GAME STUDIO DESCRIPTION: Dominate the open ice with NHL® 2005, the most authentic and complete experience for hockey fans around the world. Open Ice Control adds a new dimension of realism to the gameplay experience, allowing you to utilize the entire ice surface by simultaneously controlling players without the puck. Plus, with the new face-off playcalling system, the World Cup of Hockey, and all-new EA SPORTS Free4All, you can light the lamp like never before. NHL 2005 is the hockey experience that is easy to play, but hard to master.
GRAPHICS: You can always count on EA to take it up a notch. EA nailed the players’ faces. The models aren’t great but how good can they get when it’s mostly pads under those monster shirts anyway—it’s not like modeling a basketball player. There is a reason EA is always number one in sports.
The animations are fluid and don’t jump and bugger. Many of the scenes make for great eye candy—some show a frustrated goalie after a score or a smiling wing man after an on target slap shot. When the players get bunched up there isn’t a jumbled mess of graphics nor does the mechanics go haywire. The collision mechanics are well done and the graphics never clip upon contact.
PLAY: EA has always been a company that tweaks things and with the new revision we are all wow’d by how useful the fix was. One great addition was separating the wrist shots from the slap shots by putting them on different buttons. One bad tweak is the emphasis on hits. The checks are overdone and it takes away from the real game fans love—lightening fast plays and shots on goal. Sometimes its near impossible to get an uncontested shot on goal.
Perhaps the greatest addition is the ability to position players off the puck. The goalies seem to be smarter and the AI is tuned up making goals harder to come—so position your guys for a deflection. That doesn’t mean you can’t score half a dozen goals a game—but you’ll have to work harder to get them.
The biggest issue is the lack of setting up fluid plays because of the checking. This isn’t supposed to be NHL Hitz. There is nothing sweeter than a great wrap around. The problem is that by the time you set up those great offensive moves are frustrating because you get lambasted. Good luck trying a break away—you might get through the front line but will your head still be attached?
The dynasty mode is the game’s saving grace. Its depth comes with owner expectations and goals. This isn’t merely a one year plan. The expectations are different for each club but some look at a plan for next year and so on. It’s deep and takes time, but it is well worth it—especially if you match those goals or exceed them. You can practice and get bonuses, work on attendance, and help give your team a moral boast.
Got chemistry? You’ll need it. If you think you can just throw together a team of great players and romp your way into the Stanley Cup you are sadly mistaken. It is important to manage otherwise it can effect how your team plays. It’sup to you to figure out how to fix bad chemistry.
SOUND: The commentators Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson aren’t great but get the job done. Honestly, how many of you buy a game for the commentator anyway? We’d rather hear the sounds from the ice than some mouth in a box. This is where NHL 2005 shines. The sound of the skates slicing across the ice, the slap of a puck, crashing into the boards, even the fans in attendance all sound like they came from television.
FRANKLY: With the addition of the World Cup and the depth of the dynasty mode hockey fans will rejoice even as their sport heads into a lock out. Don’t suffer through the winter without hockey—you can figure out the salary cap and take your team to the Stanley Cup. Heck, who needs hockey anyway when you have NHL 2005?
+ Richie Wright
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