NHL 2K9

NHL 2K9 is, for all intents and purposes, the first hockey game for the Wii. I'm sure there are plenty of hockey-esque games out there, either hidden amongst mini game collections or shellacked with kid friendly aesthetics and neither instance is worth a damn. Not that I know, I’m just saying.

2008’s best hockey game, EA’s NHL 09 decided not to make it to the Wii again this year, which fits in with the general marketing philosophy of the NHL itself. If you restrict your best product to the fewest people possible, you are guaranteed success! 2K sports, on the other hand, said “What the hell, let’s dump it on the Wii like two chicks in a cup.”

They should be thankful they have little competition. The current gen versions seem to have fared poorly against the outstanding NHL 09, so instead of trying to leap frog the competition by taking the product in a new direction with the Wii’s unique control, they ported over the PS2 version and are resting on the monopolistic laurels.

To get the bad out of the way: every player model looks like the offspring of a troll doll and a pile of dogshit, the players control like a piece of string in cottage cheese, and the user interface is clunky like a tin man with hemorrhoids. And with text that small on an ostensibly standard definition console, I don’t think anyone on earth is going to make sense of the tutorials, menus, and the salary cap system. In the franchise mode, I’m not sure if the Chicago Blackhawks are 2 million over the cap of 4 million under.

Despite all this (and perhaps 2K efforts) the game is fun. First, being a life long NHL fan with absolutely no interest in neutrality, it is great to finally get an NHL game. This is especially apparent given the quality of the sport is better than it has been in a dozen years (even if no one is watching it). Second, the “unique Wii control scheme” is a blast, especially playing with friends. It is inexact, a little unintuitive, and sometimes nonsensical, but flicking the wrist to take a shot is very satisfying. After a couple hours, the controls become second nature, while offering a surprising amount of depth that is unavailable by definition on other consoles. One thing that drives me crazy though, is the mapping of the body check to the left hand nunchuck. Instead of unleashing a right handed uppercut to knock an opponent on his ass, you have to make an awkward girly punch. Unless you’re left handed off course.

Can the control scheme get past all the obvious flaws in the game? At this stage in the game, I’m going to say yes. NHL 2K9 for the Wii is fun enough to get past the slapshot development and complete lack of play testing.

Of course they made a game for niche market on a console where the audience doesn’t buy games in the first place. And with EA sports titles faring so poorly on the system, we can expect little change from either franchise going into the future. These problems are like Gary Bettman: you may not like it, but you’re stuck with them.