NHL 09 (PS3)

EA shoots and scores the hat trick.
9/12/2008 6:32 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

It wasn't about the ice spraying his face like knives and it sure wasn't the blood dripping down punch-stunned lips. But Mark Messier said it all. In "Messier," New York Times writer Jeff Z. Klein's potent biography about the hockey great, Messier and Wayne Gretzky momentarily muse about what makes the two want to go out on the ice, day after day, year after year. For Gretsky, it was simply to have fun with the guys. For Messier, it was deeper: It was about giving himself a true challenge. In fact, in the 79-word conversation, Messier used the word "challenge" eight times, ending with "You're challenging yourself, or you're challenging something."

Challenge themselves is precisely what EA has done in creating NHL 09. And, man, that can't be easy with a series that has been around since 1991. But, like Messier at his peak and until his retirement, they continue to challenge themselves. EA's hockey games last year and the year before were all about the stick: the Skill Stick on the controller that made playing somewhat easier than with the sometimes maddening control schemes of the competition.

This year, the Skill Stick has been upgraded to include the satisfying ability to stick it to the offense. This is key to bringing the game closer to reality. The first defensive hockey play I ever remember was while watching the Buffalo Sabres in the playoffs. Red-headed Jim Schoenfeld (who later coached the Devils and supposedly pushed a ref and called him a "fat pig" during intermission in the Stanley Cup Playoffs of 1988), threw his stocky body in front of a zinging puck to stop it, and it hit him hard. You could see the pain hit him like a boxer had punched his kidney. The defensive skill stick isn't that dramatic, but it does let you get under the darling of the offense's skin by placing your stick under his and royally screwing up his shot, his angle and his very wits. Even for someone as clumsy as I can be, the stick is really intuitive on both offense and defense. But if you don't like it, you can go old-school and opt for the classic button play of NHL 94.

Another strong addition is the Be a Pro simulation mode: You start as a third-string mope in the American Hockey League, taking positions from playmaker to dangler to offensive defenseman. You're a slow-moving ogre as you begin, seemingly huffing and puffing down the ice. Your progress is shown in trading cards, an oddly cyborg-like way to show you moving up the NHL ladder -- you almost expect to insert the card into your player to get him to go.

As fine as Be a Pro is, I'd even be happier if NHL 09 started out briefly with high school play. The guys in Buffalo and Southern Ontario who played hockey learned a lot of their best stuff in high school -- and lost a lot of teeth in the process, too.

One thing I don't like: As you play, you get letter grades. I'd rather see a number rating than a grade; it reminds me too much of a teacher grading me at school, and that's not fun. And the text messages from the coach are a little too terse and tough. They're dry, and I'd like to see more personality. "There's little room for failure" and "Get it, or you won't last long" are a little too my-way-or-the-highway. I'm not saying I need to be nurtured, but the occasional nicety would go a long way.