NHL 2005 [PS2]

Hey, hockey fans, guess what? There's no NHL this year. For all intents and purposes, the NHL has been canceled. The ice has melted, the players are standing firm, the owners are against the wall, and the fans... well, who cares about the fans? EA does! Yep, the company's ever-popular NHL series is back with a 2005 edition. Who needs high ticket prices and sporadic TV coverage? Make your own league, lead your own team to glory, write your own record book, and go online and play against other rabid, abandoned hockey fans.

NHL, once again, is one of EA's powerhouses. True-blue, died-in-the-wool hockey fans grumble that the game is too arcade-like to be a simulation (see ESPN NHL for that), but it hasn't impacted sales. For one thing, persnickety users can tweak realism and physics, and for another, nobody does arcade hockey like EA. It's a lot of fun, and has been for over a decade. In 2005, the graphics are, as usually, slightly better, the action is improved, some flaws have been fixed (and some new ones have cropped up), and the dynasty mode has been enriched and improved.

EA has added a new feature called "open ice control." The idea is simple: It allows the player to take control of "puck-less" teammates, set them up, then order the puck-handler to pass for the perfectly placed and strategic shot or one-timer. This intuitive and well-devised system makes it easier to fake out defenders, especially human-controlled players. It allows you to set up and execute quick "give-and-go" plays to get around defenders and get an open, unsuspected shot at the goal. Now you can design ambush-style picks, which is illegal in the NHL, but lots of fun in the game.

Also, players can now change formation on the fly -- a wonderful new strategic option. If your team has the lead, you can order your team to play conservatively by defending the puck and calling everyone to protect the goal. Or aggressively, with defenders playing forward and wings moving in for fast-breaks and one-timers. Giving the player control over how your AI teammates play improves your chances against human opponents.

The AI does a better job in controlling and placing defenders, which makes the game less of a one-on-one fast-break-athon and more tactical. New animations include more varied goalie blocks and stops, and the better physics allows players to react more realistically when hit. Backward and speed skating is improved -- EA claims it motion-captured five different players and it shows. There's a wide variety of celebrations, and the faces and facial expressions look more accurate.

Players have been tweaked and given more accurate personalities. A penalty prone or thuggish character will react accordingly on the ice. Aggressive players will push and nudge, the penalty prone will trip and high stick at will, and brawlers are easy to bait into a fight. The result is a game that not only feels more like hockey, it makes multiple games more fun to play. Each team reacts based on their team's personalities, and this is exploitable to the savvy coach.

Dynasty mode has also been expanded. Now, owners are expected to meet certain goals, like maintaining a certain win percentage, making a set amount of revenue each year, or getting the Stanley Cup as quickly as possible. All information is accessed through a PDA and coaches can trade players, renegotiate contracts, or pump dough into training facilities.

Renegotiating players is a real challenge this year -- they act more like the real-world millionaires they are! No matter which side of the dispute you support, you're saddled with the owner's problems of dealing with a budget, trying to win games and championships, while also trying to pay a key player what he thinks he's worth. You get a limited number of chances here -- if you stall or stay too low, they will walk (er, skate) to another team.

The graphics are decent, but ESPN reigns this year. EA also added Xbox Live to all their titles and NHL, unfortunately, suffers from the same growing pains the other EA Live titles have. The problem, which is evident on the PS2 as well, is with EA's online service. Connecting to Live is fine, but from there you enter EA's world and this is a world that's markedly slower, more prone to dropped connections, and is less convenient than the pure connection of Sega's ESPN games.

EA's arcade charms, along with open ice and a deeper dynasty mode, make NHL 2005 worth a look. While the game's is an improvement over the 2004 edition, it's still not quite up to snuff. Sadly, NHL fans are used to a little disappointment by now.