In line with further developments and research of the NHL2k7 product for PS3, this review is being modified to reflect new information on the status of this game. Normally I wouldn't bother with retracting a review, but these items severely impact the result of the original review. Look for an update soon. -zer

I am in love with the game of hockey in way that perhaps many Canadians can't relate to. You see, when I was a kid, my parents tried every trick in the book to keep me from playing hockey outside. Sure they bought me skates (that was a birthright), and one year I did actually get some shin pads and gloves (out of my mother's fear). Even those I quickly outgrew, and other than that I was discouraged from playing hockey. As I excelled every summer in little league baseball, I longed to play the sport I truly loved. So as a result, during the cold valley winters I became enamored with video games in a way that changed my life forever. It's only natural that I should be an expert in video hockey from it's early Atari 2600 days right down to modern day simulations.

2ksports and I also have a special relationship. Their hockey games saved me from EA's corrupted hockey franchise, and showed me that 3-D simulation hockey could have the correct physics and graphical elements required to make an adequate hockey simulation. Football physics are a little easier to simulate and 2ksports accomplishments with NHL2k5 simply blew me a way. I quickly set about learning everything I could about the game. I learned to destroy a uniquely skilled and cheap computer opponent, slowly building confidence and understanding of how to apply hockey knowledge to the game. I purposely stayed away from the online aspects in order to hone my skills- saving me incredible embarrassment and eventual frustration from what turned out to be a surprisingly deep simulation.

When NHL2k6 came out, I was ready to compete- and found an organized sim-league on a random message board: Total Action Hockey League (TAHL). I didn't know what to expect at first, but what I found was a vibrant community of committed GM/Ownerships and a level of competitiveness I couldn't have imagined practicing the year before. I delved in to the game deeper, running my team, developing relationships and best of all: acting politically to make acquisitions and develop advantages over other GMs- all in good fun of course. At its peak there were podcasts, fresh news articles, and best of all strong simulation hockey games.

More to the point of my hockey career retrospective, in the end I played three seasons of organized 2k hockey with the highest rated hockey league on 2ksports for PS2. I must confess I left with a bitter taste in my mouth regarding online gaming, and the future of the 2ksports franchise in general. After a full season of NHL 2k7 on PS2, it was clear that 2ksports would no longer put any effort behind the product, most say because of next-generation development. This I can understand, but the level of effort from left me feeling cheated. Bugs from previous years remained, new ones were created. Nearly very element was sloppily implemented, and frustrating, laggy gameplay resulted. In December 2006, I swore off the game cold turkeyr- completely disgusted.

OK, so perhaps I take this game a tad more seriously than some casual gamers, but I wanted my perspective to serve as a warning that it will likely be a first-person hardcore players one.

Let me start by saying the irony is not lost on me that I am perhaps getting the most out of my new PS3 with a game which I swore off on the PS2. It appears (at least on the surface) that 2ksports has turned the coin with their Xbox360 and PS3 releases, producing a polished hockey product. What is increasingly clear is that 2ksports sadly doesn't have the budget of their competitors. The game suffers from the same lack of back-end polish that has plagued the series since its renaissance in 2004. Even more troubling is for loyalists is everything 2ksports seems to add or fix- they take something away.

The game uses the same horrible menu system as the PS2 version. Sure it looks better in 720p, but sharpness alone would not save this fundamentally flawed bush of menu options. Just trying to start an exhibition game can be a mind-boggling experience for the total newb. To the games credit however, some fixes have been put in place: a cleaner online chat and lobby system. There are different rooms for cheesers and sim-players, freedom to move around (no more 10 game requirement for advanced/beginner lobbies!) and customizable quick type messages. Even the virtual keyboard is improved. But what 2ksports giveth, they taketh away: Gone are pop-up friend-lists and user messaging. It's simply impossible to develop rivalries or find good players. Despite the feedback system its impossible to know what kind of player you are going to get. One had better get used to using pencil and paper to recognize people over time.

