ScoopBrady wrote: I'm still absolutely floored that people are enjoying NHL 2k8 only 3 short years after bashing NHL 2005 for being a checkfest and unplayable yet 2k8 does the same exact thing and is fun.
don't be floored, the hockey videogame landscape surprisingly did change that dramatically.
i don't post here that often, but i read almost every night.
i enjoy reading the (usually adult) back and forth that goes on between
gamers that are really into sports related videogames and are generous with expressing their impressions of what it's like to play them.
i remember the early hockey videogames, from nintendo's skinny-fast guy/ medium-medium guy/fat-strong guy rendition, to activision's two on two knock hockey hockey game to konami's blades of steel.
i remember how excited i was when i first plugged in electronic arts' first nhl hockey into my genesis and i actually called my wife into the room so she could see just how spectacular the presentation of my favorite sport was.
"that's nice, honey," she said, backing out of the room as quickly and diplomatically as she could. my young son and i managed as best as we could to enjoy the games without her active participation, which soon became limited to breaking up the scrums between he and i that would occur from time to time as a natural offshoot of heated competition.
and the years went by.
soon, i became disenchanted with the ea efforts and by the time i was playing on a playstation 2, i became more enamored with the 2k series
of the sport i loved. for a few years it offered much smoother gameplay, and it offered both sim and arcade like modes so i could alter the experience of playing it as my mood dictated.
this year, for the first time in a long time, the electronic arts version of hockey has me excited about hockey videogaming again. it really comes as close to mimicking the experience of a real game of hockey as anything i've experienced. the other players on your team, and the other players on the ai controlled opponents all seem to (mostly) do what they're supposed to be doing while i skate with or without the puck.
surprisingly, i find playing the latest 2k offering to be almost unplayable by comparison, regardless of sim or arcade settings. for me, it has been relegated in status almost as a next-gen version of the nhl hitz series...easy on the eyes, spectacular guffaw inducing checking, but nowhere close to capturing the essence of a real hockey game.
mind you, it's not just the ramped up physical play and old detroit olympia
shaped rinks that serve to decrease the amount of breathing room your skaters have out there on the ice. it just seems that you can't count on your own teammates to be where they're supposed to be, at either end of the rink.
so count me in as one of the ea nhl bashers that once championed the 2k series, but is now very much enjoying NHL 08.
i have come home to roost where it all began (more or less.)
congratulations to all the new daddies and repeat offender new daddies.
and in keeping with the spirit of this thread......
hard to believe, but my wife and i are also having a baby.
it's been 26 years since he was born, but we're still having him.
budda-boom.
(ok, i know you're out there, i can hear you gaming.)
