Most realistic NHL gameplay

[Hoosier83]

For those of you NHLers, I'm looking to get an older NHL game (PS2 or PS3) to play and get fairly immersed in (yes, I'm cheap).

As NCAA 04 or 06 are widely considered the best college football games (arguably), and NFL 2K5 is considered the best most realistic NFL game, what is the NHL equivalent in this community? Which one has the biggest following with regards to realistic gameplay that everyone points to as the pinnacle of the franchise?

I don't want to download something new that focuses on the same thing that madden does with the ultimate team stuff.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

[Chad0034]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

I honestly am loving the new NHL gameplay on next gen consoles. They have seemed to do a good job at making cross crease a lot more difficult to succeed.

[Skyflame21]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

NHL17 is the one go back to. It was very good until the patch they sent out. Though I never DL the patch. I used custom settings / sliders and revamped rosters and it’s quite good. Happy to share... feel free to pm me if you’re interested

[Jeffrey99]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

I was a big fan of 2k. I’m thinking I really liked 2k9 but you will find a million different answers to this question. Lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bapgap]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

I tried going back and playing some of the 2K hockey games (NHL 2k7 and 2k9) recently and the gameplay really doesn't hold up anymore. Once I got used to the skill stick controls, I just can't go back and play the old way.

IMO, NHL 11 had the best and most realistic gameplay from the EA series.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

Ok, I'm gonna save you some time here...
You will never - get - a unanimous - response - to this question.
The problem is, hockey has changed so much on and off the ice since NHL93 that it depends what marketing of games was trying to sell, what trends were popular, how the game itself reflected those trends... this is a very very complex question. Also, games out of the box are sometimes nowhere near as good as they are with slider tweaks and sometimes they're worse with slider tweaks. But I think, ironically, the number one thing affecting the proper answering of that question is the fact that very few people agree on what "most realistic" means. I interpret it as 'looks most like a television broadcast' since after all that is where most people take in hockey. Others will say, what most feels like being at the stadium and will swear on turning off all sound that isn't ice related.


NHL series - typically more arcade-y. 2K was typically more realism focused. That being said, when NHL was more realism focused, it has outweighed 2K because the best 2K games suffer heavily from bad animations or presentation. And both of those things kill immersion no matter how "realistic" they are. Play 2K8 (in my opinion one of the best representations of hockey in a game) and see how many games you can last before the moaning zombies in the audience become unbearable. You need to ask yourself what realism means to you so you can weed through the games available. The reason other sports like American Football, Baseball, College Sports, and NBA have specific games that are considered the top is because those properties had teams behind them that genuinely cared about producing amazing games. I genuinely do not believe the NHL has ever had that. (And then there's the fact that I have strong reservations about many of the games considered "best ever"). Most people like NCAA 04 and 06 for properly recreating the College experience of drafting and playing a team of youngsters and dealing with the realities of the sport. But I'm sorry, there is nothing in either title on the field that is not vastly surpassed in NCAA Football 14 or 13. Nothing.


So I'd give you my opinion, but it would only be my opinion and pointless. This is a long process. I did it once just to reacquaint myself with hockey video games. Decide if you want to play with modern day rosters because if you do, your options are limited right from the start. Avoid "best 5 NHL games of all time" videos. They are useless. They are one person's opinion and usually based on nothing more than the same cliches you find in forums. You can tell me a million times NHL04, NBA2K12, and Madden 08 are the best games in their sports and I will always disagree with you. So what's the point of hearing that? Go back and read reviews, watch video reviews from the time, to learn what was thought of the BASE game. Not the online connectivity, not the number of franchise features, the game. Good luck. Few reviews actually review the animated sport itself. But use that and then go watch un-doctored gameplay footage of the games in question. Literally search "NHL 09 PC gameplay" on youtube. And do that with every title that interests you.


I'm saving you time, believe it or not. You'll literally take longer getting this answer by researching every game that gets mentioned in this thread. And few people will tell you exactly why they choose what they choose. And you'll still be left wondering what the others are like that nobody mentioned.

Hope that helps.

[BigBadAss33]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

For those of you NHLers, I'm looking to get an older NHL game (PS2 or PS3) to play and get fairly immersed in (yes, I'm cheap).

