Recycled But Solid Hockey
There is something odd about me. But before you get any ideas, I don't have some funky disease or suffer from some strange disorder or anything like that. What's weird about me is my taste in sports. I happen to be your average American college student that goes to class in the morning, works a part-time job in the afternoon and goes home to ever-so-tasty bowls of Ramen and even MORE work. However, you usually won't find me sitting on the couch on Sunday afternoons watching the next big match-up in the NFL or some random baseball game featuring people I've never heard of. No, I'm different. My favorite sport happens to feature the league made famous by athletes such as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. That's right, it's good ol' NHL hockey, as my love for the fast-paced activity prompted a recent pickup, NHL 2K7. I fell in love with the only sport with more toothless people than a Village People hillbilly concert when I played Blades of Steel for the NES. I played with my truly a-hole bigger brother quite frequently, and I owned him most of the time. Once I pissed him off so badly during a fight that he took my controller away from me and wouldn't give it back until he won. But it was while I played Blades of Steel that I became familiar with the very team that Mr. Lemieux belonged to for over ten seasons, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In all these years, I've learned all the rules, strategies and various big-name players that are involved in the contact sport. I'm sure I know more about hockey than the average American, I mean who's ever heard of Miroslav Satan right? Then again, no 'true' Statesman would really give a crap.
Having said all this, I've always wanted to play a hockey game that would feel like I'm playing the real thing, only I'm not, because it's, well, a videogame. My favorite title is and still remains to be NHL '96 for the SNES, as I'm still proud of how I manipulated the software to achieve a true dynasty. NHL 2K3 is a close second, but it still didn't quite do it for me, and after the fiasco that was NHL 2004 from EA, I decided to give hockey game playing a rest because no developer was satisfying me. I did decide to pick up NHL 2K6 used about six months after it released, and that proved rather pointless because I didn't even have time for it. However, my hockey fever has recently risen to about 110 degrees, so of course I needed some cold ice to cure that problem and get another fix. So finally getting to this damn critique, what's 2K7 like?
If you're a hockey gamer that loves the arcade style (a la NHL Hitz), by all means, get this game, no matter what the platform. If you're still looking for that plausible sim like I've been for years, you may not be so happy. I am one of the people in that second group, but thankfully that doesn't mean I don't like the game. Very much so in fact. It's simply not what I've desired in a hockey game to this date.
I would say NHL 2K7 for the current generation platforms suffers from two major weaknesses. First and foremost, a majority of the content in 2K6 was recycled, so you will as might as well think 2K7 has the 2K6 box but the number magically changed, along with the feature athlete who's now Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks. See? Told you I knew my stuff. Second, the unique gameplay features that actually do make for a rather enjoyable experience don't make a true simulation possible enough. Trust me, I've tweaked the settings more than enough times to attempt it, but it's just not happening.
Players will still fall victim to the relentless hitting and completely illegal body contact from their computer opponents, something that will make you at times want to bash into a nearby wall yourself out of frustration. While this flaw isn't nearly as bad as I've seen in other titles (like 2004, *gag*), it still affects the overall gameplay and will not please those wanting a simulation. I think I can recall one moment in the offensive zone in which I was actually able to set up my team for consecutive passes. That had to be a power play. I also don't understand when a fight happens because of too much of that nasty hitting why there are quite a few instances of the players appearing to think "which way did he go George, which way did he go?" The game is also preyed upon by the incredibly unrealistic feature that still requires players to mostly utilize the one-timer for their goals. That event just doesn't happen often in the NHL due to its hardcore difficulty, and if it ever actually does, the puck usually doesn't see the back of the net.
