NHL 09 Review

Let's start things off on completely the wrong foot, I never watch hockey, I don't understand all the rules and the only hockey player I can name is Wayne Gretzky. With that being said though I have played early EA hockey games since the early nineties on the Sega Megadrive, and normally end up renting the NHL 2k series. So lets now get this review underway for EA's NHL 09, yep that`s right not the 2k series that I have grown accustomed to but a return to EA's vision of Hockey.

Upon loading the game throws you into a character creation screen where you get to name you character, pick your number, position and if your character is left or right handed. Once completed you get thrown into the training mode which is pretty helpful for us newbies to the EA NHL Hockey series. You learn the basics such as how to shoot, aiming your shots, deke'ing and the best thing checking. Once the training is completed you get taken to a screen called the performance tracker, this will keep a track of how well you do with the character you created both online and offline. After this you are taken to the main menu which features the usual options you would expect to see such as Play Now, Game Modes, Xbox Live. Along with these though we have the new things such as the EA Sports Media Hub where you can upload videos and screen shots. As well as this though you can also add your own custom music for when your team walks onto the ice or scores a goal. Its only a little thing but I like it, its nice to see that bit of extra customizations being added to tailor the experience to something more than you would expect to see in a game.


Next up we have My NHL 09 that has a host of different tabs to choose from such as the Creation Zone which has the usual Create Player/Team options we now have a new option though called Edit Be A Pro this is where you can edit the character you created at the start in more depth such as date of birth, height and wight to appearance and stats.
The next tab is the Roster Management where you can edit various things from transfers and signing free agents to jersey numbers. After this the next tab is the settings tab where you can change the rules, game play settings and everything else that you would expect to do in the options screen such as mess with the volume and controller settings.
The last few tabs are Profile Management, Save/Load and Delete, NHL 09 Code Entry (Probably for cheats or something) and lastly EA Sports Extras which at the moment only has the game credits. So basically the main menu has everything you would expect to see and a few more things thrown in for good measure.

So I decided to jump into a play now game on the default settings and I started getting my ass beat pretty badly something like 3 - 0, frustrated I went into the options mid game to see what the controls were as surely I was pressing something wrong. It was here that I stumbled upon something I did not expect to see as well as the new control modes there is an option for the classic controls, if you press the button once more however you will see the old school two button controls used in NHL `94, one quick controller layout change later and I was still losing by 3 goals until I managed to score with the much simpler controls, the CPU won in the end 4 - 1 but at least I scored. After the game you can then select from a choice of highlights and view them, moving the camera around and taking pictures and editing clips to upload to EA to show the world. It's a nice feature but one that I can't see being used very often if at all.

One quick quit to dashboard to make a custom play list later and some tweaking with the EA Sports Media Hub and I returned to the play now menu, this time though I decided to not punch above my weight so knocked the difficulty level down a touch from pro to rookie. (Yes I know I suck but its my first time playing the game) One game later and I had won 6 - 1using the new control system, it takes a bit of getting used to with the right trigger being the pass button and the right analogue stick being used not only for shooting but also checking when your on the defence. It does seem strange at first but if you stick with it then its not to bad. If you really hate it though There`s always the classic mode where everything is done by button presses, or you could always relive your youth with the '94 controller setup. One tip for the song selection for when you score a goal make it something that starts loud as it only plays for about 10 -15 seconds.


Now I have played two quickish games from the play now option I decided to jump into the be a pro mode, so after selecting a team to join (I chose the Detroit Red Wings just for the simple reason they were ranked high on NHL 2k8) Now you have to select what your going to aim for over the season out of 4 targets before you are then taken to an upgrade screen, where you get the chance to spend some points on certain attributes to make your player better, although you don't really have many to actually do much difference overall. Moving forward though you find out that your not actually playing for Detroit its some other team instead. (The manager of the Red Wings probably told EA to not let me join their team as they heard I suck) As a result I joined the AHL team the Grand Rapids Griffins. In this mode you play your way through the season just playing in one position. This has been done before in other games, with the first being Libero Grande that I can remember using this system, while it can be a good idea, it is really annoying when your team mate misses a shot you think you would have scored and leaves you feeling a bit helpless at first. It is a brave move to include this mode and while it does work to a degree it can be annoying at the same time having to rely on the AI to get the job done. Maybe once your used to it then it could be fun, but I have to say this mode just isn't for me as I like to be able to blame myself for losing rather than some dodgy AI player.

