EA
aims to light the lamp again with the '08 edition of its annual hockey
game. In this edition for PC, EA has expanded its Skill Stick moves to
completely cover every move and trick you pull on the ice -- flick the
stick for precision shots, for quick dekes, for spot-on or leading
passes, and even for brutal body checks! The Dynasty Mode features
several improvements and new additions, including a weekly goals
feature that allows you to improve your team quicker, a contract
negotiation feedback screen for salary discussions, and a Fantasy Draft
feature that lets you pick your roster. Also, in addition to the NHL
teams, NHL 08 adds the AHL minor league stable of teams and players,
showcasing the rising talent in the hockey world. There's
no arguing that the addition of the skill stick is a nice bonus. It's
just that this skill stick isn't dynamic enough to really make a
significant difference, especially when you're playing the equivalent
of speed hockey. NHL 08 still feels way, way too fast to be remotely
realistic. Checking is still too frequent and too heavy, and scoring is
only slightly less out of control. Once you get a handle on the stick,
you can still average seven or eight goals a game just by hammering
slap shots (when they work) and constantly crashing the net up the
middle, periodically faking out the goalie with some of your fancy new
dekes. Defensive artificial intelligence is weak enough to where you
can pretty much do this over and over and guarantee a win on
practically every difficulty level--especially when the defense decides
to start getting tangled-up opposing players in front of the net in a
gigantic bunching formation, making it easy for you to move to the wing
and snap one in while the goalie is screened. The ridiculous speed and
high-scoring nature of the game make it relatively fun if viewed purely
as an arcade hockey game, but it's not really any more or less fun than
last year's game, or the year before that, for that matter.
