Simply the best hockey game ever made but a few minor problems prevent the game from being perfect
NHL 08 has been able to win the battle of hockey games this year completely on the new and innovative gameplay. As mentioned before this years gameplay features the revolutionary design called the "skill stick". This design allows the player to control the skating with one analog stick and the stick (which includes shooting, deking, etc) with the other. This design gives the player full control of the ice allowing then to do exactly what they want to do. The physics in this game a also very realistic. no longer will the puck have direct paths to the net. You could take a shot and it would deflect off of a few legs before going to the back of the net. The pucks movement is realistic to how it is in real life. Another improved part of the gameplay is the skating, defence, and goaltending aspects. The newly developed skating engine is identical to how skating is in real life. You have the ability to make wide turns and cross over to build up speed as you are in your turn or you can do a tight turn to turn very fast in a different direction. One of the best parts of the new skating engine is that there is no longer a speed burst button. The speed of your skater will fully depend on how much you tilt the left analog stick. The new defence is way better then last years version. You can actually beat the defence wide and you can deke them out with the dangle button (i dont know the real term lol). The goalies are 100% better and realistic. They no longer make miracle saves and it is possible to get weak goals on them.
The graphics in the game are incredible. There is so much detail put into the players and equipment is amazing. The sounds are also very good esspicially in the commentating and sound effects.
One of the most improved parts of the game is the dynasty mode. Everything about it has been improved from the addition of the AHL to the free agent signings. The online is also very fun but can be extremely hard to get into a ranked game at times.
Of course not all games are prefect and the same applies to NHL 08. A lot of minor problems occur during this game that can be annoying. One problem is sometimes when you take a shot the puck will go flying into the air and go out of bounds, not very realistic. The puck will also randomly get stuck in between the net and the goalie and the whistle will never go. This kills a lot of time in a game, which can be very annoying. In the dynasty mode you cannot edit your players like you can out of the dynasty mode. This is bad because you cannot change players equipment types if you wanted, esspically goalies that come from other teams so there pads will be a different colour. Also in the dynasty mode pretty much all the rookies have a cut below there left eye and are bald. All the rookie defence are either 6'7'' or 6'9'' which is extremely unrealistic to real life (its hockey not basketball).
Besides the few minor problems NHL 08 is by far the best hockey game ever made.