As NCAA 04 or 06 are widely considered the best college football games (arguably), and NFL 2K5 is considered the best most realistic NFL game, what is the NHL equivalent in this community? Which one has the biggest following with regards to realistic gameplay that everyone points to as the pinnacle of the franchise?

I don't want to download something new that focuses on the same thing that madden does with the ultimate team stuff.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

100%, without a doubt

NHL2K8

it has one of the largest communities for sure..

[Hoosier83]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

Ok, I'm gonna save you some time here...
You will never - get - a unanimous - response - to this question.
The problem is, hockey has changed so much on and off the ice since NHL93 that it depends what marketing of games was trying to sell, what trends were popular, how the game itself reflected those trends... this is a very very complex question. Also, games out of the box are sometimes nowhere near as good as they are with slider tweaks and sometimes they're worse with slider tweaks. But I think, ironically, the number one thing affecting the proper answering of that question is the fact that very few people agree on what "most realistic" means. I interpret it as 'looks most like a television broadcast' since after all that is where most people take in hockey. Others will say, what most feels like being at the stadium and will swear on turning off all sound that isn't ice related.


NHL series - typically more arcade-y. 2K was typically more realism focused. That being said, when NHL was more realism focused, it has outweighed 2K because the best 2K games suffer heavily from bad animations or presentation. And both of those things kill immersion no matter how "realistic" they are. Play 2K8 (in my opinion one of the best representations of hockey in a game) and see how many games you can last before the moaning zombies in the audience become unbearable. You need to ask yourself what realism means to you so you can weed through the games available. The reason other sports like American Football, Baseball, College Sports, and NBA have specific games that are considered the top is because those properties had teams behind them that genuinely cared about producing amazing games. I genuinely do not believe the NHL has ever had that. (And then there's the fact that I have strong reservations about many of the games considered "best ever"). Most people like NCAA 04 and 06 for properly recreating the College experience of drafting and playing a team of youngsters and dealing with the realities of the sport. But I'm sorry, there is nothing in either title on the field that is not vastly surpassed in NCAA Football 14 or 13. Nothing.


So I'd give you my opinion, but it would only be my opinion and pointless. This is a long process. I did it once just to reacquaint myself with hockey video games. Decide if you want to play with modern day rosters because if you do, your options are limited right from the start. Avoid "best 5 NHL games of all time" videos. They are useless. They are one person's opinion and usually based on nothing more than the same cliches you find in forums. You can tell me a million times NHL04, NBA2K12, and Madden 08 are the best games in their sports and I will always disagree with you. So what's the point of hearing that? Go back and read reviews, watch video reviews from the time, to learn what was thought of the BASE game. Not the online connectivity, not the number of franchise features, the game. Good luck. Few reviews actually review the animated sport itself. But use that and then go watch un-doctored gameplay footage of the games in question. Literally search "NHL 09 PC gameplay" on youtube. And do that with every title that interests you.


I'm saving you time, believe it or not. You'll literally take longer getting this answer by researching every game that gets mentioned in this thread. And few people will tell you exactly why they choose what they choose. And you'll still be left wondering what the others are like that nobody mentioned.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for all the responses, guys! It does seem as though there isn’t a clear cut consensus, similar to the football community with 2k5, so I’ll do some research and watch game reviews and decide from there.
2k8 seems like a good place to start. Is that on PS2 or PS3?

Thanks!

[The EVHL]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

Thanks for all the responses, guys! It does seem as though there isn’t a clear cut consensus, similar to the football community with 2k5, so I’ll do some research and watch game reviews and decide from there.
2k8 seems like a good place to start. Is that on PS2 or PS3?

Thanks!

2k8 on the PS3 would be the one you want, not the PS2 version.

As far as your original question goes, you received a good reply about how this answer will be totally subjective and some games OOTB are complete hidden gems when sliders are used. For me, the newest EA games win the "total package" contest for me. By "total package" I mean the ability for me to create teams with a fairly impressive create-a-team suite + have the sliders to get a game style that I want/best/most out of the game as I can.

