NHL 09 (PS3)

EA shoots and scores the hat trick.
9/12/2008 6:32 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

When it comes down to gameplay as a whole, EA has it right 90 percent of the time. The short and brilliant tutorial is actually fun to play: The announcer has that over-the-top, big-voiced Canadian brogue, and like the best of teachers, the tutorial is so focused and to-the-point that you get it immediately. When it comes to play, boom -- you can button-mash through the cheesy spinning hockey logos (this circus-like stuff looks dumb in real life, too) and get down to the opening face-off.

As you play, the default view is from above the rink, almost as if you were in the cheap seats for a game. Hey, the cheap seats were all I ever could afford, so I'm down. While there are more than 300 player animations during checks and fights -- and while some of them are wondrous, dramatic and lifelike -- these aren't created in real time. Maybe next year's game can use an engine like Euphoria, software that animates on the fly (and was demonstrated perfectly well in Grand Theft Auto IV). Then again, it might be harder when there are so many characters on the ice.

I do admire the graphics of the PS3 game more than those of the 360 version. There's more detail everywhere in gameplay, from the ice to the players' faces to the rafters in the auditoriums. But for full disclosure, I generally find the PS3's graphics a few cuts above the competition when it comes to sports games. (On the other hand, NHL 09 load times on the PS3 can be longer than on the Xbox 360. That's annoying.)

There is admirable attention to detail in gameplay. You can flip the puck down to the end of the ice, lay your stick on the ice to block the puck, or fake out a goalie with a one-handed deke. The Protect the Puck option seems like it would be hard to pull off on the real ice, though. With one arm extended, your player holds the stick as far away from his body (and the defense) as he can. It looks like the stuff of magic that only the superheroic few could do, yet it's ubiquitous here.

I'm not that enthused about the Create a Play feature. There's a lot here already for changing plays on the fly, rushing the net and that sort of thing, with just the push of a button or two. I'm sure it's fine for those who have secret aspirations to coach, but for someone who's between casual and hardcore about his hockey, I don't want to sit and strategize -- even if this year, I can create a breakout play that moves from one end of the ice to the other. I mean, not only are you playing a full season; you're taking that player from the minor leagues through the Stanley Cup. Even playing for five minutes at a time, you'll be immersed in NHL 09 for months as it is.

Want to be really picky? Players' faces -- while closer this year to human bones, skin, eyes and noses -- need to move more naturally. I don't just mean blinking eyes, but facial and labial movements as well. During gameplay, players still appear a little robotic at times. When I had Marty Brodeur as goalie, he made the same movement over and over, diving for the puck and protecting it like a mother protecting a baby during a shootout. Sometimes, when the puck is bouncing close to the goalie and the net, it almost looks like the goalie has a string on the puck to retrieve it. I need a little more variety from the goalie, even if I'm shooting straight-on a lot. The assortment of animations is there, but I'd like to see them more often.