NHL 06 Updated Hands-On

At today's press event held at EA's Redwood City offices, developers from EA Canada were on hand to show off an updated build of NHL 06, the latest in the company’s venerable hockey franchise. Good timing, too, considering the recent announcement that the NHL and the NHLPA had finally come to a collective-bargaining agreement, thus bringing hockey back to the masses. And what better way to celebrate the forthcoming return of professional hockey than with another solid roster of hockey games for the fans to partake of! NHL 06 is aiming to be the top dog this year, after a somewhat disappointing entry in NHL 2005. We played through a couple of games of NHL 06, and after having spent some time with it, we feel pretty good about where this one's headed.

In our previous coverage of the game, we talked about some of the new control mechanics featured in 06, including a new deking system and the new skill stick. Both mechanics are designed to give the player more control over the stick and the puck on the fly. The right analog stick is used for the skill stick, letting you pull off some nifty trick shots that only the biggest superstars are known for. In fact, only very specific players, like a Lecavalier or Sakic, will be able to do these shots. But if the player you're controlling can do them, the shots seem immensely satisfying to use and are great fodder for mocking your friends while you play. Just don't use them too often, or the defense will leave you flat on the ice.

As for the new deke system, it's basically like the old D pad deke system used in old-school-era NHL games. Just tap the left analog stick back and forth, and you'll be able to deke out an opposing player quite hard. The effect of the analog deking isn't quite as pronounced as you might initially expect it to be, so you'll want to practice a little bit to get it down. Once you do though, you can fake out a goalie and defensemen quite nicely as you move the puck back and forth. Plus, now a new shot-targeting system has been included, making the aiming of shots a lot easier. It's quite similar to the target found in last year's Gretzky NHL, so all you have to do is move the analog stick to move the target where you want your shot to go.

The biggest change to the gameplay that we noticed was the defensive artificial intelligence and how much better it seemed compared to last year's game. NHL 2005 had magnetic defensemen that would try to slam you to the ice every chance they got. In 06, this seems to have been greatly improved. When you get into the offensive zone, defensemen will play the angles much better, actually covering rather than just abjectly checking, and as such, you'll actually have the opportunity to set up real shots, rather than incredibly quick one-timers. To keep the game challenging, goalies are tougher now, and you'll have to work for your goals here. Taking the time to set up real shots is key, as you won't be able to get nearly as many gimme goals through random slap shots and quick wristers.

One thing that's probably on everybody's mind is exactly how much of the new NHL rules and players will make it into NHL 06. The answer? Probably not a ton of it. If you're expecting to get your salary cap on in the dynasty mode, that definitely isn't going to happen this year. However, some of the rule changes, such as the marginally smaller goalie pads, have a good shot of making it into the final game. Rosters-wise, EA Canada is aiming to do its best to get as many of the rosters accurate as possible. But with so many free agents floating around right now, it might be tough to get everything perfect. Plus, for all you fans that have been dying to play with Sidney Crosby, you may have to wait a while longer, as rookies can't be inserted into the game until they've played at least one NHL game. But hey, that's what downloadable rosters are for, right?

We came away from our time with NHL 06 excited to play the final product. The upgrades EA Canada has made all seem beneficial to the gameplay in their own way, making for a much more well-balanced play experience than you could find in NHL 2005. And presentation-wise, the game looks as sharp as ever. With players finally returning to the ice, hockey's poised for a comeback in 2005, and hopefully, NHL 06 will be a big part of that. Due for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC, we'll bring you more on the game soon.