NHL 09 provides the most realistic hockey experience to date, with new features only improving last years game.
The new Be A Pro mode is immersive and gets addictive. You start out as a young draft pick, playing for your favourite NHL's team AHL affiliate. As you play each game you gain experience and can improve the attributes of your player. You can customize your player pretty well with officially licensed equipment, different player looks and player styles. As you progress in your career, depending on your skill, you can progress up to higher spots on the lines and eventually make it into the NHL, where u start on a lower line again and work your way up to the top.
The new defensive skill stick is a bit tricky at first but once you gain command of it, you will be poke-checking and stick lifting like the pros. the new momentum based hitting system provides a realistic feel to body checks, where you won't have a 5'4" player hip-checking a 6'6" player and sending him flying, thus keeping realism at its best.
EA has also induced a Media-Hub feature where you can take video clips and screenshots from offline and online games aswell as add your own musical touch to the gameplay. this allows players to put in their own songs for different situations such as the opening of a game, goals and penalties. Though there are some issues with the volume of custom music is less than that of the default music, it is an innovative feature that adds depth to the game.
The ability to take screenshots and video clips is a long awauted feature for the franchise, as many players have scored spectacular goals, but had no way of proving it to rivals. Now players can upload their clips to the Ea Sports World website and show off their skills and created plays. This is a feature that most games should now have, with the internet providing a ways of sharing videos, it should be taken advantage of.
It seems that EA has once again only improved on the previous years NHL game, continuing the franchise in a forward direction. It should be interesting to see what EA has to offer in the later years, but until then, NHL 09 can provide hockey fans with the best game to date.