Well, I figured I’d write about this because the Pittsburgh Penguins won the cup, and well, if your as hockey nuts as I am, it’s worth reading about a game we all love right? Upon popping this disc into my X-Box 360 I was greeted with a pretty good opening intro with several players(including Malkin) lifting the cup, and starting right away with naming a player and doing the tutorial. Easy stuff if I do say so myself.
Once through all that good tutorial stuff, I did a quick play between the Pens and Philthy. It became immediate as to some of the changes put in place. While it does provide control views so you can see what to hit before you play the game, it also provides the option to scroll through stats between the teams, a top player between the two teams, and a view of the goalies stats and percentages(awesome). I enjoy seeing who the top threats are, even if I already know them, but I enjoy seeing the starting goalies and what their save percentages are and goals given up. A very nice touch added to an already deep game. I’m a stats guy so I like looking into all of that and seeing how “sim” a game is. Also, I must mention that if you continue to scroll it shows the starting line-up for the face-off. Which means you also have the option of starting different lines as well as different defensive pairings.
As we enter the arena, it’s basically the same animation and intro as last year, maybe a few new sayings, but nothing out of the ordinary. Once the puck is dropped, you can feel the changes take effect. Passing is no longer a guarantee, so you must be precise and smart about your decisions. I fell into the old try and make long passes only to have them picked off routine the first game, and I got my butt handed to me after making the terrible passes. It’s rather nice to see that the AI is smart about cheap shots and going behind the net repeatedly. Overall, the feeling of playing a sim style hockey game is there. The physics feel right, the emotion, and the scrums are even better.
Once the whistle is blown, you can make your move. It’s very evident that, fighting is bound to happen when you agitate players, especially star players on the other team. It’s much needed and awesome to push someone from behind and them slash you and they get the retaliation penalty. Pronger as in real life, is notorious for doing it. I went after him when I could, and he would normally just get a penalty haha.
The one gripe I have about the after the whistle scrums, is that it seems like fighting will happen a lot. I got into 4-5 fights in one game because of this. While it’s fun and cool to see the new fighting mode in work. Real hockey isn’t like that, scrums happen, but a fight isn’t a constant every time it happens. Also, penalty shots, seem as if it happens too frequent. I had two penalty shots in each of the 3 games I played. 2 a game. You’re luck to see two a month or so when playing real hockey. It needs toned down and it’s easy to score against the CPU.
However, if those are the only gripes I have with the actual game-play, I’m more than ok with it. I’m sure it will be patched in the future.
Finally, my biggest love so far of this game. Injuries. During an after the whistle scrum, I was in control of Staal, I then proceeded to face wash Richards(pure leadership). At that point, Carcillo immediately came over and started a fight with me. He then proceeded to rock my face off, breaking my jaw in the process.
Once the fight was over, a pop-up appeared on my screen describing Staal’s injury, and how long he’d be out. It gave me the option to play or sit him. Of course, it being one game, I played him. He was slower and less accurate with shot/passes. The realism of how an injury effects someone is awesome. I love this very much. It makes my freaking day I love it that much.
I also enjoyed the fact that, when he was hurt it told you the severity and how long he’d be out after the game, for this particular jaw break it was 2 weeks. Pretty neat IMO, and a much needed thing, as injuries in NHL games go unmentioned during the game, and you have to figure it out for yourself.
The announcing is marginally the same and they don’t miss a beat, I can’t complain about that.
All in all, this game is as good as advertised, in playing just one game,you really feel the changes and they are all changes for the best. This is one franchise I’ll buy every year it comes out.
Wed, Sep 16, 2009
Sports