Back in my 360 days when I played the EA games competitively online, I always had offline alternatives as EA's games didn't win that "total package" contest. So I'll give you 3 games I switched between up until NHL 19 which truly was the first EA game I finally found to beat the "full package" for offline gaming.

Full-Package Winner/Most recent: 2k10
I think 2k8 offered a more in-depth approach to hockey on-ice, but 2k10 had a better charm to it via presentation, a more streamlined skill stick, and I found defense more enjoyable on it thanks to the jostling animations. That + the create-a-team in 2k10 was lightyears better than 2k8 so it allowed me to make a custom league which I always enjoy doing. Also, 2k10 in franchise mode allowed you to play any NHL game regardless of who your team was. So, I would grab a team, sim the entire regular season, and play every single game of the playoffs. It was so fun seeing the different rinks/lighting, scoreboards, and the goal horns were absolutely amazing! Great presentation, animations and gameplay leave some to be desired, but for offline fans who can look past that and want to be immersed and feel like they're at a game, 2k10 is still the gold standard imo. The goalies are very good in this game, easily #2 behind 2k8. What's awesome is that you can take these quick flick-up wrist shots with the skill stick and you can actually just catch the goalie. Like I can take the same shot 50 times and it might go in 1-5 times so I would say the surprise of scoring and the reward/rush you get from scoring is very high + the great goal horns at home and you have a really immersive hockey experience after tucking one! Side note: Had an absolute blast playing with auto-aim in this game. I could never find a slider set that felt good with manual aim. Switched to auto and it really made the game a lot better!

In-Depth on-ice experience: 2k8:
2k8 Is the one I played the least out of these three I'm giving you, and I think it was mainly due to how poor the presentation was. I just always felt bored by the sounds and the cutscenes outside of the "copper stopper" replays which were awesome. I didn't find defense to be particularly fun playing, but the weird yet advanced controls on offense were incredible! There's not a more challenging yet rewarding offensive experience than 2k8 and it's because of their goalies. Hands down the best, most realistic goalies we've seen in a video game ever. Add-in the fact that you could take a normal snap shot, a power wrister (absolutely lethal and incredibly rewarding when you picked a corner with one of these guys) and a million other controls I'm forgetting these days, but the point is offense required some thinking. You could legit start a power wrister load up which would actually result in an AI defender dropping to a knee, only to fake the shot and continue skating to create time and space, it was really fun. I just think the overall skating, checking, presentation left a lot to be desired, but the depth in-controls and the goalies are unmatched to this day.

Best grind-it-out/chaotic/amazing net-front sequences: NHL Hitz Pro
Now this game is truly the "Hidden Gem" champion of the hockey genre imo. It offers an impressive list of sliders that let you tune the game to your liking, and yes, it is possible to get a very real sense of hockey. This game is the 5-on-5 variant of the Hitz series. The one glaring issue is that there's no on-the-fly line changes. Had this game had that, it honestly might still be my game of choice to this day, that's how great the bet-front sequences are in this game. This game has a simple control scheme, it lacks finesse, it lacks those "snipes" and dangles that modern hockey games can deliver, but what it does offer is the grittyness and absolute desperation in-front of the net that no other hockey game has came close to delivering. There's diving shot animations, diving block animations, there's diving goalie animations that actually require the goalie to recover from before making saves unlike EA's floating goalies, so every shot from the point is just an absolute mad house in-front of the net, and you actually do get stopped more than not with the right sliders. This game is all about zone possession, lots of one-timers (defense isn't great at stopping initial shots, but it great at scrambling/defending rebounds if that makes sense) and lots of button-mashing/banging away at loose pucks hoping that your pressure leads to a goal. You need slider work, you need to tone down shot accuracy and crank up fatigue effects + goalie skill, but once you find that perfect balance with your sliders, this game is like the epitome of "playoff hockey" imo. Just greasy, grind it out goals with lots of zone time, big saves, big blocks, and electrifying rushes when you do slam a goal in. Like I said, no pretty goals in this game, CPU lacks a bit on offense (I like to play 1/2 the game for both teams and play all playoff games) but it quite literally is hard work to setup in the zone (dedicated dump puck button is amazing for cycling + dumping a chase which is a necessity in this game) get shots on, and maintain the zone/pressure long enough to get a breakdown. Just an experience no other hockey game has come close to delivering imo, and I still find myself booting this game up every now and again via dolphin emulation on the PC because it's simply that timeless.

