Product Description

Become the first great name in videogame hockey with NHL 09. Jump into the EA SPORTS Hockey League and become part of the first console sports MMO. Take your created player online and join a team with friends, or scout for players. Featuring 6 vs. 6 online team play, the ability to level up your player, tournament brackets, and awards at the end of every season.

Check Hard and Fight - A physics-based checking and fighting engine featuring more than 300 new animations brings a higher-level of intensity to the game

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2406 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: 19058
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
• Platform: PlayStation2
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Features

• Defensive Skill Stick - NHL 08 gave you true offensive prowess with the Skill Stick, and this year, you have the power to stop it. Block passing lanes with 360 control of your stick or kill an opponent's one timer game by lifting their stick just before they receive a pass
• Be A Pro - A dynamic 3rd person camera puts you in the role of one player on a team. The Performance Tracker will rate your play in over 50 categories, to make sure you know what parts of your game need to improve. Start your career off in the ranks of the AHL and become one of the best in the NHL. Your very own hockey card will mark your progress, from your rookie beginnings to a potentially legendary ending
• Create-A-Play Breakouts - create a winning strategy in both online and offline play. Make breakout plays from your own zone or set up behind your net and tell your right winger to look for the flip dump from the defenseman
• NHL 94 Controls - Hit, pass, shoot, and score using the simplified two-button control system featured in NHL 94. So even if you're new to the game, you can challenge the best of the best
• One-handed Dekes - When you are skating in on a breakaway, tap the puck to one hand and tuck the puck behind a sprawling goalie for the ultimate finish

Customer Reviews

Solid hockey for the Ps2 this year which includes all the fun and frustration of the real NHL
This year's EA hockey game for the Ps2 delivers some great hockey action despite predictably lacking a few of the features present in the next-gen versions. The top-notch presentation and high profile soundtrack make for an intense and generally satisfying hockey experience, despite a few irritating gameplay flaws.

PROS
-Great presentation with sharp visuals, terrific sound effects and a soundtrack with some surprisingly good songs. Animations are excellent and varied and collision detection is pretty good with players bouncing and tumbling after driving the net and stumbling and staggering after player and puck contact.
-Great controls. Playing defense is fun with the 360 degree poke feature, effective and well-animated hooks and tie ups, and convincing body checks. The manual deke puck control and right stick shooting takes some getting used to, but is generally solid and feels right.
-Overall, the puck physics are quite believable.

CONS
-Sporadic scoring sucks a lot of the fun out of this game. Sometimes it feels like NHL 09 decides before the game (or period) whether or not everything will go in, or if the goalies will be omnipotent. Generally goalies vary from god-like (the CPU most of the time) to incompetent (more often than not, your goalie... especially with rebounds and bad angles by comparison). When the CPU decides it is time to score on you, everything will work against you... especially your netminder, as your goalie will give up the fluke goals much more often than the CPU. Expect to out-shoot the CPU by 150% but have around the same amount of goals, or none at all. If you are frustrated easily, the goals (or lack thereof) in this game will make you pull your hair out because an amazing deke or one-time play will likely have the same odds of finding the back of the net as a fluttering wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
-There is, however, one exception to this goalie (and scoring) inconsistency, meaning that there is one consistent theme... goaltenders, more often than not, bite very hard on fake shots (as do defenders... you can lay out half their team as they scramble to block it). You can score quite often by faking a shot and dekeing or shooting to the open side (forehand is very effective) or dishing it for a one-timer as the goalie will react to the fake by going into a butterfly save and freezing for a moment, leaving a gaping net. If you can get any amount of space in the offensive zone and see no shame in exploiting this tactic then you will score a lot of goals.
-Teammate AI can be pretty idiotic, unfortunately. Your teammates enjoy frequently skating right in front of you or standing in your way like statues when you try to carry or shoot the puck. They also do not always grasp the concept of using the boards to cycle the puck nor are they generally all that good at gathering loose pucks or positioning themselves offensively. They also tend to take stupid penalties by randomly checking people.
-Not all the animations are great... in particular skating backwards with the puck, which not only looks very awkward but generally does not work well at all. The goalie animations are rather poor, as well.
-An occasional bug I noticed is that sometimes the game seems to forget you have had a penalty called on you. You will be shorthanded, but there will be no penalty clock and you can still take icing calls until the powerplay ends.
-The package itself is dull and unattractive. Opening the box to get your game disc you are greeted with a black and white booklet. Also, many of the team ratings are inaccurate and biased.

