With the real-life NHL in turmoil this pre-season, and the World Cup concluded, more than ever hockey fans have to look to video games to get their icy fix. For years, gamers had turned to EA's storied NHL franchise to live out their hockey dreams-- but in recent times, EA's wunderkind has fallen off a bit, or at least changed its focus. Starting with 2003, more emphasis has been placed on razzle-dazzle, big goals and especially big hits, to the delight of arcade aficionados, and the relative dismay of purists. With 2005 the formula remains largely the same, although the game has been refined slightly. Franchise mode has been beefed up, the presentation has been improved and exciting new modes have been added, but the question remains: is this a hockey game that appeals to hardcore hockey fans as well as casual observers (as Madden does with football), or does NHL 2005 leave the savvy fans in the slush? As always, the answer is not all that simple. NHL's main problem is tweaking. It ends up being very much an arcade game, with little variation in style of play. It's end-to-end action the whole way through with big shots, big hits and big saves (which is an improvement over last year). This sort of approach isn't a bad thing if you're into an arcade experience, but there is a lot of adjusting that needs to be done to make this into a more subdued, realistic game. At times, the pacing and feel of the game seems off. This is due to mainly to the control, which is less fluid than it should be. For instance, putting different touch on a pass is a matter of holding down the button—the longer it is held, the faster the pass. This is counter-intuitive when trying to set up bang-bang one-timers. In addition, once in awhile, players will pass in such a way that they make their teammate cross the blue line, and force them to try to adjust to the puck. If a puck is passed wrong, shouldn't the receiver of it hold up at the line and let the puck go by, rather than intentionally go offsides just to complete it?Read full review
My only recommendation is Get NHL 06 Instead!!! This game really built on the Dynasty mode introduced in NHL 2004. NHL 2005 had insane replay value due to the dynasty mode, and the gameplay was incredibly fun as well. Create a player was simple and effective. I thought that was great because you can create a whole team of your friends and family in under an hour. Final Verdict: 3/5 Rent or Buy?: If you're looking for a good hockey game from this era of EA Sports video games, pick up NHL 06. This game was good, but doesn't compare to those NHL 06. IF YOU FIND THIS REVIEW HELPFUL PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE. Thank you.
Good game
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Good older game cube game. Great value for the price.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Works great!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
good game considering how old it is, Really Fast paced though. Excellent fights way better than any newer game.
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