NHL 2K9

First let me say that unlike the football series I am glad to see two companies trying for our sales dollars as this competition makes for better games.

Graphics: Superb. 2K8 looked great but improvements for 2K9 are visable. In particular the screen views are more intuitive -for example if you are playing by the boards you will get a closer view of the action. Most of the animations are very simliar to 2K8. In-game highlight reels are a nice addition as well.

Controls: Some complaints were made about the complexity of the controls in 2K8 and there have been some changes to make the game more accessible to newer players which uses less of top controls and more of the face controls. For those who got used to the controls in the prior year, they do make them still available in the options. On the fly coaching is still part of the game.

Gameplay: The game modes are the same as last year in terms of the non-live play including standard quick games,...Read more

Well, I don't think it's a secret that EA unleashed a winner with NHL 09, but what about the 2K title? For the past few years, 2K's game has rightfully achieved their own fan base through developing a game that was both fun to play and comprehensive. While this years game wasn't as nifty as the games of 2K past, it's still a good game in it's own right that's fun and easy to play. While die-hard hockey fans will probably steer toward NHL 09, NHL 2K9 might be a better choice for the casual hockey fan, not to mention younger hockey fans.

So what did I like about this game?

First off, the soundtrack RULES! Hands town, this is some of the best punk and metal ever complied PERIOD; let alone for a hockey soundtrack. The short version: Epitaph Records and Relapse Records dominated this soundtrack and provided some awesome tunes. The long version: Underground acts like Operation Ivy, Genghis Tron, and High On Fire make appearances while The Ramones, The...Read more

2 things i can complain about... ive been playing hockey games for years, and i like to play them at fast speeds. on last years, and all the years before you could adjust the game speed on a level from 0-100, 100 being the fastest, this one just has 3 speeds, slow, normal and fast... and fast plays like the adjustment on the old ones at like 50... i feel like im playing this game at slow motion, and it drives me crazy, i hate it... why did they have to change that? and also, the roster adjustment settings... if i want to update it, and sign free agents, and adjust my lines, i have to manually swap and change players from being listed as dressed, to scratched, and minors just to sign someone, so if i wanna put teemu selanne on the ducks, cause hes a free agent on this game, i have to send a scratched player to the minors, and send a dressed player to scratched just to sign one player, and keep doing that... before you could just trade and sign all the players you want, and then edit...Read more