Overall, the game is solid. It manages to mesh arcade and simulation rather well, although in doing so leads to some frustration with goalie inconsistency. Though there is no online play, if you have always enjoyed EA's fast-paced hockey games, you will likely enjoy this one. If you can get over the often times omnipotent, other times incompetent goaltenders, annoying teammate AI, and some fluky goals, you will probably come to appreciate the otherwise first-rate presentation, detailed and varied animations, mostly commendable collision detection, and fleshed out gameplay features of NHL 09.

The Best out there
This is easily the best hockey game I have played. There have been many improvements on past games (i.e. no more 100% scoring chances, better physics throughout). The Be A Pro mode is a lot of fun, and the new R toggle dekes make the game more realistic.

However, there are some cons. When comparing this game to the same for XBox360 and PS3, there are many great features missing. The PS2 version does not allow you to control the goalie in the game, or for Be A Pro. The Be A Pro mode is also shortened from the next gen systems where you can start in the AHL. The PS2 version does not have an online feature, either. There are some more minor areas that are missing.

While that sounds like a lot of complaints, it is all about things the game does not have. If you simply look at what is included with the game, and no do look at what the newer versions have, it is a lot of fun and definately worth it.

An Upgrade To Last Season, But Not Entirely A New Game
EA Sports NHL 09 is a solid game; much like last year's effort. Some improvements were made, and some added programming actually makes this game a purchase if you enjoyed last season's NHL 08.

Some of the new things in NHL 09 include better goalies (somewhat; still let in that soft goal more than wanted), a few new skating and checking animations, Create/Be a Pro mode, and the ability to play in numerous leagues (Russian, AHL, etc.). The Create a Pro mode is a neat idea, but not really all too great. It's interesting to create or be a current player and take them to stardom, but the reality is that this mode is really playing with the position lock (stuck in 3rd person perspective camera view) while following the development of one player. I enjoyed this mode of play except for a few bugs. First, no matter what player you have (that doesn't fight) control of, if you choose to drop the gloves, a fight will ensue with the player you control--it doesn't matter if you control a goal scorer and the enforcer is on the other wing; your goal scorer get in the scrap. A second bug in the game is with your AI teammates--they regularly skate right in front of you and get in your way as if you are the puck itself. Thirdly, the 3rd person perspective camera can sometimes be a problem as the action can tend to happen off camera if you fall behind. Other than that, this game play mode is fairly fun to play.

Dynasty mode is the same as last season. The major problem I have with the Dynasty mode is that you need to upgrade things like coaches, facilities, legal personnel, etc. I find this to be a little tedious as it makes your players worse more often than better. It's realistic, but I'd rather concentrate on drafting, signing contracts, and trading players. I have yet to discover a way to eliminate this micromanagement other than playing in the single season mode. However, in the single season mode you don't have to deal with the salary cap which can make lopsided teams, but teams and players play more to their attributes. In both modes here there are a few bugs as well. When trying to get in a scrap, the only players that fight are your defensemen; regardless if they have ever fought in their entire career. Additionally, your teammates tend to not find pucks and go off-sides far too often. In all modes, opponent AI tends to grab the puck in their offensive zone and skate to the middle of the circles, just stop there, and do nothing. Defensive strategies are a waste as even if you have your players in conservative play, they constantly get caught and trapped in the offensive zone leading to odd-man rushes and breakaways against you.

All advertisements for NHL 09 by EA Sports were for the PS3 and Xbox 360. In the PS2 version, certain things like the Create a Pro mode starts you in the NHL, not the AHL; as advertised. There is no stick lift option on the PS2 version, either (the closest you get to it is to hold the poke modifier and press the hook button). Lastly, there are no new fighting animations in the PS2 version as well.

I am not saying that this is a bad game, by any means. It is good hockey game. Rosters are pretty updated, but some players are found on your parent club's AHL roster (odd?). If you play it like how you see it, then you get a good hockey sim from goals scored, shots for/against, goalie GAA and save % (you will need to turn all but the defensive game play sliders all the way down--these are for player boosts only). However, if you constantly take players out of position to make big hits and have the game play sliders all the way up, then you will experience an arcade-like hockey game. NHL 09 vets will enjoy the complex controls, while those new to the series (or those who haven't played an EA Sports NHL games since the Sega Genesis days) can use the two-button controls (but you don't get most of the offensive/defensive moves).

Again, if you liked last season's game, then you will like NHL 09. The Create a Pro mode is worth checking out, but don't expect too much from it. It is an upgrade to last year's NHL 08, but it's not really a new title.