NHL 2K6

Oh dear. Out of all the launch titles, and any port released since then, NHL 2K6 resembles its original more than any other. And in fact, in a bizarre turn of events the facial models are actually worse in the 360 version. It’s inexplicable. Don’t get me wrong, the Xbox version looks ok, but it’s not nearly pretty enough for a next gen release. 

The actual matches are extremely smooth, but with little being asked of the console’s power, it’s hardly surprising. The cut shots to the crowd are poorly animated, and the shots of the team going in and out of the locker room are equally bad. And to think these scenes have been extended compared to previous versions.

For pure unintentional comedy, I recommend spending some time in the Create a player mode. No matter how you adjust the physical features of your player, he will end up looking like Quasimodo’s ugly brother. The appearance of the poor hockey player is hunched forward like he’s carrying a piano on his back.

At the risk of sounding dumb, the commentary is very Canadian. Traditionally, the US market gave you commentators who were rather more animated and less in-depth, whereas their Canadian cousins were more monotone and more in-depth. NHL 2K6 has a Canadian style commentary team, which to a hockey fan is great, but will get tedious quickly for casual gamers. Certainly compared to the EA version, which tends to be more "over the top, gets excited at the blow of a whistle" type play-by-play.

A great little touch in innovation is the pause menu. Pressing start in the game will take you to your menu, at which point the commentary team continue to talk. They'll cover things that you would normally here during breaks in play. Very realistic and a great touch. You can change your lines or swap goalies, all with a conversation in the background about teams logo's and such.

The soundtrack is very indie, as is the norm with hockey games. It's pleasant enough for background noise, and there's always the option of using your custom sound-tracks. 

There are some issues with the online element. Searching for games outside of your continent will often end in serious lag or a disconnect. The game boasts up to 8 players at a time, but frankly the chances of a smooth running 4-on-4 online match sit somewhere between slim and none.

The Live interface itself is a much slimmed down environment, and offers little. Offline is a lot more fun, with the standard four-player mode resulting in some entertaining 2-on-2 action.

Roster updates can be downloaded, although with 2K7 right around the corner, it’s not obvious how long this will continue.

Final Word

Hockey fans have to put things in perspective here. There is no 360 alternative until the end of its first year in existence. That said, it’s far from an indication of what the console can offer. There will be a lot of expectation for NHL 2K7 to deliver the kind of graphic prowess that this couldn’t. The only difference is that EA will be releasing NHL 2007 around the same time.

It sounds ridiculous for a newly released title to be described as dated, but this is. Even the cover star (Mats Sundin) is rumoured to have retired today. As in: he’s never playing again, 3 weeks after the game hit the shelves outside of North America.

Too little, too late.