Earlier today, I picked up NHL 09. I’ve been looking forward to this game for a while because of the “Be a Pro” mode that it had. For a while, I’ve thought that there should be an NHL video game where you play a specific player and view the game similar to a first person shooter game. The game comes close to that, although it’s still third person since the camera follows after your skater. (You can also play as a goalie, but I haven’t tried that yet—that’s for tomorrow!) If you pick the “Authentic” setting, then when you come off ice you get to sit on the bench and watch the game too. So the level of realism is spot on there.
Since I just got it, and since I like to simulate full games (i.e., 20 minute periods instead of 5 minute periods) I haven’t been able to test the AI yet to see how realistic it is. The final scores seem to be fairly accurate, given the first test was on Rookie level. After the first period, the score was 1-1. But then in the second period, my team scored 7 goals. The final was 12-4, which isn’t realistic for NHL standards but when you’re playing on Rookie settings it is about what is to be expected. Tomorrow I’ll see what the higher difficulty settings do. The best result would be to get a 60 minute game where you have a realistic number of shots (around 30 per side) and a realistic score (ranging from 1-0 to, say, 6-5). Unfortunately, since AI is geared towards 5 minute periods, this is almost certainly never going to happen. Typically, the games cheat by making the goalies super goalies so you have the correct looking final scores, but you’ve had 80 shots on each side.
Oh well. As much fun as it is to try to recreate an accurate simulation, I will say that the “Be a Pro” mode alone is definitely worth getting the game if you like hockey games. One other thing that looks promising for the game is you have the option to switch to the classic NHL 94 controls. You know, back when game controllers only had two buttons. So instead of having to deke a player by RS [Left] + LB + LT + X + A (and by the time you remember all the buttons to press, the computer has already crosschecked you and is heading the other way on a breakaway), you can just press “A” to shoot and “B” to pass. So I might give those settings a try too, when I play some more full games, etc. It might be especially useful if I do a dynasty mode, since you’re playing 82 games/season (plus playoffs) for 25 seasons…
