NHL 2005 is a solid hockey game, but there are issues too big to be labeled as minor inconveniences.
Though the NHL took a year off, EA sports didn’t when they released their annual addition to their long running NHL franchise. Though this is a great game with plenty of things going for it, there are a couple of things that can make the game a lot less realistic than it should be.
NHL 05 treads the line between being an arcade style versus a simulation style hockey experience. The controls are very simple and suited to casual players (unlike 2K5’s controls). The game places heavy emphasis on offensive play and crowd pleasing goals. EA enforced this image by introducing the Open Ice Support and Open Ice Control features as the major selling points of the game. These ideas sound a lot more interesting than they actually are. The Open Ice Support causes one of your teammates to come over and start checking any opponent that is pressuring you at the moment. The main problem with the Open Ice Control is that the camera doesn’t switch to follow the player that you’re supposed to be positioning in the open ice, but it instead stays fixed on the player with the puck. This leaves you skating blindly offscreen if you’re trying to set up a play that will actually accomplish anything, otherwise you can just skate alongside the player with the puck until the opposing AI takes him down. (more on that later) The irony of it is that the Open Ice Control feature isn’t as original as EA claims it to be. A system virtually identical to it was featured in Olympic Hockey ’98 for the N64. I might also mention that that system worked a lot better than the one in 05.
NHL 2005 also introduces two button shooting. In most hockey games, you control the type of shot your player performs using one button, quickly tapping it for a wrist shot and holding it down for a hard slap shot. 05 breaks shooting up into different buttons for different shots, which is a welcome addition for those who want to be able to make a distinction between the shot you perform when you set up a play. There’s also the wraparound shot that is activated by pressing one of the shoot buttons when you’re behind the net.
I’m now brought to the one aspect of NHL 2005, this is the checking. Checking is way too abundant and effective in this game to be realistic. Checking an opponent from a standstill will often result in the player spinning wildly around for a second before crashing to the ice. My point is that the animations are way more exaggerated than they need to be. Also, the defensive AI… Anyone who has played this game knows how lopsided the defensive AI in 05 is. They always attempt to check you as soon as you enter their zone, always seem to be able to hit you with maximum momentum and they never ever use the poke check. This makes for some extremely frustrating games until you get the hang of how to get around the defense without getting smashed to pieces. Basically you have first enter the offensive zone along either of the boards, be able to pass the puck very quickly and be really good about knowing when to use your boost move.
Other than what I said earlier, NHL 2005 is a very good game. The graphics are excellent although the frame rate seems to drop occasionally during the cutscenes which I frind a bit irritating. The sound is great except for the commentary, although you have the option of turning it off. Should you get this game? I’d recommend renting it first if you can. Then again NHL 06 is out now so you could just go get that instead since EA supposedly fixed all of the big problems. Though still a good hockey game, NHL 2005 definitely has issues.