NHL 08

It's September already and the weather's getting a bit too cold for football, but if you're an NHL fan you must have heard the good news. That's right! A new NHL title is coming, the 2008 installment, to be more precise. Another season of excitement, crazy dekes and on-the-ice violence pushed from behind by the most wicked punk/rock tunes. The star of NHL 08 is clearly the one-on-one deke system that makes heavy use of the skill stick.

Concept & Gameplay The rosters have been updated and in case you've downloaded the Xbox 360 demo, you should know that you can only play with Anaheim Ducks or the Ottawa Senators and only the third period is available. Before setting up your team, you'll be able to check out a certain team's stats, the three main attributes being Offense, Defense and Goalie. After you're done with picking your team, it's time for those boys to suit up and the original 2006-2007 gears are available, plus a second home edition and an away gear. Setting up the team before the great match is pretty complex as you'll get to select your favorite players, who will play in offensive line 1,2,3 or 4, the ideal defensive pairing, the guys who will play during the powerplay and the penalty kill.

There's also the option of picking an extra attacker and selecting the "guardian angel" of the team, the goalie. Once the selection is over, it's time for some strategy, so feel free to press the right analog stick in order to be taken to another options window. Here you can setup the quick plays, in either high pressure mode, protect net, contain puck, normal or puck side attack. The defensive strategy will also need a couple of modifications as you'll probably like your boys to approach the defense in the tight point mode, maybe the staggered, or even the collapsing mode. In case you just want to get started, without setting up any option, you can press the Y button and the CPU will automatically select the best lines. After that, you're off to the match and ready for some serious whooping, be it a sports-related one, or just a fight on the ice.

Yes, you've guessed it! Players will be able to fight each other in some sort of a combat minigame, so be careful with those tempers, because sparks can start flying at any time. It seems obvious that the players involved in the fight will be sent off the ice in no time, but this still remains a fun minigame and probably a reason for rating the game as fit for a plus 16 year-old public. I have to say that I love the skill stick system, first implemented in the last NHL title, as it rids you of the frustration of having to push many buttons. Also, once you get used to the one-on-one deke, you'll come to like it a lot. It's as easy as it gets: hold the Left Button and move the right analog stick to deke, then toy with the left analog to move the player's body. The trick stick can be moved forward or to the side, creating superb dekes that would make any NHL champ envy you. In case you didn't know, the left analog stick is the one that controls your skates and your direction, while the right stick (trick stick) will control your ... hockey stick.

Quite an intuitive gameplay system, right? You'll do most of the actions thanks to the trick stick, ranging from a normal shot (move the stick up), to a slapshot (move the stick down, and then up) or an aimed shot thanks to the other analog stick. The AI seems pretty tough in NHL 08 and the players won't hesitate to break a few ribs (yours or theirs) on their way to the net. In the game's menu you'll find a "pull out the goalie" option, allowing you to push forward the player protecting the net, with the risk of receiving a goal. That will usually happen in the opposite team, in the last minutes of the last period, as the opponents get hungry for victory and give all they've got.

I noticed that scoring from the distance is much easier now, but up close the goalie has an important advantage. In NHL 07 I managed to score with the goalie, from my net through an extremely long distance shot, but I haven't yet seen such lucky attempts succeeding in this installment. Even if I managed to beat the player protecting the net from the distance, you'll surely see that the goalies have improved and silly goals have stopped happening. The game's sense of speed is superb and it can be adjusted thanks to an option that allows you to speed up the gameplay or slow down the tempo, in case you're being outplayed. As you won't be able to do things on your own, you should always place one of your players in front of the other team's goalie, because he might be able to deflect a shot straight into the net. That way you can convert powerful shots (or random ones) into certain goals.

Video I'm feeling the game, I really am, thanks to its graphics, that make it a real stunner, even for an acclaimed console like the Xbox 360. I've yet to see the PC version of NHL 08, but I wonder how good can this game get? You've got the classic camera angles: overhead, classic, broadcast, action or ice plus tons of instant replays and magic NHL moments, when the logo of the US league is shown, making you feel like you're watching the Stanley Cup final on TV. All the players are designed to look like their real counterparts and even if some of them have the ugliest avatars ever seen in a game, you'll see that their skills make up for the looks. The ice is great, with its superb reflections, while the public is a little bit better than in NHL 07.

Sound Disco Ensemble hit hard with "This is my head exploding", as the song will surely rock your selection of teams and distract you from setting up your strategy. Punk/rock music goes hand in hand with hockey, ice fighting and some of the best NHL games. The crowd is superb, cheering and screaming harder and harder as you approach the opponent's net. Their collective sigh of relief once you miss a goal will surely please the most pretentious of gamers adding a bit to the title's realistic experience. I'm not so sure, but I thought I heard a young lady screaming, as I was deke-ing in front of the goalie and that was quite a scream... The game's audio content fits the package perfectly, with the standard songs during the powerplay and the constant rumor generated by the crowd.

Multiplayer NHL 08 allows 4 gamers to play a hockey match at the same time, but I'll be satisfied with competing against a fellow gamer of mine and a big NHL fan. You'll surely make good use of the trick stick and take advantage of the setup used by the other player, since a human opponent is more likely to make strategical mistakes, when compared to the AI. Of course playing a match against a real person surely triggers combat minigames more than you'd think, just for fun... We'll wait for the full game, for a complete list of the online modes, but for now, you'll just have to enjoy the NHL 08 demo with its two teams and multiplayer mode.

Conclusion The official launch of the game is less than two weeks away, well at least the US version is and the rest of the world will have to wait till the end of the month to get the latest NHL. It's already clear that the highlight of NHL 08 is the one-on-one deke performed with the aid of the skill stick plus a neat gameplay and a superb atmosphere. We've only got demos, preview and trailers for now, but EA's newest hockey sim already seems to deliver, surpassing its predecessor in most of its aspects.