Score One For The North?

Just in time for its latest incarnation, I feel I have no choice but to sing the praises of what I think might be the greatest sports video game franchise of all time. Created by Electronic Arts, this series has seen many iterations since it was brought to consoles in the early 90s, home and handheld versions alike, endeavouring to bring the action of a nation's favourite sport to life, electronically.

No, it's not Madden.

EA Canada has turned the NHL franchise into a rather impressive hockey simulation in the last three or four years, on the current generation consoles (minus the Wii / handhelds). The latest entry in the series, NHL 10, is scheduled for release on September 15th in North America, and if the blog entries and video updates on their site are any indication, it is another labour of love for David Littman and his team at EA Vancouver.

The revolution for the NHL series began in late 2006, with the advent of the "Skill Stick" in NHL 07. Players used to hitting the face buttons to pass, shoot and deke had to unlearn what they had learned, as stick movement was mapped to the second analog stick. Now, pushing up on the stick fires off a wristshot; pulling back winds up for a slapshot, and pushing left or right stickhandles the puck in the respective direction.

Despite a bit of a learning curve, especially for those used to the earlier games' button setup, the Skill Stick was an intuitive way to control the game, and with a solid base on which to build, each successive game in the franchise has tweaked and added to the basic gameplay.

My experience with NHL 07 and 08 was a positive, if limited one. Learning how to take advantage of the Skill Stick took some frustrating time, being a veteran of the older SNES versions of the game. A friend and I would start a season as a mutually agreed upon team, and we'd happily spend two or three hour sessions thrashing, or being thrashed by the CPU. What made the experience worth repeating, aside from the new controls, was the level of realism found in-game. Gary Thorne and Bill Clement calling the action, the "ding" as a puck wired at the net ricochets off the crossbar, the home crowd chanting their beloved goalie's nickname after a flurry of scintillating saves while the opposing squad tries to set back up on the powerplay...

Great sound, realistic AI, solid gameplay; these things weren't new to the franchise, but combined with the controls and the next-gen graphics - at the risk of sounding trite - they made the game feel as close to real hockey as you could get.

It's not uncommon to hear the complaint that EA releases the same sports games year after year, with only minor tweaks and roster updates. Then, given the previous instalments of the game, what makes NHL 09 stand out as one of my picks for the best game of last year?

More than just a culmination of the other things EA Canada has done right with the series, NHL 09 contains two new, rather expansive new game modes, "Be a Pro", where you take a created player from the minor leagues of the AHL to the big time; and its online counterpart, the EASHL - where you take that same created player online in 6 vs. 6 league games. I barely scratched the surface of these two modes, because the reason for my addiction to the game was simple ranked matches. My friend and I became, and still are, slaves to the leaderboard - we've got almost 700 matches under our collective Ottawa Senators banner. I've got more time logged in the different NHL 09 modes than any other game from last year, or even this year. By far.

What makes online play in NHL 09 so obsessive is a combination of everything I just mentioned, magnified by one key factor - human competition. No longer are we playing against a computer opponent and worrying about being outmatched by algorithms. Every game is different. I know that this is what makes online play obsessive in general, but there was something about NHL 09 that made the learning curve we had to battle early on more compelling than your standard FPS: learning how to play against a wide variety of real life hockey strategies, setting up our own plays, and learning how to combat the cursed "glitch goals" - unstoppable shots that beat computer-controlled goaltenders far more than they are intended. Yes, the online component was available in earlier years, but the gameplay tweaks, while minor, numbered in the hundreds, and the "Defensive Skill Stick" balanced the field (er, ice) to allow for more back and forth play, instead of just a series of amazing offensive maneuvers. There's just so much depth, challenge, and most importantly, realism, even for single online exhibition matches.

The NHL series is Canada's Madden, but I never hear about it, aside from a cursory sardonic news post on some gaming blogs. It's likely because hockey is a Canadian game, and doesn't quite hold the same interest that football does down in the States. It's a shame though, because it's as least as good as the Madden games, and it has the critical response to prove it. Metacritic rates NHL 08 and 09 better than its football contemporaries, and has umpteen Sports Game of the Year awards. What's more, the review scores are going up every year.

Does it take the enjoyment of playing (or watching, more appropriately) a particular sport to appreciate a video game of that same sport? Given that I hate playing golf, and sleep while trying to watch golf, but for some reason love golf games? I'm guessing the answer is "not necessarily". So, I guess the best I can do is be an advocate where great reviews and awards have failed - hop on board with NHL 10. It's shaping to be a continuation of a great series which continues to improve with every season.