by: Andrew Thornton

January 15, 2008

2K Sports continues to lead the way in sports gaming this year with NHL 2K7 and NBA 2K7. Both are far better than their rivals put out by EA Sports. NHL 2K7 takes a major step forward from last year’s version and actually feels like a next generation game this time around. There's still work to be done but this year, hockey fans have a reason to be excited.

The presentation is the biggest jump this year. Like in their NBA title this year, 2K Sports decided that getting the real feel of the sport was something that had to be done to move into the next gen. They were right. The menus are a bit ugly but everything else about the presentation this year is great. I especially love the new Cinemotion mode. Basically, it captures the feel of a sports movie, removing commentary and using music to guide the game. If you get on a roll, the music playing will depict that. If you're cold, the music will capture that. It's one of the coolest innovations in sports games in years and I'd love to see it carry over into the rest of 2K's series' next year. The mode isn't perfect (the music could be a bit louder and I'd love the option to bring my own music in, assign it to a certain category like on a roll, then have my tracks play while I play) but it's a big move in the right direction. Using classic teams can make this even better - take USA ‘80 and USSR ‘80 and recreate Miracle for yourself. (Though I think USA ‘80 is a bit underscored, a 3? They did beat USSR that year, why is USSR a 9 and USA a 3? USA were the underdogs but they proved that they're capable of beating them, they should be at least a 6.)


The game plays as well as ever, which is to be expected. I'm also happy to report that my Red Wings are one of the two best teams in the game, just where they belong. The franchise mode has been improved this year and made deeper than ever. I especially love the way rivals have been put into the game. Your team starts out with their historic rivals, in tiers of how big the rivalry is. If a team knocks you out of the playoffs or signs one of your players, they become a rival. Beating a rival gives your team a morale boost - the bigger the rival, the bigger the boost. Losing to one does the opposite. I really like going on a streak giving your play boosts, I think it's a great idea. NHL 2K7 has added a ton of new features that should be adopted by more sports games.

There are problems though, particularly with one timers. You'll score more using one timers than any other way in this game. One timers are not all that commonly effective in hockey but in 2K7 they're by far the easiest way to score as goalies simply don't react that well to them; strangely they react very well to pretty much everything else. Like all of 2K Sports’ games, you can adjust all of this with game sliders, so it isn't that big a deal, but it'd be nice to get the default to be like real hockey. With so much attention paid to presentation, I'd think they'd pay a bit more to the core gameplay.

NHL 2K7 has probably the best animation of any game on the 360 to date. The players look great, the arenas look great (especially the ice which is the best in any hockey game ever, by far), the game runs at a rock solid framerate and I have yet to see a bit of slowdown. 2K7 is a gorgeous hockey game. Players actually seem to weigh something, your animations thus change dramatically, and you have to get used to changing direction in a way that is realistic instead of just pointing and changing direction automatically. Momentum actually feels right this time around. Audio is good, Cinemotion leading the charge. The commentary is solid if you choose to turn it on but it's not fantastic. The music in the game is quite good though the sound effects could be better, particularly the crowds. The one downside are the lame menus which are extremely ugly, they don't look to belong in the next generation.

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NHL 2K7 is far from a perfect game. There are some flaws, particularly with the one timers, audio and the menus. But 2K7 still manages to hang onto the hockey game crown. With a great new mode in Cinemotion moving sports games forward, 2K Sports makes the first next generation hockey game that I can honestly recommend to hockey fans. Hockey fans may have been burned last year by a game that really didn't feel next gen, but this year they have something that feels like it belongs on the Xbox 360.

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