My beef with the menu system continues with the saving facility. Why is there no central place to save/load all items? Why are their load/save for a billion type of options. I can appreciate loading rosters separately, but I simply don't understand why its so difficult for 2ksports to implement a load script from a single screen. No auto-save makes this tangled web of saving and loading frustrating. If you don't believe me, wait until the first (or next time) you forget to save your franchise after playing a game, running practice and making roster changes. To explain to the un-initiated, the game saves your profile each time you leave a practice. It warns you that you must save your franchise, and that by saving your profile you are not actually saving your profile. It doesn't ask you if you wish to save your franchise right then and there. After a while you tend to ignore this in favor of making further changes. Of course- you are just one simple keystroke away from losing it all- with a warning if you're lucky. For a company that pioneered use of the hard drive on PS2 to manage an excess of franchise and roster save data, you would think their loading and saving facility would have better evolved over time. The simple fact of the matter is that it hasn't evolved at all. This, is next-generation management of my standard 60GB harddrive?

One more thing about menus- what's with the sliders 2k? When I took my first computer science class and I made customizable sliders that had consistent incremental values! Why do you continue to port this lousy freakin' code? Your developers ought to be completely ashamed. I personally volunteer to come to California and fix this for you on afternoon, for a free-lunch and a couple of pints. Deal?

Graphically, previews of NHL2k7 for the PS3 had me greatly concerned. Screenshots and videos featured a heavy fog, blurry environements, and an awful case of the jaggies. The animation of the early build wasn't anywhere as far along as the XBox360 version, and all of this had me thinking hard about buying a PS3. What if it couldn't handle a similar graphical upgrade- would I even want to play hockey on the PS3?

I'm happy to report that my concerns were baseless. The final build of NHL2k7 looks great in 720p. Player textures are detailed, the lighting is bright and is a realistic simulation of ice-level lighting featured at large arenas.

NHL 2k7 runs at a steady 60 FPS (varies based on lag online), and in classic 2k fashion, the animations have been tweaked a wee bit as an upgrade feature. The fast framerate and animation upgrades are a welcome reprieve from earlier iterations which tended towards low-frame rates and choppy animation/gameplay. All animations have obviously been improved in 2k7. Players interact realistically at a physical level, and penalties (stick-work, bad hits) that are called are demonstrated realisticall (Previously, penalties didn't appear to happen at all due to poor animation on AI players). Extra attention to goaltenders was paid again this year and it shows- goalies move with more realism after apparent tweaks to transitional frames. Detection has improved as well, as goalies seem to respond with more appropriate saves for every situation. Collision detection overall is vastly improved, adding to realism in nearly every situation.

Little changes sound wise, but this is a good thing. With Bob Cole and Harry Neal behind the microphones it's hard to go wrong. These guys are the voice of hockey (*ahem* the Toronto Maple Leafs) in Canada, and they provide their unique sound to every aspect of the game. My only beef here is the lack of hard-drive loaded music to save my ears from the default mp3.com crapfest. I feel a little more emasculated every time I find myself bobbing my head to Hot Hot Heat. The PS3 is a wide open media server and once again 2ksports pioneers HDD usage on the Playstation platform. Could this really be a contractually exclusive Xbox feature?

Overall, the gameplay is the strongest effort from 2ksports in the last few years. I haven't enjoyed the game this much since 2k5 and it seems like all the elements have come together. The graphical, physical and aural elements are now all in place for a blockbuster hockey product. With EA breathing down 2ksports network, looking to regain the "Best Hockey Simulation" crown again, 2ksports had better start thinking about back-end improvements for the upcoming 2k8 release. This will involve a serious overall of online matchmaking components, the load/save facility, and top down re-organization of menu elements.

Finally to 2ksports credit, I have yet to encounter a major bug in this release. This is a long way from franchise bugs (although to be fair, these will likely be discovered over time), crash-inducing line-change bugs, dropped matches, corrupted data, goal-scoring bugs, online stats reporting not working, just to name a few of the more annoying aspects that have plagued the last few releases. At least the old-faithfuls have been addressed in their entirety for once, but again I'm sure I'll be reporting new ones before you know it. My trust has been that decimated in the 2ksports NHL product, but things are definitely looking up with NHL 2k7.

Game Breakdown

Ingredients

Execution

Finally to 2ksports credit, I have yet to encounter a major bug in this release. This is a long way from franchise bugs (although to be fair, these will likely be discovered over time), crash-inducing line-change bugs, dropped matches, corrupted data, goal-scoring bugs, online stats reporting not working, just to name a few of the more annoying aspects that have plagued the last few releases. At least the old-faithfuls have been addressed in their entirety for once, but again I'm sure I'll be reporting new bugs in weeks to come.