Fun game, but plagued with A LOT of small annoyances which add up. RENT IT FIRST!
Biggest Complaints
+Controls make you switch from right joystick to circle, square, triangle and x buttons, making it hard and annoying to use the right joystick to actually deke or move the puck around effectively. They are also pretty complicated to pick up right away, and left me not actually using the right stick, since my main goal was using the circle and square buttons to harass players off the puck.
+AI on your team refuses to allow you to play positional offense, as is seen during powerplays in actual hockey. Instead, the defensemen will stay outside the zone, and refuse to keep the puck in play if cleared to the blue line. +Enemy AI swarm the net in an almost annoying fashion, leaving 3 players in front to bat the puck, while their defensemen ALWAYS play so that they can keep the play alive, and keep the puck in the zone, something your own defensemen fail to do. The most annoying part is with so many people in front, and me only being able to take out so many, sticks tend to pass through many body parts possibly causing some pretty dumb goals.
+Poke check with right joystick never pushes the puck away enough to cause the enemy to actually lose the puck. Instead, he ends up picking up the puck he just got poked from, and going right past me with a speed boost. This lead to me having to check everyone to get the puck off them for good... not something a hockey sim fan wnats to do. Just looking at the checks being 45 - 9 in my favour can be funny, but it gets annoying.
+occaisional lag which occurs during big rushes sometimes.
+control scheme, especially during shootouts, makes it hard to get the feeling that you're actually in the game, something NHL 08's controls do very well, especially during shootouts.
+Sometimes your teammates' can have such poor AI, that you end up trying only certain shots, which can be accomplished with little to no comp AI. This makes the game become VERY repetitive, and goals seem to come more with luck than with actual skill.
I usually love 2k, the game is very fun, but all these little annoyances add up to the point where I'm competing with my own teammates lack of intelligence & my frustration instead of the opposing team. Definitely RENT IT FIRST, Im glad I did. It could save you a lot of money vs buying a you will end up disliking. 2K just didnt step this series up enough to merit my purchase. The 10 or so dollars for a rental to ensure you will enjoy the game is money well spent, IMO.