Developer: Page 44 Studios
Publisher: SCEA
Genre: Sports
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 09 Nov 04

User Rating
9.6 (27 votes)

Score 10 (Best) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Worst)

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Overview

For those of you few hockey fans out there who are missing this year's hockey season due to the strike, here's another title to let you blow off a little steam. Although most of America could really care a less about the NHL, some of us do and for the loss of the league this year what better then a hockey game to fill the void! Now we have Sony teaming up with Page 44 Studios to bring us Gretzky NHL 2005 for the PS2! Is this an up and coming series or one that should go on strike with the league? Read our full review to find out!

Gameplay

It's been interesting to say the least with regards to Sony's 989 Sports, which has had a very mediocre showing on the PS2 thus far. This year has been one of the oddest years ever for the sports developers who took off their college and professional football titles, as well there professional and college basketball games as well. This led to one of their few releases of the year, MLB 2005, which was actually a pretty good game and showed plenty of promise for the future. Will Gretzky NHL 2005 have the same luck?

Last year's hockey game for 989 Sports wasn't one of there best, giving gamers a good hockey experience but failed to bring anything new to the table. This year the game is totally different from any other hockey title on the market today, giving gamers a whole lot more speed and a lot more goals then we have found in these other two games. The game at times feels like games we used to play back on the older consoles. This is mainly due to the older style controls, which find themselves one button or passing, shooting, and checking. The game does allow you to do a little bit of variety with the checks but for the most part the game takes a pretty standard approach to the controls which makes for a very easy game to pick up and play.

What was really surprising to me was the lack of variety in the game modes of Gretzky NHL 2005, which really is quite different from what we have recently seen in 989 Sports game, which have been game modes heaven. Now we just have the basics, including quick game, practice, tournament, and franchise. And what makes this list even worse is that the franchise mode is nowhere near any other games' franchise mode. This year you get a pretty scarce franchise mode, which doesn't give you a whole lot of maneuverability between the budget or being able to do exactly what you want with your franchise, which is something that we have all come to look for in sports games.

Gretzky 2005 does host online playability and although the options aren't as plentiful as some of the other 989 Sports online titles, the game still does work quite well. Hockey video games in my opinion make for a great multiplayer experience and this game proves my point by providing some really entertaining online play. Although the options may not all be there, I didn't experience much lag and with the high scoring affairs that this game presents it actually worked quite well online.

Overall Gretzky NHL 2005 is a pretty average game that does have the potential but just does not make way with it yet. The gameplay works for the majority of the game and does show some very entertaining online play. With some more work on the modes of the game you are going to see a game that could compete in the coming year. With all that being said you could see that Sony has finally began to take this series in the right direction.

Graphics

The one thing that really has been a huge factor separating games published by SCEA and the EA & ESPN are the visuals, which always seem to have the biggest gap. For some reason 989 Sports just could never got the visuals to compete. So does Page 44 Studios break this streak?

Gretzky NHL 2005 is not a great looking game but it's not a bad looking game either, giving you quite a bit of variety and quite a bit of detail for the character models. Although the character models may not be to the level of EA Sports, they do have quite a bit of detail and once again show a room for improvement. The animation in the game is solid showing almost no slowdown what so ever in the game. The arenas in which you play in though could have used some work as they aren't as finely polished as the other things in the game, but still are manageable.

Overall Gretzky NHL 2005 is once again on the right track and shows some serious signs of competing with the big boys next year, if they can continue to build on this and improve the title in the visual department.

Fun Factor

Gretzky NHL 2005 is a game that moves at a much quicker pace then we have become used to in hockey games of late. This adds for a lot more scoring and a whole lot more offence, which actually makes for a pretty entertaining game. Like I mentioned earlier in the review, the online play is also actually pretty entertaining and I didn't experience much lag at all either. On the downside though the game just does not have all the depth in the franchise mode, which stops it from truly being a overly entertaining game.

Overall

The one thing about the hockey market this year is that there is some serious competition for the top spot. With ESPN's game being extremely good and combine that with a low price tag you got a great deal there. And then we have EA Sports' NHL 2005 game, which also did very well this year. Gretzky 2005 has some really good ideas but the game just doesn't have enough fine-tuning to really make a great game. This year may not be the year for this series, but I will warn you all right now if they can improve upon this system, next year we should be in for a real treat.

Gameplay
7.0

Graphics
7.0

Fun Factor
7.0

Overall
7.0

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