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NHL 09 Preview

02:39 PM - June 11, 2008 by Steve_OS

Last month Operation Sports visited the EA Canada studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. We sat down and listened to what NHL 09 Line Producer, David Littman, had to tell us about the game. We were impressed.

Patrick Williams has put together a very in depth preview of NHL 09.

Quote:


	"For the third year in a row on the next gen consoles the skill stick has evolved to include more of a dynamic factor in the offensive and now defensive game. Skilled players have more control this season. These players can try to deke around defenders and goalies alike, but must be aware that sticks and skates are truly and totally interactive this year. Such an example is Cup winner Pavel Datsyuk coming in one on one with a goalie and cutting one way as he drags the puck with one hand on the end of his stick around the goalie for a nice slide in style goal."

Game: NHL 09Reader Score: 9/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PC / PS2 / PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 47 - View All

NHL 09 Videos

Member Comments

# 61 BigH2k6 @ 06/24/08 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	EA seems to at least make an effort for our yearly 60 dollars. Which is far more than I can say about Kush/2k the last couple cycles.

Roles seem to have reversed for the last couple of years. from 2000 to 2006, including 2007 to some extent with the useless defensive control, EA was bringing out garbage except for maybe NHL 2004, while VC/Sega was listening to the community and bringing out a more realistic sim type game culminating with ESPN 2k5.

Since 2007, VC/Kush has been bringing some useless things such as cinemotion and not fixing presentation (although they did make great strides I thought in 2k8 with the goalies and I really like the pro control) while EA made great improvements since 2007 in making their game more sim and improving presentation as well as bringing inovative controls (even though I'm not paticularily fond of the skill stick).

Hopefully, taking Kush out of equation will bring some improvement and a new perspective to 2k hockey.

# 62 BigH2k6 @ 06/24/08 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerosene31


	. EA needs some sliders...

I agree with you 100% on this. 5 or 6 levels of slider adjusments like in 08 are definitely not enough to cater to everybody's style of game.

# 63 BigH2k6 @ 06/24/08 11:25 AM

NAd seperate sliders for human and CPu are definitely needed.

# 64 catcatch22 @ 06/24/08 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerosene31


	As for rosters, 2k8 had a roster update out the day the game hit stores, then one more after that long before EA had any kind of roster update. IIRC it took months for EA to get any kind of roster update out. How are you supposed to start a franchise when half the summer free agent moves aren't in the game?

I wasn't aware that nhl 2k8 had the complete AHL league and players in their game. Or am I mistaken.

# 65 Vince @ 06/24/08 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerosene31


	2k8 did sliders perfectly. They had different presets for sim hockey or more arcade-ish hockey. EA could do this so easily so that people who wanted a more sim-like game could. You don't need to spend hours tweaking sliders. You play the game and find something that is a little off and tweak a slider here and there. Bottom line is none of us will ever agree what a sim hockey game should be (obviously), so why not give the users individual control? In EA when I don't like something, I'm stuck. If I could make passing less accurate, I probably would be a huge 08 fan like everyone else. The perfect passing means there is little play in the neutral zone and nothing to breaking out of your own zone (unless you have a guy on top of you). 2k7 actually made you think while breaking out of the zone, and forcing you to actually circle back just like in real life. Little things like that are what EA lacks. As for rosters, 2k8 had a roster update out the day the game hit stores, then one more after that long before EA had any kind of roster update. IIRC it took months for EA to get any kind of roster update out. How are you supposed to start a franchise when half the summer free agent moves aren't in the game? Anyway, hopefully both games can improve considerably. 2k9 needs a totally new skating engine and the AI there took a huge step back. EA needs some sliders and a REGULAR season mode.

The problem with tons of sliders is that tweaking one thing can screw up another aspect of the game and you are left with compensating for every little tweak you do.

# 66 kerosene31 @ 06/24/08 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catcatch22


	I wasn't aware that nhl 2k8 had the complete AHL league and players in their game. Or am I mistaken.

What does that have to do with roster updates?

I'd like to see a company the size of EA be able to at least give us NHL rosters with the summer moves sometime before the season starts. We shouldn't have to make all those moves each year.

# 67 catcatch22 @ 06/24/08 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerosene31


	What does that have to do with roster updates? I'd like to see a company the size of EA be able to at least give us NHL rosters with the summer moves sometime before the season starts. We shouldn't have to make all those moves each year.

To make all those moves you have to include the AHL rosters as well or the whole thing is a mess. They had to wait till all the AHL rosters were set and then send them documents to sign so they could have each of those players in the game. With the large amount of transactions between the AHL - NHL - CHL plus many other sources such as the OHL, Juniors and guys leaving college early the AHL roster has alot of turnover.

If you complaining about rosters then explain 2k not updating a trade day roster yet??

# 68 kerosene31 @ 06/24/08 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince


	The problem with tons of sliders is that tweaking one thing can screw up another aspect of the game and you are left with compensating for every little tweak you do.

This is the problem with EA's sliders, but 2k's work quite well.

EA's existing sliders do weird things sometimes, and only have a few positions (0-6 iirc).

The big one I remember is the shot blocking slider. Turning that up seemed to also impact the goalie as well, which is not what people want. We want the D to block more shots, but not make the goalies any harder.

Their sliders just seem "weird" sometimes and don't do what you expect. While 2k has a ton of sliders, they all do mostly what you'd expect. Turn speed burst to zero, and you get no speed burst. Turn the goalies down, and you get more goals.

Most of my complaints with 08 could be solved with more sliders. And as was said, separate sliders for human and cpu.

# 69 Cardot @ 06/25/08 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerosene31


	I doubt EA will allow us to customize the game like that though, for some reason EA wants you to play the game one way and only one way.

I agree with this. One thing that has frustrated me about some EA titles inclucing this one (as well as the MVP '05), is that they don't offer options for shorter seasons any more. I know most of you guys are die hard and have no problem playing 82 games, but that is too much for me....not to mention that I like to dabble with the AHL and international tournaments.

As for sliders, a simple goalie slider would have really helped my enjoyment of the game. A few options with the clock would have been nice too...I didn't really like the way it sped up and slowed down at certain points of the game (I know that I am in the minority on this one).

I have my fingers crossed on a few of these things for '09.

# 70 kerosene31 @ 06/25/08 10:04 AM

Yes, I think a goalie slider would have been a simple way to get rid of a lot of people's problems. I'd love to turn shooting accuracy down to zero, but with good goalies, they are hard to beat if you turn it down too low.

# 71 JimmyDeicide @ 06/25/08 07:56 PM

The shot accuracy slider in general needs fixing , hitting a slapshot into the crowd like a sandwedge is not very realistic and frankly a cheap way of implementing less shots on goal.
I dont think ive ever seen someone shoot a puck over the glass on a shot in the NHL.

# 72 Taku @ 06/26/08 07:23 AM

I wonder am I forced to use this 3rd person camera when playing this "Be-a-Pro" -mode or can I play with regular cameras also, I really hope its optional.

Also I hope that there is an option to control other players while i'm sitting on the bench...

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