Basically what you have here is a repeat of NHL 2K6 with one new gameplay feature, the pressure system, and a few other new minor additions and tweaks. The pressure system allows you to highlight a particular player on the opposing team, and pumping L2 any number of times will force a nearby teammate to go after them for you. It's not bad, but the pacing of the game for dedicated hockey game fans will find it tough to use effectively when they're speeding down to the offensive end along the boards. The Pro Control system is back, which requires the pushing of R3 to give every player on your team an exclusive button assignment. Pressing a player's given icon will make the puck go in their direction, and tapping it twice will cause a one-timer, go figure. What satisfies me though, is blasting the rubber disc from the point with some traffic in front of the net may cause some nice deflections, and THAT is something you see in real hockey games. I really did enjoy seeing John Leclair tip my slapper from the point with Sergei Gonchar, giving me a 1-0 lead over the Flyers in my first game of the regular season. I shut them out 3-0 too!
There's also a nice bit of unlockable content in the matter of alternate jerseys, legacy teams and new arenas. A couple of the gameplay modes though, including Pond Hockey and Mini-rink, are completely uninspiring. The season mode is where it's at, as that is where you experience the true 2006-2007 schedule with your favorite team. I'm currently 11-4-0 with my Penguins, how's about that? Unfortunately Franchise mode is duller than the play of the Philadelphia Flyers right now, as all you do is pick a team you want to take in, play their games and micromanage the players more than you do in Season mode. It's really not worth your time unless you truly enjoy that sort of thing.
The online component is pretty cool though, as I've spent some pretty good time with it. There are instances when you'll experience issues with lag and disconnections, but heck, what online game doesn't have them? It does suck that I've lost every game I've played so far, but that's only because my connection was interrupted half the time and the other times my opponent just owned me even though I've always been good with playing hockey games. I still think they cheated anyway. But there are lobbies for beginning and advanced players, along with the Mini-rink feature. You can also set up your own league or tournament and take part in it with a number of different people, battling for the top spot on the particular leaderboard. It's pretty enjoyable, just not when you lose 5-2. At least you can download a partial roster update though.
When you get back to the main game, you'll see the same rather unimpressive presentation that came with 2K6. It makes me sad when I can remember seeing more authentic player models in NHL 2004 than I do in this game. That's not to say they're terrible, but man they are so god-awfully generic, and the same deals with the flat fan audience that does absolutely nothing for the atmosphere. I only recognize the already legendary Sidney Crosby because of his number, helmet visor and longer hair in the back. He could be Mark Recchi for crying out loud! The rinks look great though, and the lighting effects live up to the standards of hockey game eye candy. Unfortunately you don't see much in the realm of ice degradation, which is an obvious physical impossibility since metal blades + ice = skating lines everywhere. Not in 2K7 frankly, which rather boggles my mind. The audio though, is pretty solid all-around, although the same lame start screen theme from last year returned and I still don't like it. It honestly sounds like a fruity knock-off of the ESPN theme. The soundtrack isn't bad at all though, with about half the songs fitting the game pretty well, and the other half making me raise an eyebrow. But at least those tracks aren't as bad as the commentary. Oh my goodness, I'm begging EA and 2K Games, PLEASE offer Mike Lange and Phil Bourque of the Penguins hockey network the job for 2008! Either Bob Cole and Harry Neale really suck with play-by-play and color commentary or their writers do! It doesn't matter, 2K6 didn't impress me, and that didn't change with 2K7. After about the third game in my season, I heard every line, and every half-assed 'analytical comment' of what's happened so far. That makes me want to cry too.
Don’t take all this the wrong way though, NHL 2K7 is a solid game of hockey, it's just not going to blow you away. Owners of 2K6 pretty much already know how to play this, and those that haven't gotten a hockey title in a while will find things they like and don't like. It's still a fun game to play really, you're just not going to get a sim if that's what you're after. You'll be able to tweak the settings to an extent, but don't expect it to work out exactly the way you want it, unless as I said, you enjoy all that bullcrap hitting that takes place. At least the online component isn't a mere afterthought, so we have that to be happy about. On a surprising note, even though much of the game is stuff we saw last year, a lot of the good did make a comeback, we just didn't see the necessary upgrades that the Xbox 360 counterpart received. Yeah, I'm sort of jealous of those stupid NHL 07 owners and their damned skill stick. Oh well, NHL 2K7 didn't exactly light the lamp, but at least the puck didn't break the glass.