NHL 2k8 - malachijohn666's Blog

malachijohn666's Blog

NHL 2k8

Posted on July 26, 2011 at 10:29 AM.

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Hey Guys,

After reading an interesting thread in the forums about some players that went back to playing NHL 2k8, I thought I might give it a go.

I picked my copy up for around 5 bucks, and man I can't turn it off. I am not using up-to-date rosters, because I don't care about that stuff, besides even if I update the rosters, I still have to play the 07-08 schedule. Which is the 'unbalanced' schedule, and I am not sure if I like this or not.

I must admit that, as a long time EA NHL series player, I was really impressed with what 2k8 had to offer. The claim that 2k8 had the best goalies is very true. It is quite hard to get the cheese goals that I would normally roll my eyes at in the EA game. (In particular the goals where the puck bounces and dangles on the shoulder of the goalie...

)You also see that that goalies actually make the plays, I haven't seen any force fields or warping yet. I also noticed a couple of other things.

One, I noticed that there was a lot of stuff in that game that EA has added to it's own game over that last few years. Contracts for starters. In NHL 11 their big marketing line was that now you had to deal with unrestricted/restricted free agents. 2k8 has that already. Board play was in 2k8, this wasn't added to EA untill '10 I think. The controls, once you get used to them, add soooo much more to the game that, IMO they add a lot of realism to the game. EA still has an arcady feel. The hits in '11 seem a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

Two, the atmosphere is great in 2k8. The opening sequence to each game is spot on. Now I realize there is no giant shark head and what not in San Jose, but so what. I truely get the feel of actually being there when the oppponents skate out to a booing crowd. The stat overlays are great as well, although I am not sure when they update to the current season though, but I am only into my second game of the current franchise I am playing. Which is the third or fourth I have started so far. (I just can't decide on a team!)

With the right sliders this game is quite a challenge! Even with the right sliders, each game is different. I don't have the feeling that I am playing the same game again and again.

Now I am not trying to start an arguement here, I am just stating my feelings about this. If you are in the market for a decent game of hockey, check out 2k8, chances are you can buy it for 5 or less.

*One thing I do want to note is the franchise freeze. I have found a work around, without having to turn off CPU trading or Fatigue. It was on 2khockey.com I think.