What are you people talking about?
EA's NHL 08, had a bad game last year. Controls people hated and the game play was too easy and arcade like...Now they changed that a bit to make it more realistic and changed the controls a bit and that's why people say it's so great. Not because the game is great, because last seasons game was horrible.
As for NHL 2k8, Last year the game got better reviews than NHL 08, why? The controls, the game play, the series was just better. The same options are in the game this year. In NHL 2k8 the graphics have been beefed up a lot. Players look better and it is a pretty smooth game. The faceoffs are true to life as guys bump, hook, and hold. Board Play has a lot more pinning as well. I have read reviews that the game has bad AI...Ummm not true, if it's too easy, CHANGE THE SKILL LEVEL! I played a game on rookie, was too easy, next level, still a bit easy, then I went to Hall Of Famer, and I lost 5-1. It became very hard, but it was more realistic. As for the controls, the only reason NHL 2k8 went to the new controls was for the EA's idea behind it. People liked the idea. Yes NHL 2k8's controls are impossible with the sticks, stuff is all over the place, but remember this...YOU CAN CHANGE THE CONTROLS TO WHATEVER YOU WANT! Set them back to the classic way and play like you did last year. Controls are your own preference, which I like. I like being able to put the controls to what I want, vs NHL 08, where you cannot change much.
So based on people's reviews...These are my rebuttal...
Controls...7.5 You can change them!
Game play...8.5 Better than NHL 08, more realistic!
Graphics...8.5 About the same as NHL 08, but they both look good to me
Skill Level...8.0 NHL 2k8 is way harder than NHL 08. Only reason being if you set to simulation mode and put on a hard level, the teams will work the puck very well, and you will find yourself chasing the puck...
So overall...the game is good, there still could be somethings that I would like to see added, such as, better fighting, better puck physics (bouncing over sticks, off the boards funny etc...) and more scrums after the whistle, and have the refs break them up and you can hit players and possible get penalties after the whistle...hey it's HOCKEY! :-)