The franchise mode is also kind of buggy and inexact when it comes to stats and things of that nature. Since the game is naturally a high-scoring affair, the simulation games reflect that, so you'll rarely ever find a starting goalie in the game with a season-long goals against average of less than 3.00. You might also notice some bugs in terms of stat-tracking, too. We experienced a couple of playoff series where goalies ended up with GAAs of more than 19.00 after having faced several hundred shots over the course of a single best-of-seven series. The franchise mode also lacks any sort of real free agency system. As a result, once the free agency period hits, you can just sign away whoever you like without any real negotiating to speak of, and even once the period is over, most players under a 90 rating will stay in the pool for most (if not all) of the season. The draft has flaws, too, which namely involves ratings for rookies. The first 10 to 20 draft picks are nearly always rated in the 80s, which is ridiculous, because most rookies never even see NHL action until at least a few years are spent in the minor leagues. This multitude of issues basically makes the franchise mode pale in comparison to what else is currently on the market.

Any goalie with a goals against average like this would be out of a job in the real NHL.

Gretzky's online implementation is also a little on the subpar side, though it's far better than the franchise mode. Once you sign in, you can immediately jump into a lobby and start playing against other people, or you can create a tournament for up to 64 teams. That is, of course, if you can ever find 64 people playing the game. We never found more than a handful while testing it. Apart from that, though, all the usual online features are available, like voice chat, leaderboards, rankings, and so on. It's a functional online mode, and it didn't seem to have any outstanding performance issues. However, it's also not all that remarkable.

To be fair, there are a couple of nonstandard features in Gretzky NHL 2005. One is the game's rivalry mode, which lets you put together a rivalry between two teams before letting you play a series of games between them. During this mode, you try to both achieve specific goals and set records throughout its course of play. Unfortunately, that's about all there is to this mode, so it gets old fairly quickly. The other addition to the package is the inclusion of EyeToy support. In the create-a-player mode, you can use the EyeToy to map your own face onto your created player. This is a pretty cool addition, though the generally low-resolution images the EyeToy captures look a little funny. Still, it's a nice bonus.

The last feature the game includes is the Gretzky challenge mode. Similar to the "Madden Challenge" or the crib/skybox challenges in the ESPN games, these are little goals and challenges you have to achieve and overcome while playing each mode of the game. They can range from simply getting a hat trick to shutting out an opponent. Completing these challenges earns you points that you can use to unlock assorted content bonuses, like alternate and classic jerseys. And just in case you were wondering when exactly The Great One's influence would actually become apparent in the game, there are multiple versions of Wayne Gretzky included. There's an Oilers-era Gretzky, a Kings-era one, a Rangers-era one, and even a Team Canada one. Of course, each of the four versions is rated through the roof, and each can put up some serious points if he's placed on a team. Sadly, the inclusion of the four Gretzkys is about the only real boon in the game's unlockables mode. There really aren't all that many jerseys to unlock, so there's a generally pretty limited scope of content to choose from.

Though not exactly impressive, Gretzky NHL 2005's graphics are perfectly serviceable. The character models are pretty good, though some of the players' faces are more than a little off from their real-life counterparts. The animation in the game is mostly good, though there is a distinct lack of proper transition animation, leading to some herky-jerky movements when switching from one type of animation to another. There are also a number of pretty blatant clipping issues that pop up, especially during replays. Goalies move through nets, players move through each other, and more. The arenas all look good, and some of the ice effects you'll see in replays are actually pretty top notch. The game's frame rate stays consistent throughout, and the array of camera options is pretty nice. All told, the game looks good.

Wayne, we know it's boring behind that desk in Phoenix. But you probably could have picked a better game to back than this one.

Gretzky's audio presentation isn't quite as good, however. The in-game sound effects are all fine, but the remaining portions of the presentation aren't. The game's soundtrack is similar to other current sports games' soundtracks because it presents licensed music from a bunch of middling alternative rock acts that seem a little out of place on a hockey game. The songs range from good to terrible, and all of them seem contextually incorrect for the game. In-game commentary is provided by the duo of Mike Emrick and Darren Pang, and none of it is terribly worthwhile. Neither man has anything terribly informative to say, and sometimes one of the two will simply be wrong about a situation on the ice. There also isn't an especially good flow to their dialogue, which gives the impression that the commentary was more of an afterthought than anything else.

In a lot of ways, the fact that Wayne Gretzky is the cover athlete for this game is incredibly appropriate. That's because Gretzky NHL 2005 is a game that feels like an aging veteran trying desperately to get a leg up on the far more youthful and spry competition. Don't misunderstand, however. This isn't a bad hockey game. But when you compare it to the incredibly good ESPN NHL 2K5 and the admittedly less stellar but still solid NHL 2005, Gretzky NHL 2005 definitely feels like its missing a few key components from the overall equation. You could certainly do worse when it comes to PS2 hockey titles, but you could also do quite a bit better, too.