NHL 2K9 Demo Available on the Marketplace

[Blitzburgh]

I played the demo last night about 10 times and used the Hybrid controls. It was definately alot more fun than 2k8 for me.

Pros-
Skating felt very realistic to me. I never liked how fast they moved last year and seemed to slide around to much to me.

I have seen some really cool animations as well.

The camera is perfect to me the way it flows with the game.

Face-offs are the best in the biz, hold up on the R stick and then pull back to win it! It feels real!

Sound and the arena looks and sounds great!

Cons..

Player models all look the same and are not very detailed

stick handleing is sadly doesn't exist imo at least not to the point where you feel you can manually drive and deke out the goalie. Am i missing something here?

I hate canned moves with the left bumper! To me that is a thing of the past and in this Gen we should have alll the control to make the moves and not have to rely on memorizing what does what with a button or stick push.

I would like to see checking somehow moved to the R stick. Hitting a button just doesn't feel right to me.

Final comments..

They were aiming for fun this year and I think they nailed that. I don't really miss the graphics too much because the game play is fun but it would be that much better if they looked realistic. Same goes for the player faces.

I need to play NHL 09 demo when it drops and really see which is more fun. Last year I scored to much on pro and sucked on allstar so that kind of took the fun out of NHL 08 for me.

[Blitzburgh]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

Yeah I really like it. It is the exactly the same as the PS3. Maybe if it is on a harder level the goalie animation will be better, but to me they are fine. I did a sweet deke to get the goalie to sift then I did a top shelf. It was freaking sweet. I love the goals in this game and the skating is the best I have ever played. I love Ea's skating too, but this just have more of a feeling of weight. Can't wait for both of these games to drop. It is a great year for hockey. I hope this really starts to make the other try to out duel each other.

Hey my friend, how did you deke? Was it using the L bumper and the left thumbstick special moves or is there a way to manually deke? Thanks I use the hybrid controls.

[CarryTheWeight]

Honestly, I don't see why people are bashing this game. It's a very fun hockey game. It reminds me a lot of NHL Hitz Pro, which had a perfect mix of simulation and arcade aspects IMO to make it one of the more fun hockey games out there. This could very well be Pro's spiritual successor.

It just feels, though, like I'm playing a game from last generation. Despite the great animations and presentation, the game feels like it was made in 2004. It's nothing major and I don't really have a problem with it, but I just get the feeling that 2K dropped the ball graphically. The arenas and crowds look excellent, but there's only so much you can do with environmental models. Player models are what you'll be spending 99.9% of your time observing, so why aren't they up to par with NHL 2K8's?

Also, this could very well be the best SOUNDING hockey video game in years. EA's series has been doing pretty well in that regard recently, but 2K9 exceeds it. The chants and crowd reactions are great and are mixed in well with the rest of the action, it almost sounds like they were actually recorded from Joe Louis Arena instead of in-studio. Sound effects, especially the sound of the puck rattling off the boards, glass and off the goalie's pads, are much more authentic.

I won't be buying the 360 version this year (going with Wii instead), so I hope a lot of what I saw in the demo carries over to that console's version. I'll be really disappointed if they drop the ball in that department.

[MizzouRah]

I agree.. the sounds are the best in any game.

Really anxious to play the full version!

[MC Fatigue]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

I just want to see these two go at it every year. Like Madden and 2k used too. They both have some good thing going. I hope they continue. To bad they couldn't come together and make the perfect hockey game.

Because, unfortunately, the perfect game isn't possible

Hockey is too hard to properly emulate. They're at least trying - each game has some big pluses in moving in the right direction (2k a lot more, in my mind), but they're still so far off.

I don't know if the perfect simulation will ever exist - it might just be too hard.

Edit: there's another thing that's popped up in the demo. I hadn't really mentioned it, because I thought maybe it was just part of being an old version of the game. However, I noticed it in a more recent video on gamespot.

For some reason when you draw the puck back on a face off, your defensive player rushes in to grab the puck, instead of just reaching out for it, or letting it come to him. He'll simply skate towards the puck (which is generally towards the face off circle) causing him to be out of position - and it also means you have to literally circle him all the way around again to get into position.

So there's absolutely no chance of drawing it back to the defenseman really quickly and having him riffle a surprise shot at the goalie. This could be especially frustrating when you're down 1-0 and there's 5 seconds left and you need to draw it to the defenseman for an immediate slapshot. From the looks of it, you'd have to win it to a wingman, and then have him pass it back to the defesemen, by which time it would be too late.

[Peter_OS]

Quote:

However there's a problem that's bothered me in every hockey game (except NHL 08, strangely), why does the computer never dump the puck in? I can't tell you how many times I knocked the cpu down at the blue line and skated off with the puck. Why do the developers seem to be so keen on making the CPU try to skate the puck in all day long. It's been an issue of mine since 2k3, and it's been 6 years now with no development in this area. Dump and chase is a big part of hockey. Not giving up the puck at the offensive blue line is a big part of hockey. I just wish they'd finally do something about this. Like I said - it just makes it so easy to hit the computer at the line, and skate back up the ice every time.

Exactly my gripe as well. They need to add this next year. Dump and chase is a big part of hockey. Lots of teams do it. So should the CPU in this game.

[Peter_OS]

Btw, I'm diggin the new replay system in this game. Love the replays. I always find myself watching the replays instead of skipping them.

I scored a nice goal last night. I dumped the puck in, and crashed the boards only to get the puck and spin around with a backhanded pass to the right slot, and shot the puck and scored a beauty! It felt so good!!

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blitzburgh

Hey my friend, how did you deke? Was it using the L bumper and the left thumbstick special moves or is there a way to manually deke? Thanks I use the hybrid controls.

I just moved the stick to one side and the goalie bit.