NHL 2005 - Review

Added October 17th, 2004 by Kisan Parikh

Introduction:

While the real NHL in lockout, EA hopes to provide another way fans can get their share of hockey. This year, the folks at EA try to improve upon last year’s installment of the long running series. They promised better gameplay by means of fixing the hit-o-rama that was NHL 2004 and adding new features to allow you to set up plays. Also with the addition of online play and EA Sports Free4All we are promised more depth. The game succeeds to some extent to fulfill these promises but falls short at time, but that doesn’t mean it falls short as a game.

Gameplay:

This game offers 7 different game types: Online, Dynasty, Exhibition, Season, World Cup, Free4all, and Elite Leagues. Most of these game types are pretty self explanatory and will be described in the Replay section below, because when it comes down to it, there are two only areas of gameplay that really need to be reviewed: the actual way the game plays and Franchise Mode.

In-Game

Simply put, the game does not live up to everything that was promised. Right off the bat it was apparent that the game was still a hit-fest. Every time up the ice someone was likely to get pummeled, whether it is your players or the computers player being hit. This can be seen as a downfall by some because of constant the back and forth action, but by others this can be looked upon as the same fast paced action that makes the NHL series so great. What really is frustrating about the over-abundance of hitting, in my opinion, is that the game sometimes feels stuck in the neutral zone. Even with players who are not hitters in the slightest (Zubov, Turgeon, Modano, and V. Bure for example) can keep the other team from getting past the blue line. This is made even worse by the fact that going the other way, they continued to get knocked on their backs. Situations like this happened once or twice per game for me and were very frustrating. I tried to tinker with the hitting easiness slider. It does help a bit, but not to the extent to fix this issue.

The Open Ice Control system, which allows you to switch to another player without the puck, is a great new addition. After five minutes of getting used to the feature, I realized that this was pretty much the best way to score in the game. The reason is, if the AI that takes over the player with the puck manages not to get slammed onto the ice, your pretty much get a guaranteed scoring opportunity. Its not setting up in the offensive zone, but it makes up for it by offering a way to set up plays while making a quick offensive attack. The other new feature, Face-off Plays, is outright dumb. You don’t gain or lose anything by choosing conservative, standard, or aggressive. It changes nothing except where the players line up. Most of the time they skate back to their standard positions anyway instead of charging the net in aggressive mode.

The default game mood will become just about too easy within the first hour of game play. This is a good thing as the default mode is for learning the game so you can play at the difficult game mode. The only problem is that the defense you play against in difficult mode seems impossible. I found it to be a great challenge to get close enough to fire off a decent shot. This coupled with your line mates constantly being behind you. I tried using the Open Ice feature, but the AI with the puck always gets nailed. I suppose if you played it enough, you will get good enough to actually compete. But in the 9 years that I have played the NHL series, I have never seen such unbalanced difficulty modes.

These negative issues aside, playing on the default difficulty is fun. Play around with the sliders to determine what works best for you. The one thing that I know I enjoyed was playing the game with friends. There’s no dominant AI defense to deal with and you probably won’t walk all over your buddies after they get a hang of the game.

Dynasty Mode

The Dynasty Mode has an interesting new concept to it. You sign with a certain team as a Coach/GM to start. The new thing is that the team’s owner has set goals for you to accomplish. Choose your team wisely because if you don’t accomplish the big bosses goals then you’ll have to start over again. This is a great idea because for the first time, the Dynasty Mode in a hockey game has a direction that you are supposed to take. This is a cool idea because the goals affect your approach on a season. If your owner want a Maurice Richard trophy winner, then you should try and get one superstar on your team and not worry about others, but if your goal is to win the Stanley Cup, then you will spend your money making all the players decent without worrying if one is a superstar.

The Dynasty Mode revolves around an email sort of system. You will receive mail on topics such as injury reports, trade offers, financial reports, and letters from your owner either disappointed or happy with your performance.

Another change to the dynasty mode is the new way to set practices. Instead of the tedious way it was handled last year, now you are able to just select one practice type (from light skate to full contact) and let that be the type of practice you run until you decide to change it again. While this is a huge improvement, I feel that it would be even better if you could have a set of practices that are automatically rotated so you don’t have to mess with this setup as much.

