NHL 08 Review

I REALLY WANT THIS GAME MESSAGE ME..
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EA's NHL 07 redefined the hockey genre with one simple feature, the skill stick. Though the game had few modes and several artificial intelligence issues, its star play mechanic worked brilliantly, and created a great rebuilding point for the franchise. As you would expect from a follow-up, NHL 08 takes what 07 did and stacks a bunch of improvements on top of it. The AI has been thoroughly reworked, so it now looks and feels much, much more like the real-life sport. Throw in some balance improvements to the skill stick, a gaggle of new online modes, and an improved dynasty mode, and you've got an all-around great hockey game.

EA-branded hockey takes a big leap forward in NHL 08.
For lack of a better term, NHL 08 is just a smarter game of hockey than 07 was. Pop in 07 for a few minutes before starting in on 08, and you'll see a night-and-day difference between how players behave in each version. For one thing, 08 is a slower-paced game than 07 was, though not to the point of feeling sluggish. Part of that is because the game has done away with speed burst mechanic, and part has to do with skating, which has been redone from the ground up. The momentum of the skaters as they move up and down the ice simply feels more natural and less overblown, and the pacing of the game is much more realistic. On offense and defense, player behavior feels correct in most every situation. Setting up power plays and other elaborate passing schemes is more natural than in any EA hockey game to date. When you push your way into the offensive zone by yourself, the defense doesn't just try to knock you silly every single time. Defenders will actually poke check, try to push you toward the boards, and close the gap to the net. It's like watching real defenders, instead of the robotic hitting machines from earlier EA hockey games. You'll occasionally see some dopey moments where guys on your team skate right past the puck or stand still in front of the net even though they're getting hammered left and right, but these aren't the norm.

Incidentally, it pays to vary up your offense as much as you possibly can this year, because the defense will actually adapt to your plays. If you keep moving to the center of the ice and slapping it in, the AI will react accordingly and start clogging up that area. If you're constantly trying to set up elaborate one-timers, the defense will see it and attack accordingly. The reactions to your repetitive play are almost uncanny. The one goofy thing about this adaptive AI system is that it doesn't differentiate among players and teams; Johnny Oduya is just as capable of figuring out your tendencies as Scott Niedermayer is. While it's better to have everyone be smart versus everyone being an idiot, a bit more differentiation between skill sets would have been nice.