Oh Canadian sports and EA make a killer combo
NHL 08 brings many great things to the game that the previous game lacked. First and foremost they pretty much left the control scheme alone, but this is a good thing as nothing really needed to be touched. Although now you are able to pull these cool one on one moves with the left bumper in combination with the right analog stick. By hitting the bumper and moving the right analog stick you push the puck in the direction of the stick, and skate around the defender. These moves are very useful for when you got one more guy to beat before the goalie. You can also preform a slap pass to a player who will then one-time/ deflect the puck into the net. Overall these are the only additions to the already awesome controls.
Controls aside, the gameplay is now much better, and more realistic than the previous game. The game is now running at a faster frame-rate, but the game has a more slowed down feeling. This may seem bad, but in all fairness it's a very good thing. Instead of the entire offense depending on the rush and moves, now you can slow down the play in the offensive zone, and try and set up a play to score. Although in the last game you could do this, in this game, it is a much more rewarding feeling, and you will really have to work at it due to the very solid AI. You can also now play as the goalie with the new goalie controls. Although not the best thing ever, and can be hard, its fun to stone some of your opponents shots. Overall the game itself is not that bad.
Another thing added this year was a new AI system. The AI is overall much better generally, but what they've added is the ability to learn your strategies. So if your playing for the one-timer over the middle every time? Then they will adjust to that and try and keep a guy in the passing lane. If you try and get shots from the point a lot, then they will try and stop the play up at the point. Overall it's very cool how the AI will learn your strategies and plays.
There are a couple of new things in the game that they have added and edited. They have re-vamped the create a player mode, so it actually is like create a player this year, where you can give your guy some cool equipment. The dynasty mode wasn't really touched, but now signing players as free agents is much smarter. The player's interest in the team will be a factor in signing a new player, if he's not interested, chances he won't play unless you put a lot of money on the table. But probably the most important new feature is the new create a play mode. This mode will put you into a practice, and you can come up with your own interesting play. This feature is very cool, and sometimes you can come up with some very useful things, and not only that, but you will be able to use these plays in a real game. Sometimes you could come up with the unstoppable play, but due to the games AI, they will learn the play, and come up with plays to stop it. Which means you can come up with more plays, or have different options in the play. Overall it is a very cool mode to check out.
There are some great online features that are now available to the NHL crowd. Not only can you play in a simple 1 vs. 1 match, but you can compete in a shoot-out game which was one of the more popular modes in the last game. And you can also play in a team game, where each person gets a certain position on the ice. With all of this, there are also online leagues in which EA is trying for the first time on the consoles to see if it works. Although the games can be pretty laggy, it can be very fun.
Overall this is a great hockey game, and maybe one of the best hockey games released in a while. While there might be some issues with the games online, and still the dynasty lacks some depth, this game is superb. If you are a sports fan in general, or a hockey fan, I highly recommend this game.