NHL 09 News, Strategy Guides, Screenshots & Videos

Nothing like hard body check against the boards!

I concur.

Great . fun online game. Be a pro is sweet.

Great game with tons of potential. I hope they fine tune things next year in regards to the EASHL, as well as the gameplay for the normal (non-be a pro mode). I think there's plenty still to learn from the 2k series when it comes to AI. There really needs to be more options for sliders with goalies.

Excellent game

My biggest problem with the game is the franchise mode. I don't get why they limit the ownership so much. However, Be a Pro mode makes me not even care about the franchise mode. It would be great to be in a league off-line with friends but Be a Pro really keeps me interested. I think people that nitpick things like certain penalties not being called, need to stop playing a video game and tryout for the NHL. Hockey is a tough game to capture because it's so fast and so much can happen. This game does a fine job and leaves me wanting to play the next game on my schedule everyday. Awesome game.

Edited: Best hockey game ever made, to date. It's not perfect, but it is the best. EA has made great strides in perfecting their game in the last 15 or so years, especially in their last 2 releases. It seems they listen to the community too, so good on them for that. I just hope they don't listen to everything, because there's a lot of complaining out there that doesn't need to happen.

*Over-the-top checking
*Interference not called
*Goalies flop way too easily and too much
*Goalies give up too many rebounds and can't cover the puck properly
*Lack of player skill separation
*Teammate offensive ai very poor - mostly stand around instead of trying to get open for a pass or shot
*Teammate defensive ai very poor - do not clear the front of the net or grab loose pucks
*Passing too precise - unable to pass to open areas or bank passes effectively
*Cpu offense too one-dimensional - rarely shoot or score from the points
*Cpu defense too passive - allow you to gain the zone too easily and set up
*Puck physics unrealistic - pucks take off like rockets from players that get checked
*Unable to decide when I want to skate backwards on defense, thereby allowing the cpu to blow by me in the neutral zone


Overall, a huge disappointment and marginal improvement from NHL 08. The defensive controls are better, but the ai is worse and goalies are nowhere as good as they were in NHL 07 and far behind 2k's.

NHL 08.2?