Was NHL 09 the best sports game of 2008? I hope not.

This story was originally written in July of 2009 for a video game blog idea that has not become a reality at this point in time.  Rather than leave it in limbo, I thought it would be a decent first post on my personal blog.  Stay tuned for another NHL story talking about how NHL10 met or didn’t meet my expectations.

Ever since the release of NHL 09 I have had a confusing opinion of it. On the one hand I have played countless hours of the game, but at some points I don’t know that I’ve hated a game more. Normally this wouldn’t be that significant, but the fact that the game won 12 Sports Game of the Year awards leads me to believe that some publications are letting some things slide that I simply cannot stand. So I decided that I finally have to write this down before NHL 10 hits the shelves and hopefully corrects all the points that have been driving me crazy.

I want to emphasize that I do actually enjoy this game and I do feel that there are areas where this series has been making good progress. Despite my rantings, there is a very good game here.

My favourite aspect of NHL 09 is that I feel like I have total control over whether or not I get penalties. Moves such as hitting, hooking, poke checking and stick lifting are powerful but come with risks. This forces the player to weigh each move and assess the risk vs. reward. Penalties are often deserved, where in older games they felt much more random. The exceptions are interference calls which pop up too often in front of the net because of the shot/hit stick combination.

Be a Pro was one of the other big features of NHL 09 and it was something else I really enjoyed about the game. The camera helped set this mode apart and having to follow a coach’s orders provided a fresh perspective in a team sports game. Even a little thing like having to sit your player on the bench (though I kept playing with teammates) made the experience interesting.

There are other reasons to enjoy NHL 09, but I’m here to explain why I don’t think this game should have won any Sports GoTY awards. My biggest problems with the game lie in the basics: skating, passing and shooting. Some of these issues have been improved since they patched the game, but essentials like these should be ironed out well before a sports game’s release.

The irritating skating issue is the short player freezing. Every couple of games it pops up, usually at the most inopportune time, where the player doesn’t respond at all for a second or two. Inconvenient at the least, horrible flaw when playing against a friend or for the cup.

Meanwhile, the passing mechanic in NHL 09 often seems to think it should be making all of the passing choices for me. It took quite a while for me to understand, and learn to work with, what this game thinks is a good pass. The game loves to attempt impossible passes off of the boards behind the goal and at times I’ve even seen my player pass in the opposite direction that I intended.

Shooting is the least problematic, but mostly because of the game being patched. When the game was released I recall scoring very difficult goals quite often, I would score in the top right hand corner from the left side of the blue line at least once a game. Meanwhile players less than a foot from an open net would be missing the net by more than three feet. I guess that fault was just so obvious that it had to be fixed.

There are a handful of other things that bug me, but the essential nature of those previous three problems makes them stand out. Among my other gripes are goalies that make ridiculous choices and teammates that only serve to hurt the team. It is more than a little annoying when an AI controlled player decides to hook the other team while I’m on a break away. Also, do goalie ratings mean anything? Ditching Martin Brodeur and Marc-Andre Fleury for Devan Dubnyk because he actually makes saves doesn’t make any sense according to the ratings system.

I’m hoping they clean out some of these imperfections this fall with NHL 10. My only worry is that polishing these aspects will get lost under the new features, some of which I’m really excited for. Interactions after the whistle means I will probably have to stop running everyone over for fun, but will be worth it to see how you can affect the opposition with your taunts. Board play may also be a great addition, since that was one of my personal weaknesses in 09. Finally, Be a GM could be the statistics heaven I have always wanted.

In the end, maybe I just didn’t play enough of the other sports games that came out this past year and NHL 09 truly was the best of the bunch. I’m just hoping that not all of the sports games of ‘09 had this many faults. Problems with the basics of gameplay affect the experience whether you are playing pickup, in an online league, or in Be a Pro. Then again it could be that I feel too strongly that problems with basic gameplay shouldn’t be overlooked in favour of the big name features.