Most realistic NHL gameplay

[Hoosier83]

For those of you NHLers, I'm looking to get an older NHL game (PS2 or PS3) to play and get fairly immersed in (yes, I'm cheap).

As NCAA 04 or 06 are widely considered the best college football games (arguably), and NFL 2K5 is considered the best most realistic NFL game, what is the NHL equivalent in this community? Which one has the biggest following with regards to realistic gameplay that everyone points to as the pinnacle of the franchise?

I don't want to download something new that focuses on the same thing that madden does with the ultimate team stuff.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Chad0034]

I honestly am loving the new NHL gameplay on next gen consoles. They have seemed to do a good job at making cross crease a lot more difficult to succeed.

[Skyflame21]

NHL17 is the one go back to. It was very good until the patch they sent out. Though I never DL the patch. I used custom settings / sliders and revamped rosters and it’s quite good. Happy to share... feel free to pm me if you’re interested

[Jeffrey99]

I was a big fan of 2k. I’m thinking I really liked 2k9 but you will find a million different answers to this question. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bapgap]

I tried going back and playing some of the 2K hockey games (NHL 2k7 and 2k9) recently and the gameplay really doesn't hold up anymore. Once I got used to the skill stick controls, I just can't go back and play the old way.

IMO, NHL 11 had the best and most realistic gameplay from the EA series.

[tinpanalley]

Ok, I'm gonna save you some time here...
You will never - get - a unanimous - response - to this question.
The problem is, hockey has changed so much on and off the ice since NHL93 that it depends what marketing of games was trying to sell, what trends were popular, how the game itself reflected those trends... this is a very very complex question. Also, games out of the box are sometimes nowhere near as good as they are with slider tweaks and sometimes they're worse with slider tweaks. But I think, ironically, the number one thing affecting the proper answering of that question is the fact that very few people agree on what "most realistic" means. I interpret it as 'looks most like a television broadcast' since after all that is where most people take in hockey. Others will say, what most feels like being at the stadium and will swear on turning off all sound that isn't ice related.


NHL series - typically more arcade-y. 2K was typically more realism focused. That being said, when NHL was more realism focused, it has outweighed 2K because the best 2K games suffer heavily from bad animations or presentation. And both of those things kill immersion no matter how "realistic" they are. Play 2K8 (in my opinion one of the best representations of hockey in a game) and see how many games you can last before the moaning zombies in the audience become unbearable. You need to ask yourself what realism means to you so you can weed through the games available. The reason other sports like American Football, Baseball, College Sports, and NBA have specific games that are considered the top is because those properties had teams behind them that genuinely cared about producing amazing games. I genuinely do not believe the NHL has ever had that. (And then there's the fact that I have strong reservations about many of the games considered "best ever"). Most people like NCAA 04 and 06 for properly recreating the College experience of drafting and playing a team of youngsters and dealing with the realities of the sport. But I'm sorry, there is nothing in either title on the field that is not vastly surpassed in NCAA Football 14 or 13. Nothing.


So I'd give you my opinion, but it would only be my opinion and pointless. This is a long process. I did it once just to reacquaint myself with hockey video games. Decide if you want to play with modern day rosters because if you do, your options are limited right from the start. Avoid "best 5 NHL games of all time" videos. They are useless. They are one person's opinion and usually based on nothing more than the same cliches you find in forums. You can tell me a million times NHL04, NBA2K12, and Madden 08 are the best games in their sports and I will always disagree with you. So what's the point of hearing that? Go back and read reviews, watch video reviews from the time, to learn what was thought of the BASE game. Not the online connectivity, not the number of franchise features, the game. Good luck. Few reviews actually review the animated sport itself. But use that and then go watch un-doctored gameplay footage of the games in question. Literally search "NHL 09 PC gameplay" on youtube. And do that with every title that interests you.


I'm saving you time, believe it or not. You'll literally take longer getting this answer by researching every game that gets mentioned in this thread. And few people will tell you exactly why they choose what they choose. And you'll still be left wondering what the others are like that nobody mentioned.

Hope that helps.

[BigBadAss33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hoosier83

For those of you NHLers, I'm looking to get an older NHL game (PS2 or PS3) to play and get fairly immersed in (yes, I'm cheap). As NCAA 04 or 06 are widely considered the best college football games (arguably), and NFL 2K5 is considered the best most realistic NFL game, what is the NHL equivalent in this community? Which one has the biggest following with regards to realistic gameplay that everyone points to as the pinnacle of the franchise? I don't want to download something new that focuses on the same thing that madden does with the ultimate team stuff. Thanks in advance for your replies!

100%, without a doubt

NHL2K8

it has one of the largest communities for sure..

[Hoosier83]

Quote: Originally Posted by tinpanalley

Ok, I'm gonna save you some time here... You will never - get - a unanimous - response - to this question. The problem is, hockey has changed so much on and off the ice since NHL93 that it depends what marketing of games was trying to sell, what trends were popular, how the game itself reflected those trends... this is a very very complex question. Also, games out of the box are sometimes nowhere near as good as they are with slider tweaks and sometimes they're worse with slider tweaks. But I think, ironically, the number one thing affecting the proper answering of that question is the fact that very few people agree on what "most realistic" means. I interpret it as 'looks most like a television broadcast' since after all that is where most people take in hockey. Others will say, what most feels like being at the stadium and will swear on turning off all sound that isn't ice related. NHL series - typically more arcade-y. 2K was typically more realism focused. That being said, when NHL was more realism focused, it has outweighed 2K because the best 2K games suffer heavily from bad animations or presentation. And both of those things kill immersion no matter how "realistic" they are. Play 2K8 (in my opinion one of the best representations of hockey in a game) and see how many games you can last before the moaning zombies in the audience become unbearable. You need to ask yourself what realism means to you so you can weed through the games available. The reason other sports like American Football, Baseball, College Sports, and NBA have specific games that are considered the top is because those properties had teams behind them that genuinely cared about producing amazing games. I genuinely do not believe the NHL has ever had that. (And then there's the fact that I have strong reservations about many of the games considered "best ever"). Most people like NCAA 04 and 06 for properly recreating the College experience of drafting and playing a team of youngsters and dealing with the realities of the sport. But I'm sorry, there is nothing in either title on the field that is not vastly surpassed in NCAA Football 14 or 13. Nothing. So I'd give you my opinion, but it would only be my opinion and pointless. This is a long process. I did it once just to reacquaint myself with hockey video games. Decide if you want to play with modern day rosters because if you do, your options are limited right from the start. Avoid "best 5 NHL games of all time" videos. They are useless. They are one person's opinion and usually based on nothing more than the same cliches you find in forums. You can tell me a million times NHL04, NBA2K12, and Madden 08 are the best games in their sports and I will always disagree with you. So what's the point of hearing that? Go back and read reviews, watch video reviews from the time, to learn what was thought of the BASE game. Not the online connectivity, not the number of franchise features, the game. Good luck. Few reviews actually review the animated sport itself. But use that and then go watch un-doctored gameplay footage of the games in question. Literally search "NHL 09 PC gameplay" on youtube. And do that with every title that interests you. I'm saving you time, believe it or not. You'll literally take longer getting this answer by researching every game that gets mentioned in this thread. And few people will tell you exactly why they choose what they choose. And you'll still be left wondering what the others are like that nobody mentioned. Hope that helps.

Thanks for all the responses, guys! It does seem as though there isn’t a clear cut consensus, similar to the football community with 2k5, so I’ll do some research and watch game reviews and decide from there.
2k8 seems like a good place to start. Is that on PS2 or PS3?

Thanks!