For those of you who are Hockey fans, this is almost like the real thing. Even down to the violence of fights between the players. The action is fast and furious which means the AI is very competetive. The AI is quick to steal the puck, to out-skate the opponent, and the realistic slap-shots are as hit or miss as real life Hockey.
Included with this comes the realistic penalties that include Roughing, Hick-Sticking, Tripping etc.. This adds a very realistic feel to the game and makes it seem more like real Hockey. Also, as somewhat of an extra bonus to add more to the fun (and graphical wonder) players wven argue with the Referee's before entering the penalty box.
If you have a good system, the graphics are incredibley detailed. They tend to be so incredibley well detailed that they resemble the actual players, rather than going after a generic look that plagues many Hockey games.
It is nice that you can create your own Hockey player if you have the inclonation to do so. You can change heigth, weight, abilites (such as slap-shooting, speed, etc..), as well as uniform variation and facial detail.
There is a Season Mode, which, although is short, is actual quite fun because you can put yourself against everyone of the NHL teams. Although, the Exhibiton mode is the winner here. With the ability to go against any team with hardly any pressure as to win.
The sound is an EA Sports specialty because they use surround sound technology. The nice thing about it is you can adjust every sound detail and sound quality there is to tamper with.
The controls are simple when using a GamePad. But, without this, the keyboard controls are cumbersome and incredibly hard to manuever.
If you truly like Hockey, don't pass up the next generation Hockey game (i.e- This).
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