NHL 09

We love it when a sports game comes together. With NHL 09, all the potential this series has teased us with for the past two seasons has finally gelled into actual, grade-A greatness.

Strangely enough, a plain ol’ arrow is one of the things that deeply impressed us. And in some ways, it’s the heart of NHL 09’s new Be A Pro mode. For sports fans, that name says it all — create your wanna-be legend and take him from the AHL to godhood by controlling only him on the ice for as many seasons as it takes. Similar modes have been in sports games aplenty for years now, but NHL 09 really encourages you to play your position with an arrow that appears on the ice to show you where your player should be at all times.

Sounds simple — and it is — but it changes hockey videogaming from an individual sport to a team one. Suddenly, you’re not the master of everything, trying to do it all yourself. You’ll be rewarded with far more XP if you obey the arrow and stay at home on D when you should, call for passes only when you’re open, and generally don’t behave like a glory hog who can’t share the puck. Since XP gets you called up from the minors and placed on the top lines, that’s a pretty motivating carrot. We fell in love with hockey all over again by discovering just how challenging — and fun! — it is playing goalie, lumbering around as a punishing defenseman, or lingering at the blue line as a cherry-picking sniper.

Better yet, you can take your fledging superstar online and sign up for a 50-person club (essentially a clan). Any time two to six club members are online together, you can team up and represent your club in matchmaking in up to 12-player league or single-game action. And we gotta say, playing all-human hockey is a game-changing experience. Talented goalies will be your most prized players, and working together with other gamers instead of CPU-controlled chumpwads was incredibly fun.

Loads of smaller additions — separate offensive and defensive line changes, even tighter commentary by Clement and Thorne — only improve the game. The series’ thumbstickbased controls have also matured, adding defensive options (like sweeping poke checks, lifting an opponent’s stick, and pass blocking) that really complete the experience. Which is just another great reason to spend some quality time with NHL 09 — it’s one of those rare sports games that stands out from the crowd.