Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Hockey seems to be the redheaded stepchild of pro sports in America.  While there are certain pockets of the States seem to have hockey fever, hockey is more popular in the frozen neighbor to the north.  Still, it has enough appeal that both Electronic Arts and 2K Sports have hockey games developed.

Kush Games has had high and low points with their NHL games.  For a while EA ruled the roost with the Genesis games.  Graphics and gameplay have come a long way since then, and after EA brought their game last year with the hockey stick controls on the right analog stick.  Can Kush Games bring the heat back to EA?

Graphically sports games get better and better, and NHL 2K8 is no exception.  The skaters glide on the ice, leaving skate trails behind.  Players burst into high speed for a breakaway shot, glide on the ice letting their momentum carry them forward, or turn around to skate backwards on the ice.  The sticks raise and lower depending on the players’ stances.  The animations look almost real because of the motion capturing done by Kush.  You can feel their jerseys move

The players’ faces look very similar to their real-life counterparts.  This is par for the course these days.  There isn’t much emotion shown by them, but you can see the excitement from the way that they move their bodies in celebration or disgust.  You can even see a bit of a reflection in the ice as they skate around the rink.

When replays are played, Kush has done what they can to make it look realistic.  They have multiple camera angles on the goal shots.  They are played in real time or they slow down the speed to give the replay an almost Matrix-like effect.

A few details are lacking.  The puck doesn’t move the net when it is shot into the goal.  The players’ faces don’t move like you think they should.  While they don’t look like the zombies of older Madden games, they could use a little more facial animations.

Announcing in a hockey game has to be done right.  Since the game is fast-paced, it can be difficult for announcers to keep up.  If you have an announcer that can’t keep up with the action on the field, it really takes you out of the game.  The announcers in NHL 2K8 aren’t necessarily the most talkative announcers, but they always keep the game moving.  They keep up the pace with the game and have a good number of lines to keep things interesting.

On the ice, you hear a lot of ice skates hitting the ice, sticks slapping the puck, and horns blowing at the end of each period and when goals are scored.  There could be a little more sound during the face-offs, but the sounds match the action on the ice well.

NHL 2K8 has a system similar the EA Trax system called 2K Beats.  Here bands play during the menus and loading screens.  Games are a new way for bands to get their name out there, and NHL 2K8 is no exception.  The music does give the game a good feel while making your game selections and when loading a new game.

The crowd really gets into the game.  If you are losing, the crowd will be mostly silent with a lot of mumbling.  They boo when penalties are called against the home team.  They scream and yell when goals are scored.  It almost makes you feel like you are there in the game.

The biggest feature of NHL 2K8 is the ProStick control that is mapped to the right analog stick.  Using the ProStick, you can control the direction of your player’s hockey stick while skating on the ice.  This gives you extra control to move the puck away from defenders trying to get at the puck.  You use the ProStick at face-offs to get the puck.  Shooting and passing the puck uses the bumpers in conjunction with the ProStick.  You can kick the puck to your stick using the Right Trigger and the ProStick.  Wrist shots use the Right Bumper with the ProStick, but slap shots can be done with the Left Trigger, the Right Bumper, and the ProStick.  If it sounds complicated, it is, at least at first.  NHL 2K8 does include a tutorial section that lets you practice your moves on offense and defense.  If you take your time with the tutorial and learn the controls by playing games, the control system will grow on you and you’ll feel a greater sense of control of your players and accomplishment because of the moves that you can perform.

There are other controls as well that let you body slam into opposing players and block shots.  Depending on your situation, the controls adjust accordingly.  Fights are controllable as well.

NHL 2K8 has also included Superstar Moves.  These moves enable your player to shoot through legs and double deke.  By holding in the Left Trigger and hitting the right face buttons in order, you can perform these on the ice.  Only certain players have the ability to perform them though.  The Puck Handling and Agility ratings will determine whether or not you can perform these moves.

NHL 2K8’s presentation leaves something to be desired.  The menu system that they have chosen is awkward and unintuitive.  There aren’t many games that have a worse menu system than this.  After a while, you do get used to it, but you wonder how bad a menu system for a sports game can be.

