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Platform: Xbox
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NHL 06 Score: 8.0 / 10 |
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Pros: - Create a player is very well done - Good-looking graphics engine - Faster gameplay - Good sound design
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Cons: - Robot goalies from the future - Distinct lack of fights - Dynasty Mode still needs to be cleaned up. |
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"While NHL 06 may not be the greatest hockey game I've ever played, it's leaps and bounds above last years offering." |
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I will begin this review of NHL 06 decrying the death of Midway’s Hitz series. The last time I can honestly say I had a bucket load – yes, a bucket load – of fun playing a hockey game was in 2002. Whether against human opponents or the computer AI, the NHL Hitz 2003 ranks as my all-time favorite hockey game. When the entire NHL season was cancelled last year, I played a lot of Hitz 2003 so when EA’s NHL 06 landed on my desk I was rudely brought down to Earth with a return of realism.
Last year, I reviewed NHL 2005 on GameCube – the only hockey game available for the Cube last year – and I awarded it a 6.0 / 10. I won’t recap the review here but when a title is the only entry in a specific genre and it still scores a 6.0 / 10 you know something is wrong. Fortunately, NHL 06 is a lot more fun than 6.0 / 10, even though the goalies are friggin’ robotic. They see where the puck is going even before you release the shot even if you're dekeing all over the place! I kept track of this as I moved through a whole season and I was not impressed. Most games I could lay on 45 – 50 shots, more than half of them excellent scoring chances, and only two or three pucks would actually get by the goalie. And it doesn’t seem to matter who’s in net either! Most annoying though is that it doesn’t apply to your goalie, which forces the player to play some relatively conservative defense. This results in some very low scores and very often pushes games into OT then a shootout. This shootout rule is new this year – both to the franchise and the actual NHL – and I’m still not sold on it. Watching it on TV can be kind of exciting, but capping a game with it in NHL 06 is not.
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However, the fact that I can get that many shots on net is a welcome change. The last two or three years has seen some pretty unforgiving AI defense. The AI this time around feels more fast and loose – there are a lot of end-to-end runs and the action feels much faster. It’s faster still when playing with/against human players, which is always the preferred way to play sports game. (The game features Xbox Live support in case you don't have friends that can come over.) NHL 06 has the basic game modes that have been included in previous years but the biggest change in this writer’s opinion is the Create a Player feature, which isn’t technically a game mode. From a player’s height to how broad his nose is to how many scars and cuts should be displayed on his face are all |
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adjustable. It shows off an improved graphics engine, where the players look closer to their real-world counterparts than ever before. (This is probably most noticeable with the coaches.) The other modes include Exhibition, Season (29, 58 or 82 games), World Tournament, Free For All, and Elite Leagues (which are awesome), so really there's something for everyone. Except for the control freaks. For them NHL 06 lets the player assume nit-picky control over every aspect of their chosen team in Dynasty Mode, which I will readily admit that I ignored last year. This year I actually went through a few seasons in Dynasty Mode. Here the player has control over practice schedules, handling front office staff, payroll, and the price of season tickets. In this mode, it's not enough to perform well on the ice, it's all about making money, and lots of it. And one of the most fun ways to earn cash is done through "Sim Intervention." This is where the player can jump into a game that is being simulated (so you don't actually have to play) and attempt to pull out a win. Depending on the conditions, this can lead to some solid amounts of cash. The way I see it is that there's really only one major problem with the Dynasty Mode and that's having to use the Xbox controller. Give me a mouse and keyboard for this stuff! But there are other problems with Dynasty mode, like the fact the schedule repeats itself from year to year, so the true control freak and sim aficionado will still have things to complain about.
The play-by-play and color commentary is provided by Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson, respectively and they do a great job for the most part and even though there's the occasional gaff when it comes to keeping up what's happening on the ice. They play it straight again this year -- I'll miss the pairing of Hughson and Jim Taylor. The other sounds of the arena are recreated here to some authenticity, with the home crowds behaving realistically to some extent (although there's no way the developers could have known that crowds would boo Todd Bertuzzi every time he touches the puck.)
While NHL 06 may not be the greatest hockey game I've ever played, it's leaps and bounds above last years offering. I tend to like "arcade" sports more than simulations of the real thing, but NHL 06 offers something for everyone, regardless of the robots from the future that are masquerading as goalies.
- Omni (October 17, 2005)
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