NHL 2K9

It’s fun, easy but...

Posted 4 years ago By - Marko Djordjevic

2K Sports is back again with NHL2K9 and this time it is Visual Concepts and not Kush Games developing. With the competition melting the ice with their solid title, it is more important now than ever before for 2K Sports to pick up the pace and deliver a solid and enjoyable sports game that will appeal to both the hardcore hockey fan and those with even a remote enjoyment of the sport. Here’s our review.


Gameplay

Things do not start off too well for 2K9 when it comes to game options. It is pretty minimal with only a handful of modes for players to choose from. The game begins with the ability to quick-start a match by picking any of the 30 NHL teams, some classic teams and even some national sides. It’s sure very nice to begin a match in a matter of seconds and not getting lost!

In terms of the main gameplay modes, you still have your Franchise and Season modes with if you played any of the past versions, you will not see any drastic changes. If you’re looking to simply play a season and not have to worry about free agency, waivers and team needs, you’ll want to start a season and just play. But for those who enjoy the micro and macro-management of the sport will enjoy running the show and win the Stanley Cup year after year in the Franchise mode. The Franchise mode interface is pretty straight forward and offers you a lot of information on both your own squad and the rest of the league. Still, to make it feel like a real Franchise mode, it would’ve been fun to be able to manage the arena finances and the team marketing. If they haven’t thought of it yet, it would be interesting to see it happen one day, maybe next year? Other cool modes like Pond Hockey, Mini Rink and Shootout are also offered. The atmosphere of the games is petty drab with no commentary but the simplicity of the modes does still make them a fun distraction.

On the ice, the game does control relatively well and is definitely geared more towards those who want an easy control system. The passing and skating work well and even the defence is good at times but there will be instances when you’ll miss what should be an easy check. Also, there are some problems with AI getting some easy goals. At the same time, you can really exploit the one-timer, although they said it was fixed but still pretty easy to pull-off. This will give the game some enjoyment to the new player, but fans of the series will wish that you need to earn your goals rather than being gifted one.


NHL 2K9 is about fun and two modes showing that are making their debut. First, it’s the Zamboni mini-game that is playable between periods. In this mode, you control the Zamboni and must clean the ice in less than three minutes. The controls are a bit difficult, but that is only because you’re trying to clean ice. If you’ve watched the Zamboni drivers at a game, you should be able to figure out the best path to clean but even with that knowledge it still a challenge. If you manage to complete the ice in less than three minutes, you will probably only play this again to try to perfect your time, or to just mess around. The second one is the user-controlled Stanley Cup celebration. After wining the trophy, you can now skate around the ice, pass the Cup to a teammate and cheer the way you want it. It’s not a huge addition but it’s surely welcomed.

Overall, the game delivers some solid modes and gameplay mechanics but there is one thing that bugged me. I found that fights occurred too frequently in the game and especially at awkward times. The fighting system is cool and easy to do, but you will question why you are having a fight in a close contest when realistically that would not happen.


Graphics and Sound

When it comes to Graphics and Sound, the development team failed to deliver something really nice to look at. Yes, the graphics are a disappointment as they do not impress us at all. None of the players look like their real-life counterparts. If you want to show off an uploaded video, you will not know who the players are unless you look at the back of their jerseys. Animations are a mixed bag. While the goalie movements will be really impressive to see at times, we see players and referees colliding with each other too frequently. On the other side, the arenas and the ice reflections are well rendered but the lack of player details still hurt this game a lot. Next year’s edition will need a massive overhaul of the graphics if it wants to appeal to those who want to show off how great HD graphics are supposed to be.


As for sounds, NHL 2K9 has some of the most repetitive and poorly delivered commentary of the franchise. The commentating team of Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda of the San Jose Sharks’ Radio Network are worthy of the mute button as they often repeat the same lines of dialogue in the same game. The addition of a third ‘ice-level’ reporter of John Shrader (also of the Sharks’ Radio Network) does try to help the game’s presentation, but he only has comments in the intermission or his rare ‘I just talked to the coach of Team X and he had to say…’. I do recall seeing some resemblances with the NBA 2K commentary but it sure feels weird in a hockey game. Also, the soundtrack will only appeal to a certain select group of people. If you are not a fan of Punk or Hard Rock, there isn’t anything for you to listen to. The only nice touch was the playing of Inner Circle’s ‘Bad Boys’ during fights.

Value

True value from the game comes in the game’s online department which is a real enjoyment. It is easy to start up a match and you can get full side matches going on. The game offers the ability to play with 11 other people on 11 different consoles in one match as one big team. If you have a lot of friends, this is a great mode to play and will require lots of teamwork to have a successful squad on the ice. Online leagues and tournaments are also making a comeback and it continues to be the game’s strongest feature once again this year.

Finally, the Team 2K online mode keeps track of everyone’s online stats each week. The person with the best ranking is named player of the week. After the ten weeks, those ten players will have the chance to win various 2K prizes. This gives you even more incentive to play online and to be the best. But the mode that really interested me which incorporates both online and offline is the 2K ReelMaker. Since you can save any of your highlights, this mode allows you to take your replays and edit them for others to see. You can add cool angles and even on screen displays and upload it for others to see and vote. Clips can be quickly uploaded and downloaded to the 2K servers. This is really nice for those who score a great goal or make a stunning save and want others to see them.


Conclusion

Hockey fans must feel great about being spoiled with not one but two hockey games to choose from. In recent years, it has been the EA Sports series that has done more into improve their title and to get the hockey fan playing their game while 2K Sports has done very little to keep up the challenge. While they continue to make a decent hockey game, the lack of more interesting modes and groundbreaking innovations put the series behind the competition. Don’t get me wrong, NHL 2K9 is still a good game, and it will appeal to those looking for a more arcade style hockey game without any hassles. The lack of true realism puts this as a distant second choice title for the hardcore hockey fans but there’s potential for a better title. Unfortunately, 2K9  won’t be the one.

Second Take

Many fans of the series will ask themselves: what the hell happened this year? Yes, we can definitely see something has happened over at 2K. The overall experience of NHL 2K9 feels outdated and awkward but it doesn’t take out the fact that the game is much simpler and less scary in terms of modes and gameplay that it’s closest competitor. You do have to take something very important in consideration: the game has been built from the ground up by a whole new studio, which brings a mixed bag of positive and negative things. Sure Visual Concepts is talented enough to create an excellent hockey game but getting there takes time; just like with the NBA 2K franchise. And now that Take-Two won’t be bought by Electronic Arts, the whole development team can now focus on making the game even better, starting next year because offering this kind of product once more will make any comeback very difficult.

Final Verdict: A buy to whoever felt intimidated by NHL 09’s approach in terms of game modes and controls. For the hardcore hockey fan...it’s hard to recommend but it deserves a good look.

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