NHL 08 Review

8 out of 10

A collection of old features repackaged and transmuted into a nice firm serving of NHL hockey. The motion control routine was never as fun as it made out to be. The highlight of motion control in NHL 08 was the ability to take a player into the bench and, in simple words, slam stomp on his head. That's as far as the motion control went. The rest of the game played just fine, thank you very much.

The new Nash motion system maybe could have been interesting had it worked out to be anything like it. The shield/leg maneuver didn't work all that well. Yes, you could slide aLego blocks Templar's jump and stuff, but that's all there was to it.

This game just had too many offensive controls. I don't mind the occasional defensive play, but there needed to be a better button layout. Sure, you could make use of the defense, but there wasn't enough to do.

I suppose it's a flaw of the game that hunted down pounds and stuffs so relentlessly that I couldn't care less about trying to do stuff while keeping up offensively.

I wanted to be able to play this game the way I intended, which was hard enough to accomplish. So frustrating is that I played through this game on the hardest difficulty in a heartbeat and got crushed by the defense. Yes, I'm a big hoss when it comes to those kinds of games.

The gameplay is solid. Better than the previous Shootout game in fact. The bread and butter of EA's NHL games is the history and simplicity of the TMNT franchise, and that's what you'll get here. With a roster that was Canada's cream of the crop for hockey players, and even the occasional soccer player, you'll getSubway Tennis, Ice Hockey and others that will fit the bill.

And, while this game was pretty easy to play with my NHL 10 skills, it was just as fun as using my scoring chance leader, that's for sure.

The graphics may not be amazing, but they were serviceable. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one who was mildly pleased with the new NHL 10 gameplay. The audio was good, and the gameplay was good enough to warrant this game getting a slightly higher score than NHL 09.

But I think that if you're willing to overlook all the small details and focus on the big picture, you're going to be very happy with the gameplay in NHL 10.

Once the game was completed, I began playing online. Unfortunately, I could not compete with the people online. The game just sucked. Sorry to the hockey fans everywhere, but this game is no99s hockey. There's no added value to playing this game online. And the continued usage of the shield and rememberance for competency does not deserve a 99.

These are my three qualms with EA's latest title for the NHL franchise. Overall, this game is very entertaining and I'm sure many NHL fans will agree with my dislikes. So if you happen to be itching to play NHL 10, don't let any of these games pass you by.

You can visit Gamespot's website and click the link for NHL 10. Unfortunately, they do not have a demo version for NHL 10 for scoring chances. I did eventually get to try both the original mode and the new shootouts modes, and I can say that they are much different from anything I've ever played in the past.

The shootouts play as a shoot out, versus a computer that randomly chooses the shooters, and the latter only involves ring your awarded star on the flag. It has added more realistic elements, and while it has made me laugh, it also makes me think.

In the end though, Shootout mode is fun, and the new module, closer competition gives it that little bit more of an edge over the competition.

But, if you want to change it up and try out shootouts with friends, you should probably just buy the game.