Reviewed: November 5, 2005
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney
Publisher
2K Games
Developer
Kush Games
Visual Concepts
Released: September 6, 2005
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone
9
8
7
8
8.2
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Now…. how exactly did I end up reviewing both of the best hockey titles for the PS2? Do we not have any Canadians on staff? Or folks from Minnesota? *shrugs Fear not, while I may have seen more of Tonya Harding than Mario Lemieux in my day, I still know what makes a quality game.
NHL 2K6 is 2K Sports’ answer to Electronic Art’s NHL ’06, the latter many consider to be the more polished of the two over the last few years. Well folks, the word on the street is there is a new king of the ice in town, and it just may be this very title. All this despite the fact, like all 2K games, lost it’s lucrative ESPN contract to the ever expanding EA. But I gave them enough of a tongue lashing in my NBA 2K3 review, so enough of that nonsense.
NHL 2K6 returns with a wealth of gameplay options. First off, you have your standard franchise mode, but it’s worthy of note to mention how deep this sucker is. You can scout rookies (even international), contract disputes, practice modes, trades, free agency, farm team access and team chemistry, to name just a few of the features. Also worthy of mention is the fatigue level, that doesn’t just affect them ingame, but also during the week’s practices. You can’t just slave drive these guys all season long.
You can earn points too by doing various things, like first-time accomplishments, from your first goal, first hat trick etc. Along with this are little mini-games, where you can go at it with a bunch of players chasing pucks around, as well as certain skill challenges. Of course you still have your quick game, tourney mode and playoffs supplementing the core gameplay.
Moving onto the all important control system, it is pretty dang fleshed out in this latest version. The buzzword for this title is called “Pro Control.” This allows you to expertly pass to whomever you want, not unlike the system used in NBA games, where an icon appears over their heads, which corresponds to a button. It’s kind of surprising that this is the first time I have seen it implemented in a hockey game.
There is also on-the-fly play calling, using the D-pad, deploying all kinds of line shifts, aggressive sweeps, and defensive retreats, to your formations. Even the goalie’s have some interesting options for control. You use the right stick to either dive, poke-check and so forth. For me, I wasn’t so savvy with nuances of goalie control, thankfully there is a simple button press for the best save style at the time, taking into account position, puck height and so on.
Apparently, the NHL added some new rules this season as well, maybe that’s what they spent the lockout season chatting about-who knows. These include new issues with icing, goalie movement restrictions, and adjustment of the blue lines. From what I gather, the NHL wanted more scoring, always a good thing in my book.
But before I get too far ahead of myself, there is also a really sick enforcer system here. You can see these guys by the big “E” over their heads, and if he does his job, you start to see “I"s (intimidated) pop up all over the place, decreasing their attributes some. Maybe in the future we can see this system used in other titles.
For example, a consummate defender like Ben Wallace in B-ball making a potent star lose confidence, or Ray Lewis making a running back tremble in his cleats. Call it “The Morale” system if you will. There is something like that in NHL 2K6 actually, its called “Momentum” As you make big plays, you can suppress certain functions, and can give you the edge in a close game. It was a bit funky at times, almost cheap in some areas. Thankfully, you can switch it off.
Oh…and did I mention you can fight? This goes along with the enforcer somewhat, but these brawls end up as more of a novelty, than anything special. I sure do miss those old school hockey fights on the 16-bit systems, pixilated blood and all. So how does the A.I. stack up? Quite well actually. Sure you have the pinpoint passing system, the auto-save goalie feature, and a host of easy play calls, but the opponent will challenge you everywhere. They will aggressively pursue pucks, throw you against the boards, and pepper your goalie with supersonic pucks.
Graphically, we see some excellent work here. The player models are polished and highly detailed, especially the faces and uniforms. I swear you can see the individual mesh layers on the jerseys. The animations are also silky smooth, especially the goalies, who have to contort and twist themselves to stop those invading pucks. Other players deftly sway to and fro as they race up the ice, deliver crushing hits and accurate slap shots.
You will see some graphical glitches from time to time however, such as helmets missing, or some clipping when they run up against the boards. These are the kind of bugs that need to be stomped early in the development process, and it’s kind of surprising to see them here, especially from professionals like Visual Concepts.
But let me digress for a moment on a disheartening trend apparent the last 2-3 years in sports gaming. It was a HUGE improvement jumping from the 32-bit systems, and even more so from the 16-bit day, but in general, the visuals really haven’t improved all that much. Sure things may be a bit crisper, but overall, it’s nothing substantial. The Xbox 360, Nintendo Revolution and the PS3 couldn’t have come at a better time. It begs the question also of, what will these new sports game appear like? Photo-realistic? Or more of the same, just “better”. Guess we will see soon enough.
Gone are Gary Thorne and Bill Clement from last year’s game. Now we have Bob Cole and Harry Neale, a capable, if under whelming duo. Admittedly, I don’t know them from Tuesday (apparently they are from Canada, that’s got to mean something), but they do a respectable job of staying on the calls, although they don’t seem to have great chemistry, like say the team of Corso, Herbstreet and others for EA’s NCAA Football games.
Aside from this, the sound effects are again snappy and hearty, from every slap of the puck, the body checks and the subtle sound of ice shearing beneath the athletes. The soundtrack is your basic arena rawk selection, along with your customary hockey tunes for advancing the puck, stoppages of play, and so on.
Naturally, every sport’s title is known for stretching it’s worth by having incredibly dynamic gameplay. To go further, the mess of options to adjust gameplay factors also can keep it fresh. And, if the computer is trouncing you, online is always an option, with quick game functions, although the menus are a tad confusing to navigate. With a deep franchise mode, a frenetic party game action, and functional online play, NHL 2K6 delivers some excellent repeat value. Considering it’s just $20 too, you can’t ignore this title for long.
NHL 2K6 hits the ice with fervor and awesome gameplay, that much is obvious. But the weak announcers and buggy graphics detract some from the positives. However, it’s not enough to derail this title, as it delivers a splendid hockey experience, making a great purchase for the frugal-minded gamer.