You gotta be yanking me!
The good:
+ A realistic portrayal of defense strategy.
+ Graphics are beautiful.
+ Bruise control is awesome.
+ The addition of World Cup is pretty cool.
The bad:
- Defense is too overzealous for its own good. Obviously, you play your man and all, but checking every single player who isn't on your team is just downright dumb. Besides, there is something called a POKE CHECK which is a very important tactic in defensive hockey. I guess EA forgot
- Goalies are awful. I'll give you plenty of example later.
- Lack of penalties. I thought hockey had penalties....
- Dynasty mode is still flawed... The owner goals are ridiculous.
- The unrealistic checking. A small guy like Martin St. Louis can injure somebody like Kyle McLaren (who has one of the most devastating hip checks in the NHL today) with a simple, clean body check? Please. Shoot, in fights, he beats guys like Domi, Cairns, and even HATCHER!?
- Breakaways are almost impossible.
The really bad:
- The autopicked lines. Why would a top notch player like Lecavalier or Kariya be on the third or fourth line?
- The offseason is bland.
- The practice schedule is redundant. Every year, you play the exact same team. For example I was the Buffalo Sabres and my first game had me going up against the Islanders. Each year had me playing them at home every year.
- Free agency lacks depth.
The WTF:
*-* Goalies. It doesn't matter who's in goal. Whether it's Martin Brodeur or Steve Passmore, your guys will play the same and let the same stupid goals in. You can pass it to the goalie and he will let it in. You can go up to him and just pass it in. A real goalie would rob him and hold the puck like they do in NHL 2K5. It's extremly east scoring goals. You can easily get in front of the goalie undetected and score on a one timer. It's almost frustrating. One time, I was on the verge of a shutout. It was the third period with 25 seconds left and somebody passed the puck all the way through my zone and went between Joseph's legs. It was so frustrating. The whole goalie AI is frustrating. You EA fanboys say in 2K, you canpass the puck around but yet 2K's goalies know when to make quality saves. EA's goalies don't even know how to hold the puck.
The Verdict:
This game has its moments, but in long terms... It doesn't cut it. This would be the start of an EA epidemic of rehasing their game all the way up to NHL 08. This game can be fun playing with your friends, but that's it. I think Gamespot was being too nice about NHL 2005. I would recommend NHL 2K5. It's not a ripoff and it gives you what you want.