The Training Mode does a good job to help you learn the controls.  The controls do take some time, but the training has you focus on a specific move.  You can go through the offensive and defensive moves.  Performing the offensive moves to the CPU’s satisfaction is easy, but performing the defensive moves is a bit more of a challenge since you are going up against other players.

The typical sports game modes are available in NHL 2K8.  They include Franchise, Season, and Tournament.  You can also jump right into the action by picking your teams in the Quick Game mode and playing a game.

Starting a game you see the players come out on the ice.  You go up to face off and the action starts.  The camera angle is a good distance away so that you can see the action in the rink without being so far away that you can’t see the animations of the players.  Sometimes this does mean that the player you are controlling isn’t near the action.  It would have been nice if NHL 2K8 provided a way to show where the off-screen players are during gameplay.

The AI of NHL 2K8 seems to be well done.  Skaters avoid going over the blue line so Icing isn’t called.  They try to get out of the way of defenders to open up a passing lane, or they’ll block the defending team so that they can’t get to you with the puck.  On defense they move around and go after the puck when the time is right, or they’ll match up against the other team to prevent passes from going through.

Sometimes hockey games can be frustrating because of how difficult it is to score against a goalie no matter what you do.  NHL 2K8 feels like it has a fairer balance.  The goalie will block shots, but you do feel more in control of the shot thanks to the ProStick.  Once I was skating to the right across the ice and made a shot to the upper-left corner of the net.  The shot was well-executed and I felt I had more control of the game because of the ProStick.

NHL 2K8 does come with multiple difficulty levels, and if you don’t like the way the settings are for those difficulty levels, there are plenty of sliders you can use to adjust how you play.  There might be too many options for you to use to get the game right, but with patience you should be able to create a difficulty level and realism factor that satisfies your needs.

The game isn’t perfect.  There have been some reports of the game freezing up in the Season or Career mode.  While it doesn’t appear to be something that happens to everyone, it does seem to be more widespread than an occasional bug.

Kush has developed NHL 2K8 to have legs long after the hockey season is over.  Other activities are available to give you more options.  You can create a player or even create a team and let them go up against the other teams.  This is helpful for when trades happen throughout the season, although I have a feeling Kush will be providing roster updates every so often during the season.  The Franchise mode includes waivers, two-way contracts, salary caps, and restricted and unrestricted free agents.  If you want to see how successful of a franchise you can make, then you can do it here.

If you have wanted to show others your prowess on the ice, you now have the opportunity to with 2K Reelmaker.  2K Reelmaker is based off of the system in last year’s NBA 2K7.  You can edit clips, save them, and make them available to view on Xbox Live.

If you bore of the normal hockey options, NHL 2K8 lets you play a few side games.  Battle Mode lets you fight against other players, Pond Hockey lets you play in the local country pond, and Mini Rink shrinks the size of the rink, making the game more crowded.  These games are nice diversions from the actual hockey games, but you won’t be going to them that often.  They are good options for when you have buddies over and want to play a quick game.

NHL 2K8 supports four players online through Xbox Live.  You can also set up tournaments and play ranked matches.  While multiplayer like this is pretty standard these days, it’s good to see it included.

The NHL has new uniforms.  You are able to unlock those through codes.  Every few weeks you can get a new code to get a new uniform.  If you want to see what the NHL will look like this year, this gives you a bit of a sneak preview.

Kush has really brought out all the stops with NHL 2K8.  They have taken complaints of the previous games to heart and created a fun experience than rookies and veterans can appreciate.  Competition is a good thing for the hockey field, and both EA and 2K Sports are trying their best to one-up each other.  While last year’s game was a bit disappointing, Kush has made a much better game that warrants attention.  If you can adjust to the ProStick controls, you’ll find a control system that really makes you feel like a part of the game.

Gaming Trend Score

85

1. Graphics: 86
2. Audio: 82
3. Controls: 84
4. Gameplay: 85
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:85