Hope this helped! Enjoy your quest! Do not sleep on NHL Hitz Pro, I'm telling you! Most replies you'll get will be 2k8, 2k5, 2k10, NHL 11-14ish era, but none of them match the "work" required for scoring goals as Hitz Pro did, no game ever has matched those net-front scramble sequences, they are simply amazing. Good luck!

[htskr21]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

NHL 2004 from EA.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

You see?... 10 different people, 10 different opinions. Just do what I suggested to you. Asking is pointless.

[Hoosier83]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

You see?... 10 different people, 10 different opinions. Just do what I suggested to you. Asking is pointless.

For sure, I do like the discourse tho (when people put why they like it), but I see what you mean. I have NHL 2K8 on the way from eBay on PS3, it looked good on the reviews I looked up.

[Hoosier83]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

2k8 on the PS3 would be the one you want, not the PS2 version.

As far as your original question goes, you received a good reply about how this answer will be totally subjective and some games OOTB are complete hidden gems when sliders are used. For me, the newest EA games win the "total package" contest for me. By "total package" I mean the ability for me to create teams with a fairly impressive create-a-team suite + have the sliders to get a game style that I want/best/most out of the game as I can.

Back in my 360 days when I played the EA games competitively online, I always had offline alternatives as EA's games didn't win that "total package" contest. So I'll give you 3 games I switched between up until NHL 19 which truly was the first EA game I finally found to beat the "full package" for offline gaming.

Full-Package Winner/Most recent: 2k10
I think 2k8 offered a more in-depth approach to hockey on-ice, but 2k10 had a better charm to it via presentation, a more streamlined skill stick, and I found defense more enjoyable on it thanks to the jostling animations. That + the create-a-team in 2k10 was lightyears better than 2k8 so it allowed me to make a custom league which I always enjoy doing. Also, 2k10 in franchise mode allowed you to play any NHL game regardless of who your team was. So, I would grab a team, sim the entire regular season, and play every single game of the playoffs. It was so fun seeing the different rinks/lighting, scoreboards, and the goal horns were absolutely amazing! Great presentation, animations and gameplay leave some to be desired, but for offline fans who can look past that and want to be immersed and feel like they're at a game, 2k10 is still the gold standard imo. The goalies are very good in this game, easily #2 behind 2k8. What's awesome is that you can take these quick flick-up wrist shots with the skill stick and you can actually just catch the goalie. Like I can take the same shot 50 times and it might go in 1-5 times so I would say the surprise of scoring and the reward/rush you get from scoring is very high + the great goal horns at home and you have a really immersive hockey experience after tucking one! Side note: Had an absolute blast playing with auto-aim in this game. I could never find a slider set that felt good with manual aim. Switched to auto and it really made the game a lot better!

In-Depth on-ice experience: 2k8:
2k8 Is the one I played the least out of these three I'm giving you, and I think it was mainly due to how poor the presentation was. I just always felt bored by the sounds and the cutscenes outside of the "copper stopper" replays which were awesome. I didn't find defense to be particularly fun playing, but the weird yet advanced controls on offense were incredible! There's not a more challenging yet rewarding offensive experience than 2k8 and it's because of their goalies. Hands down the best, most realistic goalies we've seen in a video game ever. Add-in the fact that you could take a normal snap shot, a power wrister (absolutely lethal and incredibly rewarding when you picked a corner with one of these guys) and a million other controls I'm forgetting these days, but the point is offense required some thinking. You could legit start a power wrister load up which would actually result in an AI defender dropping to a knee, only to fake the shot and continue skating to create time and space, it was really fun. I just think the overall skating, checking, presentation left a lot to be desired, but the depth in-controls and the goalies are unmatched to this day.

