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NHL 2K9 Review
With Visual Concepts replacing Kush Games as the lead developer of 2K's NHL franchise, I expected a return to the days where the series ruled the ice. What I found instead was a player past his prime facing the waiver wire.
NHL 2K9 fails to impress from the moment the skates hit the ice. The emotionless and repetitive commentary and presentation betray the excitement generated in a hockey arena. The stiff skating makes star players look like unathletic junior varsity kids struggling to make the team, and the goalies stand in the net like Herman Munster. Both control options - the classic face button scheme and the part analog/part face button hybrid - fail to feel as fluid or natural as EA's superior skill stick. The only areas where 2K outshines the competition are in the varied collision animations and the face-off mechanic, which keeps you guessing each time the puck drops.
The franchise mode fares just as bad as the on-ice action. Though the game offers several tantalizing trades throughout the season, there isn't a trading block that lets you see who else is available. There are no scouting options for learning about prospects, you can't buy out player contracts, and free agency is a mess. At the end of our second season, every team's salary cap was so maxed that star players like Henrik Zetterberg, Roberto Luongo, and even the cover boy Rich Nash were sitting the season out because no one could afford them!
Playing a mess like NHL 2K9, it's hard to think that just a few years ago this was the hockey game of choice for serious puckheads. Now it would take several pucks to the head to even make me consider paying money for this experience.
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