NHL 2K8 is 2K Sports latest edition of its Hockey franchise, making it’s way to the PS3 and Xbox 360 with a new Control system, Next-Gen visuals and all new Goaltending. Will this be the NHL game of choice for gamers? Read on to find out…

The first thing you will notice when accessing the menus is that NHL 2K8 offers a nice range of game modes to choose from including Quick Game, Tournament and Challenge (play-off against classic well known teams, complete challenges to unlock them.), however the games deepest mode is Franchise which allows you to track a players progression and purchase new players, it also includes every CBA available, and many other things, this mode certainly has a lot to it meaning that it should keep every hardcore Hockey fan entertained for quite a while. Should you get tired of the normal game modes then Take 2 have also included a Extras mode which contains 3 mini games, Pond Hockey, Battle Mode, and Mini Rink that should keep players hooked for ages.

Sports game just wouldn’t be complete without an online mode so it’s always nice when one has been included, even if it is expected. The multiplayer games in NHL 2K8 are great fun to play and will keep you amused for quite some time, you are also able to play split screen with a friend and if that isn’t enough you can even put your replays together and upload them to Xbox Live for everyone to see.

The controls in this year’s version have been completely overhauled. You control your puck via the right analogue stick, allowing you to move the puck around more freely, this new control scheme is called Prostick, unfortunately though it feels gimmicky and doesn’t really help with the gameplay at all, instead it just seems to complicate things, the left stick however remains unchanged and still moves your character around as in the previous installments.

The games controls are quite difficult to use and even after playing a few games they are still quite complicated which just seems to take the fun away. There are nine tutorials which will help you learn the controls and other things about the game, but it seems too much to learn and it does get quite tedious after a while. It would probably have been best if the developer could have tried to make the controls simpler to begin with as this is one element that might put gamers new to this franchise off.

The Graphics on NHL 2K8 are very good, the character detail is much better than previous installments, there are nice reflections on the ice and the animations are much better, however as with most sports games you can only notice how good the graphics are when the camera is up close to the player as otherwise you are too busy trying to beat your opponent to notice them.

The soundtrack on this game is very good with many well known bands in the play list, the commentary is also very well done and this all adds to atmosphere of the game very well.

Overall NHL 2K8 feels like it is a game mainly aimed at Hockey fans and I get the feeling that people new to this franchise will be put off by the overly complicated control scheme. It’s not a game you can easily jump into and start playing straight away, it’s more of a game where you will need to practice a lot just to get used to the basics of the control system, however if you do mange to get the hang of the controls there is a lot to get out of this game.