There is something ‘cool’ about hating EA. They are the establishment, so in some small way, thumbing your nose at them at this point is a gamer’s way of sticking it to 'The Man'. You can continue your rebellious or you can take a shot on the best sports videogame yet. NHL 09 is deep and rewarding in ways you have only dreamed of.
As soon as you fire up the game, you are greeted with a player creation tool. Your first introduction to the new 'Be a Pro' mode allows the game to put its best foot forward. While the concept of playing through a single career has been done before on Madden, NHL 09 takes it leaps and bounds further. You begin as a fledgling hockey player in the minor leagues after selecting which NHL franchise you want to start your career with, something also already done in the MLB The Show series. You then select a personal statistical goal to reach by the end of the season, from a list based on your current ratings and position. After some quick welcomes from the coach and general manager, you are assigned to a line, with the warning that poor play will not keep you there long. You start with a small amount of experience points, separated between three categories: offense, defense, and athletics. Each player attribute has a specific experience point cost to raise it a point. The cost increases based on how close you are to the maximum rating of 99. While sports games have long rewarded game performance with attribute boosts at the end of each season, it is refreshing to have control over what your player is improving at. Like an RPG, experience comes with time and a lot of gameplay. Unlike the old ‘RPG grind’, you will not mind one bit.
When playing a game in the 'Be A Pro' mode, you are locked onto your player. When their line is on the ice, you are in complete control of them. When it is time for you to take a rest and regain your stamina, you literally sit on the bench and watch the game. It might sound boring, but it is incredibly easy to get yourself on or off the ice. With your stamina back to a decent level, hold 'B' and wait a few seconds for a skater to take your place on the bench. When you are out of stamina, simply skate over to the bench for your replacement. Line changes are frequent in hockey and your stamina returns quickly, so you are never out of the game long. The only times you have no control over whether or not you are out there is during face-offs or if you make a stupid mistake. If you commit a penalty, you sit in the box and wait for it to expire or the other team to take advantage. It gives the mindless penalties you would otherwise blow off more meaningful, since it is hard not to feel responsible when your goalie lets a power play goal through.
Hockey novices will greatly benefit from the on-screen arrow pointing you towards your spot on the ice if you are out of position. Working with your teammates is incredibly easy, since they respond quickly to your call for them to pass or shoot the puck. After each shift the coach provides feedback, with running grades assessing your teamwork and skill at your position. At the end of each game, you receive experience for each of the three categories to further increase your character's skills in your goal to reach the NHL. In addition to your user-selected season goal, there are career goals to reach to increase your character's rank. If you do not want to start your career from scratch, there is an option that allows you to select a real-life player from either the NHL or minors and pick up their career from the start of the season. If you think you can do better than Sidney Crosby, give it a shot.
If this all sounds very familiar, it should. The single player portion of the 'be a pro' mode, while fantastic, is not what makes it special. The best addition to the game, and sports games in general, is the EA Sports Hockey League. You have the ability to create a hockey club for up to fifty gamers. Games here use only offline created ‘Be A Pro’ characters from each club, with random nobody players filling in the holes. Playing against other clubs also gives your player stats and experience, keeping a persistent character you can build into a superstar. The sense of pride and ownership over your character makes the club system genius, and should create a thriving online community. The EASHL home section has leader boards ranking how the clubs stack up against each other. Drilling down into a club page shows recent game scores and cumulative statistics for its members. You can only be part of one club at a time, but are allowed to leave whenever you wish to join another. Finding the best players to invite can be tricky, thanks to some confusing menu options and misnamed lobbies.
The instruction manual is surprisingly lacking in terms of online functionality, and the online FAQ section is not much better. Figuring out how to use your created player in a non-club game can be a frustrating experience that will lead to you angrily searching through game lobbies online. Your eventual destination at the awkwardly named 'Community Team Play Lobby' is worth the trouble. This is where ‘free agents’ and club managers can come together to play games with their characters, with as few as one gamer on each side and as large as a full six-on-six contest. Though you will play with your character, with line changes off, you must select a position to play. In a full game, pick quickly or you could end up between the pipes with your center. Despite the occasional annoying pause-happy stranger, it is incredibly addictive. Live also features leagues for competing head-to-head against friends, ranked versus matches, and a team play option that works like the aforementioned non-club games, but with real players and line changes.
