 a perfect score, but a 9.5 out of 10 is darn close. The few minor little problems are far outweighed by all of the great aspects of this game. There are no parts of this game that can be considered a weakness (online doesn't count because it's the servers that are having the troubles). Be A Pro is one of the best modes of gameplay I've experienced in a sports game in a very long time. If you have the resources, I suggest you buy this game as soon as you can.