Best grind-it-out/chaotic/amazing net-front sequences: NHL Hitz Pro
Now this game is truly the "Hidden Gem" champion of the hockey genre imo. It offers an impressive list of sliders that let you tune the game to your liking, and yes, it is possible to get a very real sense of hockey. This game is the 5-on-5 variant of the Hitz series. The one glaring issue is that there's no on-the-fly line changes. Had this game had that, it honestly might still be my game of choice to this day, that's how great the bet-front sequences are in this game. This game has a simple control scheme, it lacks finesse, it lacks those "snipes" and dangles that modern hockey games can deliver, but what it does offer is the grittyness and absolute desperation in-front of the net that no other hockey game has came close to delivering. There's diving shot animations, diving block animations, there's diving goalie animations that actually require the goalie to recover from before making saves unlike EA's floating goalies, so every shot from the point is just an absolute mad house in-front of the net, and you actually do get stopped more than not with the right sliders. This game is all about zone possession, lots of one-timers (defense isn't great at stopping initial shots, but it great at scrambling/defending rebounds if that makes sense) and lots of button-mashing/banging away at loose pucks hoping that your pressure leads to a goal. You need slider work, you need to tone down shot accuracy and crank up fatigue effects + goalie skill, but once you find that perfect balance with your sliders, this game is like the epitome of "playoff hockey" imo. Just greasy, grind it out goals with lots of zone time, big saves, big blocks, and electrifying rushes when you do slam a goal in. Like I said, no pretty goals in this game, CPU lacks a bit on offense (I like to play 1/2 the game for both teams and play all playoff games) but it quite literally is hard work to setup in the zone (dedicated dump puck button is amazing for cycling + dumping a chase which is a necessity in this game) get shots on, and maintain the zone/pressure long enough to get a breakdown. Just an experience no other hockey game has come close to delivering imo, and I still find myself booting this game up every now and again via dolphin emulation on the PC because it's simply that timeless.

Hope this helped! Enjoy your quest! Do not sleep on NHL Hitz Pro, I'm telling you! Most replies you'll get will be 2k8, 2k5, 2k10, NHL 11-14ish era, but none of them match the "work" required for scoring goals as Hitz Pro did, no game ever has matched those net-front scramble sequences, they are simply amazing. Good luck!

This is an awesome reply, thank you!

[Smallville102001]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

2k8 on the PS3 would be the one you want, not the PS2 version.

As far as your original question goes, you received a good reply about how this answer will be totally subjective and some games OOTB are complete hidden gems when sliders are used. For me, the newest EA games win the "total package" contest for me. By "total package" I mean the ability for me to create teams with a fairly impressive create-a-team suite + have the sliders to get a game style that I want/best/most out of the game as I can.

Back in my 360 days when I played the EA games competitively online, I always had offline alternatives as EA's games didn't win that "total package" contest. So I'll give you 3 games I switched between up until NHL 19 which truly was the first EA game I finally found to beat the "full package" for offline gaming.

Full-Package Winner/Most recent: 2k10
I think 2k8 offered a more in-depth approach to hockey on-ice, but 2k10 had a better charm to it via presentation, a more streamlined skill stick, and I found defense more enjoyable on it thanks to the jostling animations. That + the create-a-team in 2k10 was lightyears better than 2k8 so it allowed me to make a custom league which I always enjoy doing. Also, 2k10 in franchise mode allowed you to play any NHL game regardless of who your team was. So, I would grab a team, sim the entire regular season, and play every single game of the playoffs. It was so fun seeing the different rinks/lighting, scoreboards, and the goal horns were absolutely amazing! Great presentation, animations and gameplay leave some to be desired, but for offline fans who can look past that and want to be immersed and feel like they're at a game, 2k10 is still the gold standard imo. The goalies are very good in this game, easily #2 behind 2k8. What's awesome is that you can take these quick flick-up wrist shots with the skill stick and you can actually just catch the goalie. Like I can take the same shot 50 times and it might go in 1-5 times so I would say the surprise of scoring and the reward/rush you get from scoring is very high + the great goal horns at home and you have a really immersive hockey experience after tucking one! Side note: Had an absolute blast playing with auto-aim in this game. I could never find a slider set that felt good with manual aim. Switched to auto and it really made the game a lot better!

