NHL 09 Review and Pre-Season Madness

Hey everybody. I will be attending the Rangers/Lightning Pre-season game at the Garden tonight and taking furious notes on what I'm watching so I can bring it back to you later tonight. Any bets on who the next star to go down before the season starts? I'm going to go with Daymond Langkow in a freak "jersey tie" accident.

Until I get back I figured I'd tide you over with a rather lengthy/in depth review of EA Sports' NHL 09 submitted by a friend of the Trap, Nick Giammona. I haven't played EA's game yet this year but my experience with NHL 2k9's demo leads me to believe that when I do get around to purchasing a hockey game this year, it will be this one. So take it away Nick:


Figured my first contribution to your blog (assuming of course that you wanted contributions) should be a review of NHL 09. If you don't want it for your blog, at least read it so you get my take on the game and I know I didn't write it for nothing.

The good: Control is near flawless with huge attention to detail while still being accessible to casual gamers.

The bad: Too many WTF moments!

The ugly: Martin Bordeur's roster photo. (Editor's Note: But you looked din't you?)

If you've been asking yourself the most common question of "Do I get 2k or NHL?" Please allow me to make up your mind for you. You get NHL09. You get it right now.

NHL09 vastly improves on last years complaints. Using the right analog to control your stick was a pain last year with the learning curve being maybe a bit too steep for some of us. It's back this year, but the difference is that it actually works and once you get used to it (it took me about 3 games) you'll find that you have complete control over your stick... and not only when you have the puck. You can also hold the right bumper and use the right analog to sweep your stick to block passes, hold both bumpers to slide to block a pass or shot, or press A to lift an opponent's stick, effectively killing a one timer opportunity or pass reception.

Body checking has been greatly improved from 09 as well, in that you can't use it the way you used to. Games are much more flowing now like a real game. The days of "kill the guy with the puck" are thankfully gone. Body checking is very effective when timed right, however. But if all you do is skate after the man with eh puck trying to deck him, you will find yourself missing him almost constantly as he skates freely into open ice. All the given defensive tools are intended to be used. The poke check might be the most valuable asset this time around and it's very effective against players who try to do it all alone instead of pass to an open man. Checking isn't impossible though. If you do manage to tee someone up and crack him one, you will be rewarded as he is sent flying into the ice or against the boards. Checking is just a defensive tool this year, not the entire defense as it was in the past. Don't be turned off by the fact that almost every button does something. It doesn't take long to start mastering them and using them effectively is very rewarding. It's a great feeling you get after lifting someone's stick and watching their incoming pass miss them and bounce off the boards.

With all the defensive improvements, scoring has become increasingly difficult. I have yet to tally more than 2 goals in a game. But that's not to say that offense is impossible. As many tools as there are on defense, there is an offensive maneuver to counter it. Someone coming straight at you for a poke check? Push the puck forward so you can skate around him and recover it, or hold a to protect the puck and try to skate through his efforts. Did he drop to block your pass? Saucer pass it right over him.

One other feature that works on both offense and defense is the right trigger. It turns your player up ice so you're facing the play. It's really handy in a scenario where on defense you've skated past the player with the puck. It would be useless to have your back to him, so the right trigger would turn you around. On offense, it's great when taking the puck deep. You can turn around behind the net to face the rest of your team and try to make a play. That's just 2 examples, but it's a really useful feature.

Shooting is near flawless in that aiming your shots not only works, but works well. Aiming as always is done with the left analog while shooting is done with the right. Push the stick forward for a wrist shot, pull it back and then forward for a quick snap shot, or pull back and hold to wind up a slapper, aim with the left, and push the right forward to fire away. Using both sticks starts to feel natural quite quickly, so don't fear the learning curve. It's not steep. If you do fear the rigth analog stick, you can switch the controls back to classic, but you lose one or two features when you do that, so it's in your best interest to use the stick. Last but not least on the controls, you can dumb the game down all the way back to 1994 by switching to NHL94 controls" and play the whole game on 2 buttons just like the old days. Of course, you lose all the cool features I just talked about like stick lifts, shot blocking, saucer passes, etc... but it makes the game instantly accessible to anyone.