Another great feature is the new way lines need to be edited. Instead of being based on overall rating alone, editing lines has become more complex and interesting. Now forwards are categorized as scorers, playmakers, and grinders. Defensive players are categorized as either offensive, defensive, or checkers. This forces you to mix and match different types of players to come up with ideal lines.

I recommend that you simulate each game individually for two reasons. One, it keeps the game from automatically selecting bad lines. Two, simulating the whole season at once takes a large amount of time. I felt that I could have simulated each game individually faster than it simulated the season all at once.

The dynasty mode, overall, is just decent. It isn’t overwhelming good but still offers what you are used to and expect from the series. I hope to see some of the aspects from Madden put into the game such as off-season training in the future. For now, this dynasty mode will have to do.
Graphics:

Right from the start of the first game I played, I knew that this game would be another great game when it came down to graphics and presentation. The coaches resembled their real life counterparts just as well as the players stunning resemblance to theirs. The animations looked realistic as did the actual player models. If a player is short and stocky in real life, you can defiantly tell in the game.

The camera that I felt really was the best in terms of showing of the graphics is action camera. While it doesn’t allow you to use the Open Ice Control feature too well, it allows you to see how nice the game looks.

The presentation of this game was spectacular. From the crowd to the flashes reflecting off a player’s helmet after they score, the game just plain looks awesome. Every little cut scene, such as the ones before face-off, make you feel like you are watching a hockey game. In regards to graphics, I feel that it is NHL 2005’s strongest aspect.

Audio:

The in-game audio in NHL 2005 is very similar to any other hockey game. In this it gets done what needs to get done. From crowd cheering, sticks hitting the ice, to players getting hit, it’s all there just as it has been in the past. What sets this game apart as far as audio goes is its superb commentating and soundtrack. The commentary work is not too repetitive, nor does it attempt at humor like other games. It fills its role and does a good job of not getting annoying. The soundtrack of NHL 2005 is strong, as are all the EA soundtracks. It features a personal favorite of mine, Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand.

Controls:

The controls have been revamped for the better this latest installment to the NHL series. Now there are separate buttons for slap shots (B) and wrist shots (X). This takes a while to get used to but I feel that it’s actually a better system. The other change to shots is that if you go behind the opposing goal and hit X then you perform a quick wrap around move. This move is pretty effective and is similar to the little know move in NHL 98 which was done by going behind the net with Gretzky and hitting the shoot button. The rest of the control changes are more to do with using different buttons and do not directly influence how the game is played.
Replay:

The game offers you 7 different modes to play on. Exhibition is the best choice for when you have friends over and just want a quick game. Season mode is just one season of dynasty mode. I don’t recommend that because why not just do a Dynasty? The World Cup is a straightforward tournament that allows you to recreate the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. It serves as a nice variation to the NHL Dynasty Mode. Another good variation is the Elite Leagues. This mode allows you to play as teams in European leagues. The Free for All is absolutely the best for when you have a couple buddies over. Its just video game pond hockey pretty much. (Only the players can have big heads.)

The online mode is way for players to face-off head to head against strangers and friends alike. You are offered with leaderboards and other standard options, but the game doesn't offer anything revolutionary. Online, the game functioned okay for the most part except for random 10 second spurts of terrible lag that happened two or three times a game. The player on screen sometimes shot the puck two seconds after you hit the shoot button, but most of the time this was not the case. The online part of this game offers the player some great variety for those who are sick of Dynasty Mode.

Summary:

Aside from falling short of nearly every promise, NHL 2005 is a fun, fast paced game. The big question on everyone’s mind is: Which game is better, ESPN NHL 2K5 or NHL 2005? My answer to you is the following: It all depends on what you prefer. Do you want a slower paced gameplay with more time to set up plays (ESPN NHL 2K5) or do you want a fast paced game, big hitting game with excellent presentation (NHL 2005). I have to say that I would honestly go with the ESPN game because it is more game for my buck.