PlayStation 3
Released in 2008 by 2K Sports
Grade: C+
This fun-focused take on hockey aims for a middle ground between sim and arcade, but it just feels off, with awkward movement and nonsense scoring logic.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the third of four 2K hockey games on PS3.
Praises and gripes
After NHL 2K8‘s curious experiment in unusual controls, this game returns to a conventional scheme. All the basic functions are done with the face buttons, and you speed burst with R2, with a helpful meter over your head showing when you’ll run out of steam. There are more advanced moves, just like last year, but the basics feel much more natural.
Unfortunately, the skating control is still off-kilter. Most of the time, players seem to trudge through mud on their first few strides. Other times, you overskate the puck because your guy doesn’t sidestep the way a real hockey player does. The slow acceleration is constantly frustrating, even after switching the game speed up to “fast.” Players don’t ever simply stop; it’s always a quick spin. And passes are slow, with very limited control over how fast you pass. It just doesn’t feel quite like hockey.
Goals come often, and rebound goals make up far too many of them. Star players magically find the back of the net more than the guys on your third line. Goalies have unusual behaviors, so you’ll want to abandon your hockey instincts.
Hockey purists will discover more annoying oddities. Defensemen often play much farther back than they should. It’s not easy to dump the puck into the corners consistently. Players don’t always collide naturally, but it’s pretty easy to nail opponents with a body check, which will shake the screen and make a ridiculous boom sound.
All in all, even though it’s meant to appeal to arcade sensibilities, it fails to retain a genuine feel of the sport.
There is one notable bright spot: a funny gag between periods where you drive the zamboni! If you’ve ever seen a live hockey game, you probably watched the zamboni methodically using a pattern that cleans the ice in as few turns as possible. Here’s your chance to become a zamboni master, covering the whole rink in under three minutes. Gotta give it to 2K for creativity on that one 🙂