In-Depth on-ice experience: 2k8:
2k8 Is the one I played the least out of these three I'm giving you, and I think it was mainly due to how poor the presentation was. I just always felt bored by the sounds and the cutscenes outside of the "copper stopper" replays which were awesome. I didn't find defense to be particularly fun playing, but the weird yet advanced controls on offense were incredible! There's not a more challenging yet rewarding offensive experience than 2k8 and it's because of their goalies. Hands down the best, most realistic goalies we've seen in a video game ever. Add-in the fact that you could take a normal snap shot, a power wrister (absolutely lethal and incredibly rewarding when you picked a corner with one of these guys) and a million other controls I'm forgetting these days, but the point is offense required some thinking. You could legit start a power wrister load up which would actually result in an AI defender dropping to a knee, only to fake the shot and continue skating to create time and space, it was really fun. I just think the overall skating, checking, presentation left a lot to be desired, but the depth in-controls and the goalies are unmatched to this day.

Best grind-it-out/chaotic/amazing net-front sequences: NHL Hitz Pro
Now this game is truly the "Hidden Gem" champion of the hockey genre imo. It offers an impressive list of sliders that let you tune the game to your liking, and yes, it is possible to get a very real sense of hockey. This game is the 5-on-5 variant of the Hitz series. The one glaring issue is that there's no on-the-fly line changes. Had this game had that, it honestly might still be my game of choice to this day, that's how great the bet-front sequences are in this game. This game has a simple control scheme, it lacks finesse, it lacks those "snipes" and dangles that modern hockey games can deliver, but what it does offer is the grittyness and absolute desperation in-front of the net that no other hockey game has came close to delivering. There's diving shot animations, diving block animations, there's diving goalie animations that actually require the goalie to recover from before making saves unlike EA's floating goalies, so every shot from the point is just an absolute mad house in-front of the net, and you actually do get stopped more than not with the right sliders. This game is all about zone possession, lots of one-timers (defense isn't great at stopping initial shots, but it great at scrambling/defending rebounds if that makes sense) and lots of button-mashing/banging away at loose pucks hoping that your pressure leads to a goal. You need slider work, you need to tone down shot accuracy and crank up fatigue effects + goalie skill, but once you find that perfect balance with your sliders, this game is like the epitome of "playoff hockey" imo. Just greasy, grind it out goals with lots of zone time, big saves, big blocks, and electrifying rushes when you do slam a goal in. Like I said, no pretty goals in this game, CPU lacks a bit on offense (I like to play 1/2 the game for both teams and play all playoff games) but it quite literally is hard work to setup in the zone (dedicated dump puck button is amazing for cycling + dumping a chase which is a necessity in this game) get shots on, and maintain the zone/pressure long enough to get a breakdown. Just an experience no other hockey game has come close to delivering imo, and I still find myself booting this game up every now and again via dolphin emulation on the PC because it's simply that timeless.

Hope this helped! Enjoy your quest! Do not sleep on NHL Hitz Pro, I'm telling you! Most replies you'll get will be 2k8, 2k5, 2k10, NHL 11-14ish era, but none of them match the "work" required for scoring goals as Hitz Pro did, no game ever has matched those net-front scramble sequences, they are simply amazing. Good luck!

I loved NHL Hitz back on gamecube in 2001 back had no idea there was a NHL Hitz pro now I am like wondering how much different it is than just NHL Hitz lol

[The EVHL]

Re: Most realistic NHL gameplay

I loved NHL Hitz back on gamecube in 2001 back had no idea there was a NHL Hitz pro now I am like wondering how much different it is than just NHL Hitz lol

Hitz Pro was a 2003 release (03-04 season) and it is still the same Hitz gameplay you know and love from Hitz 2002. The difference being that it's 5v5, they cut out all of the big head, fantasy teams, limited the "on-fire" attribute boosts to only happening for a short burst after a fight win (also fighting is super lame) and gave you a ton of slider options that allow you really turn a button-masher game at heart into a legitimate sim-feeling hockey game.

Again, biggest complain is no on-the-fly line changes but the dedicated dump puck button is great for dumping, cycling, and even allows you to feather the button for a high-flip clear that relieves pressure but doesn't ice the puck!