Sports NHL – EA Sports NHL 09 Review For the XBOX 360

Special Report about Sports NHL by Scott Boehler

EA Sports NHL series has had sort of a roller coaster history. Back in the 90s, EA owned the hockey market with its NHL 9X series on the old Sega Genesis. EA had never been able to match that success with future generation gaming consoles. The NHL 2K series of hockey gaming became sort of a cult favorite for a few years in the early to mid 2000s, as EA seemed to be spiraling towards obscurity.

Then came Sports NHL 08, and everything changed. A totally re-done game engine and revamped game play, including the introduction of create-a-play, put EA back on the map in a big way.

EA Sports Sports NHL 09 starts where Sports NHL 08 left off. It has excellent game play and graphics and will be easy to pick up for those familiar with Sports NHL 08. There are many sliders that can affect different facets of the game to help different levels of players enjoy the gaming experience.

Not much has changed this year to last year’s version, which is actually a good thing (some companies try too hard to change what isn’t broken). The have kept in the franchise modes, exhibition modes, and create a player mode is there with a new and exciting “be a pro” mode which allows you to create a player and have him advance through a team’s system while you play as just him on the ice. It is quite immersive.

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The skill stick innovation from the prior Sports NHL games is back and this year the defense also gets to take advantage of the skill stick for even more realistic defensive controls.

The AI in this game is just as good as the last installment. No longer can you fly down a ring and continuously pass to the slot for one timers. After a while the AI catches up to your strategy and will adjust accordingly forcing you to adjust your gameplay.

Online play is fun as well this year with EA Sports Hockey League. Players can now join leagues online and compete with each other for the championship. All-in-all a great game. Wish the goalie play was a little more realistic, I can’t seem to get the sliders to perfect that. But I truly do recommend this game.

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