NHL 2K9

"Spit and Polish... But is that enough?"

I have always been a fan of both 2k and EA's hockey series. Over the past couple years, I've given the edge slightly to 2k for the same thing EA has been churning over... This year that could change.

With a complete overhaul of the series, 2k seems to be trying to reinvent the wheel.

Graphics wise, it's very polished and shiny. However, that's about all there is to it. The players are jerky, the animations are robotic. The menus are complicated and confusing, and buried under all of this... is actual Hockey. Which also, seems to have suffered.

As you would have guessed from the demo, 2k has severely worked over their guts. Unfortunately, the actual game varies little from the demo... only that you can do more than just play Detroit vs. Pittsburgh

The franchise system seems deeper than years before. The trade system makes the CPU more involved than a simple yes/no, the waiver wire isn't buried under a complex maze and the menu for Franchise is pretty straight forward, laid out like a teams website on NHL.com

The sound probably would be the only good thing, had the announcers not be seemingly forced to be entertaining. The jokes they crack are so painfully delivered, it actually goes along with the pace of the game.

Getting to the mechanics now, the gameplay is truly a joke...

The players seem about as uninterested as you would be after playing a few minutes into the first period. Sluggish and gimpy, the game seems more like a beer league than the NHL. The "big hits" hardly feel all that big, yet they're enough to knock someone off the puck long enough to take it down to the other end of the rink.

Goals hardly feel like an earned effort.A shot from the blue line, that would make a Junior Goaltender fall asleep waiting for it to get to the net, goes in with little effort at all... while extensive deke moves either get poke checked, or swarmed by bodies, thus making it a complete waste of effort.

Even the "fun" Zamboni game can be trying...

It seems that 2k is in the death throes, seeing that it's mundane product it's been churning out since 2k6 wasn't cutting it.

At the time I write this, NHL 09 is coming in 2 days... and I'd be hard pressed to say that it would turn out worse than this.

Unless 09 is a flashback to 04, EA will easily steal the Hockey War again this year... if it hasn't already...

EA has proved time and time again, that not only I'm about as foolish as a Leafs fan hoping they'll win the cup, waiting for 2k to finally correct their mistakes... But in the end, who can blame them?

We demanded change and sometimes change just doesn't work.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/08

Game Release: NHL 2K9 (US, 09/08/08)