The graphics are near perfect, especially in HD. But even in SD you can still see that the numbers on the players jerseys are actually stitched on. The arenas are all very accurate, right down the the purple rails in MSG's 100 level and the teal/green of the 200 level. The individual goal horns for each team are included after you score, but if you want your team's specific goal song (or any other song for that matter) you'll have to import it yourself. It might seem like a pain, but if you put about a half hour into it, you can customize the game to play every team's individual goal song when they score at home as well as assign your own music to specific events during the game like intros, penalties, breaks in play, and intermissions. The only drawback is that you have to set it for each individual arena. ...The price you pay for authenticity. Customization is feast or famine here though. Creating a player gives you less than 10 face options, but you can decide whether you tuck your jersey in on the left side, right side, or completely. It's a nice touch, but I'd rather create a player that looks even a little like me.

The commentary is as good as can be expected these days. It's not great, but it certainly gets the job done. In the past, they would start talking about something, you'd make a huge play, and there would be no mention of it because the cpu commentary is saying something else already. This year, it will interrupt itself if you do something note-worthy while it's babbling on about Ovechkin's ridiculousness. So if you don't want to hear Bill Clement ramble on about Sidney Crosby's whatever it is this time, just make a nice one timer on goal and Gary Thorne will yell right over him. That being said, the commentary tends to ignore some events which would cause a real life commentator to shout uncontrollably. I watched the puck drift lazily across the crease behind Martin Brodeur, inches from the goal line. It didn't go in, but Brodeur had no idea it was there. Had that been a real game, the crowd would have reacted LOUDLY along with anyone calling the game. It went unnoticed by the crowd or Thorne or Clement in my game.

All the new 2009 alternate uniforms are here, but they are locked since not all the teams have revealed them. Once all the teams release their new designs, EA will release a code, unlocking all the alternates for use in the game. The last feature I'll mention is one I haven't spent much time with, but I already know to be very innovative and undoubtedly immersive. The Be A Pro mode literally puts you in the game. You create your player and choose where you want to start (already in the NHL or in the minors, working your way up). You then play games from your players perspective, so you can't change players during a game. You have to learn to play your position and if you suck at it, your coach will yell at you and you'll never make it off the 4th line. You can also choose to take this mode as far as you want, even going so far as to only play your players shifts, watching the rest of the game unfold from the bench. Or you can lock it to just the position and play the shift of every player on the team that shares your players position. So if you are a left winger, you'll be playing left wing the whole game whether your player is on the ice or not. The third setting is to play the game normally, but you are still responsible for what your player does when you're not controlling him. The feedback from the coach doesn't always seem accurate though. He wasn't impressed with my lack of hustle despite a goal, an assist, 4 hits and a blocked shot. But the next game when I contributed nothing more than 3 shots on goal, he was patting me on the back for my efforts. Most of the time it's good, but occasionally you'll wonder if the coach was watching the same game as you. It's a new way to go through the yearly task of winning the Stanley Cup.

Because some of you like number ratings, here you go on a scale of 1-10:

Graphics: 10 Gorgeous visuals and an extreme attention to detail easily outshine 2K.

Sound: 7 The sound is very very good, but it seems like EA didn't know whether they wanted it to sound like you were at the game, or watching it on TV. In the end, you hear things you wouldn't hear on TV if you were home, and wouldn't hear at the arena if you were there. Commentary isn't perfect, but it is firmly on par with any other sports game out there.

Control: 8 It's almost perfect. Emphasis on the "almost." Every stick feature has it's own button which can lead to some button mashing if you're not careful. Once you remember what every single button does, the control scores a 10.

Glitch/WTF frequency: 5 Things tend to occur that will make you shout WTF at your screen. Goalies will stop the most brilliant plays and dekes you can come up with, but will let up goals from the blue line. The cpu is guaranteed good for a goal or two in the last 2 minutes (regardless of the current score) so tighten up the defense with your coach controls in the 3rd. Fights look unrealistic and end with 2 slowly animated punches.

If you want a hockey game, NHL09 delivers and it delivers HUGE. It will be your favorite hockey video game yet released. Go get it right now!

(Stay tuned for my less than favorable review of NHL 2K9 for the Wii!)