Once gain EA ships absolute garbage in a pretty package. This is basically '06 with the goofy autogoals taken out (a good thing) and adds a 'skill stick' analog control for passing (also pretty good once you get the hang of it.) Of course some noodlebrain decided to use the right trigger for shooting and while the X button remains for wristers, on D it's mapped for block/dive, so quite often you'll find yourself trying to shoot a wrister only to fall flat on your face or even worse, take a lame tripping penalty. The goaltending seems a bit better than last year, in that they don't flop around like a trout in your boat but they still can't make saves to save their life. Superstars like Luongo, Kiprusoff, hell anyone will let in crap goals again and again. Good luck to anyone trying to maintain a 90% SV with any goalie, no matter his stats or your skill on D. A typical first period might look something like 8 shots/2 goals vs 5 shots/1goal. The computer must fudge the stats, since all the goalies seem to hover around the 80-85% SV but you will rarely get such a performance in a game, as bad as that sounds. Another annoying aspect is the opposing player AI, they will still crash the net 8/10 times, hardly ever bothering to set up interesting plays and they have a annoying way of skating right up to your net, stopping and try to 'push' to puck in. The goalie will almost always stop these, but they don't count as a shot on goal, even if they go in! With all that said sometimes there are moments of fun with this game but it. like it's predecessors is dragged down by bugs. unimplemeted features, broken goalies and awful, awful terrible music. 5/10 and that is generous.
Coming from the 2K series, I really found something... desirable about NHL 06's skill stick. Even though it lacked any uniqueness, it did give the player (the user) a little something to rub into your brother's/friend's ... Read Full Review
Love the gameplay, love the graphics, love the commentary. The only thing I don't like is that there aren't any fun activities or a skybox like on the 2K Sports series. But this game is SO much more up-to-date than 2K,... Read Full Review
