NHL 2006: Franchise boost or flop?

Another year and another NHL game is released by EA Sports. This time, there is actually an NHL season to follow along with the release of the game. However, with the past 2 installments of the NHL series being less than great, it was time to see if EA had listened to the people and brought the NHL franchise back to the top of the world of hockey video games. Last year's installment of NHL 2005 was pretty flawed. The number one annoyance of last year was that there was way too much hitting and the computer was just overly difficult to really have fun playing against. After purchasing and giving NHL `06 for the PS2 a good solid play through, it is clear that EA has made some promising steps forward.

The first thing many people will notice in this years installment is that the graphics have been upgraded. EA definitely took the extra step from last year's game to completely update the graphics for an extremely visually stunning game. The players look extremely realistic and the faces look exactly like the players should look. The likeness of the players in most cases is uncanny. This year, the crowd has also had an upgrade. They look more like real people instead of flat 3d polygons. The ice, lighting, and other details that make hockey a fun sport have also been upgraded a little from last year. As well all know, graphics aren't what make a good sports game, especially the likes of hockey. It's the actual gameplay that can make or break a game.

This year, EA has decided to revamp their gameplay by adding and getting rid of a few features from the previous game. One of the most noticeable features is the actual puck control and dekes that have had a seroius face lift. Last year's game didn't seem to have much of it. The only dekes you could do were with the right analog stick and it didn't make much for anything exciting as far as cool moves to do. This year EA came up with a much better scheme that is reminiscent of the old NHL `94 and `95 games for the Sega Genesis. In other words, dekeing is now done with the left analog stick which allows for movement and proper dekes while in posession with the puck. Makes for some great opporunities to get around your opponent and open up scoring chances. It is also a great way to have the goalie bite, attempt a save and shoot over him after he has already fallen to the ground in anticipation of your shot. There are also new "Skill Stick" moves done with the right analog stick. These moves are a flashy way to score a goal. They are the type you would see on the highlight reel. There are only a few limited moves you can do. The coolest of these is probably the between the legs shot that they added, as well as the over the net flip followed by a slap of the puck mid air into the goal. They don't always work, but they're really cool when they do. Puck physics have also been upgraded which allow for much more realistic consequenses of different shots. For example, if a really hard slap shot hits a player in the foot, that player will end up limping for a little while after the shot. It can also put goalies in a daze. The one thing that really is annoything though, is the rebounds and how reactive the boards around the rink are. They bounce entirely way too much in this game as compared to last year. Many shots that should have gone out of the rink will bounce back really far and fast. I hardly consider this realistic puck physics (the rest of it is pretty good though).
Next comes the AI of the computer and the rest of the game play. This year the game has gotten better and the ice has opened up more to actually set up plays. Last year it was nearly impossible to get passes through to your guys and plays to be set up in the attacking zone. This year EA has changed the AI so that the opposing team's players don't come and hit you right away, they start taking away your shot angles and try to not let you too close to the net for shots. Your teammates also are smarter in that they'll be in the right positions during attacking zone plays. This is definitely a vast improvement that I know people will be happier about now. However, there is one major drawback in the AI this year, and that is with the goalies. Sure it is better than last year's, but the goalies now tend to dive for the puck more leaving the rest of the net wide open. This results in much more goals that shouldn't be made. Also, hitting (one of people's favorite reasons for watching hockey) has become significantly harder, and your defensive AI doesn't seem to do enough of it, especially in critical situations. This in turn also results in more unnecessary goals. Another major annoyance with the computer AI is that many of the goals that the computer scores against you are pretty similar. Shots that hit the goalie, rebound right back to the shooter and then a goal instantly after that. I understand that rebounds are a part of the game, but as a hockey player myself, I know that most rebounds off a goalie's pads don't go out 25 feet in front of the goalie right back to the player that just shot (at least not all the time like in this game). Once again, a higher amount of goals are scored because of this. These small facts can get rather annoying when playing a season game or even online.

Online play is once again back this year. And once again, similar annoyances have come along with it. First, is the LAG factor. EA's servers still have yet to be adequate enough to fully handle such a game. Although, compared to last year it is a little better. The biggest anonyance I found this year was that there are definite connection issues with other players from time to time and you can't even play against them because of it. Lag durinig the game can also be a pain because when it jitters, it's hard to make a play that can potentially stop a goal from going in. This is something that EA needs to do better in the future. Online play is becoming a staple to video games more and more, and as a result, companies providing online play for their products need to step it up to keep gamers coming back to the online world.
Also coming back this year is the Dynasty Mode which now allows for intervention during a simulated game (intervention is also available during the regular Season mode). This is really nice because you can join the game with 5 minutes left if you want and try to tie or win the game while the computer did the rest of the work for you. This can be kinda handy when you want to actually win the game instead of the computer losing it for you. This year you can also make custom teams that you can play with during a season and dynasty. Also is the addition of the player editor. If you think one of your favorite players is under rated, you can edit his attributes as you see fit. This is especially nice considering that there really are players that are way under rated in the game (Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks is one example). Free for all and World Championship modes are back as well, but they still remain the same from last year.

The worst part of this game has to be the sound track that EA puts into it each year. It is full of really bad poppy rock songs that most NHL fans don't listen to. In fact, I can't think of one good song on the music sound track to this game. So if you do play this, it's best that you turn off the menu music. The actual game play sounds once again are really nice. The on-ice sounds and crowd sounds are a small upgrade from last year but it can still get a littlel annoying from time to time. But i don't really mind it at all. They're at least tolerable when you play, as opposed to the music. Finally, the commentary of the game. The color commentating has gotten better this year with the addition of some facts about players on ice etc... This is something that EA omitted to do last year and made for some boring commentary. The actual play-by-play announcer is the same as usual. It is still a little choppy and forced in presentation like it has always been. One of these days, EA may actually have a realistic sounding play-by-play announcer and color commentary.

Over All the NHL `06 is definitely a step in the right direction. It is easily a much better game than `05 but it still has its faults. No game will exactly be perfect but it can definitely get better than it is. The new control and AI features are definitely the part of the game that needed the upgrade and was delivered fairly well by EA. But like the other games of the past, there are still some great annoyances that can be found during the gameplay that might just take the fun out of it for some players. I still enjoy this game over last year's by a good margin, but it is still nowhere near what it can be. EA needs to continue on this path in order to make a better hockey game. They also need to start listening to its fans and the people who really want a great hockey game. Though some people may say that NHL 2k6 is a better game, it is really not a realistic game. NHL `06 provides a more realistic feel of the real game that any real fan of hockey would enjoy. Now the task is to fine tune what has been done and come out with hopefully a great game for `07.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5