So with me not being a fan of the Be A Pro mode its a good job to see that I am still catered for with Dynasty Mode. Dynasty mode is the league mode that you expect to be in any NHL game, with you trying to win your division and get into the Stanley Cup at the end of the season. Now this is the mode that you will be probably end up playing most of the time offline. You can sort out all the usual things like trades and other things to try and make your team that bit better than the opposition and keep improving season after season.


As we all know the game play in sports games hardly ever changes apart from little tweaks that either end up making the game better or worse than the previous years version. All I can say about NHL 09 is that the game play is pretty great, sure the controls need some getting used to and you can't press a button to suddenly boost to the other end leaving the opposition for dead. This game is more realistic in that sense but it is still fun to play and isn't some boring simulation attempt at Hockey. If I was going to compare it to last years NHL 2k8 game I would say that this is a harder version of that game, you can't play 1 minute periods and win 12 - 0 you play a minimum of 4 minute periods and your not always likely to score from every shot you have. When you get used to the style of play change from the 2k8 games you will see that this game has its own good points, and is serious competition for being crowned as the number one Hockey game on the 360.

The soundtrack to the game features a range of different bands and I can honestly say that not one track I have heard has annoyed me so far. Featuring tracks by Billy Talent, Coheed and Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine to name but a few of the rock style 20+ tracks.

I hopped onto xbox live and tried a ranked game and unlike a lot of the problems you receive when you try playing NHL 2k8 online, this didn't seem to suffer the same problems at all, no freezing mid game and then ending and I had no problems with lag at all. You can also save the highlights and upload them from any games played online, so the one and only goal I score in overtime got uploaded straight away for the world to see. Let's face it once you have played the offline mode to death your going to be playing online all the time, and with the chance to show off your 20 yard screamers, sharing the best moments is the only thing to do to improve the online side of the game, and you can.

The game does everything right and nothing at all wrong in my book, the only problems you will have is getting used to the new control system but that should just take you a few games, and they really do work well once you get used to them. This is the ultimate Hockey game and well deserves the score I am giving it, it has everything you would expect plus much more and is a serious contender if not out right winner for sports game of the year.

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Infinite Undiscovery Review

Let me just start by saying that this isn't the game I expected it to be. I opened the case, took the disk out and put it in my 360 to be greeted by pretty cool opening as a bird fly's between some mountains and then turns and heads towards a .................... I won't carry on and ruin the rest of the intro for you, I will however say as intro's go its not to shabby, and its a world away from where you actually start the game.

I am not saying that the graphics when you start the game are really poor as they are exactly as you would expect them to be on the 360. It's just that you go from watching a bird flying across a beautiful landscape to the pits of a dark damp prison. It does make a change from where you normally start a game though instead of being some young male in a village. (that is unless its Oblivion or Chronicles of Riddick)

So as I was saying you start the game trapped in a prison cell asking the guard for food, only for him to call you scum and hit you. Worry not though as a case of mistaken identity soon gets you freed from your cell, as Capell the flute player (that`s you) gets rescued because of his remarkable resemblance to the hero of the land Sigmund. One quick cut scene later and the only thing left to do now is escape from the prison itself. Will you be able to escape though? Well it would be a short game if you couldn't, even shorter than most people played Avatar for.


Fear not though it's not all dark and dingy dungeons (which is great because the game I played before this was Too Human, which was to really dark and dingy) You soon have open fields with the sun blazing down and creatures to kill.

If you are expecting vast open fields that go on forever then your going to be disappointed, that`s not to say it isn't full of overly large areas, just not the kind you would normally expect in this type of game. This however is a good thing as there are no Chocobo's or Horses to ride on in this game, the only way you can travel from place to place is by foot. This brings with it some calls of "Oh no" as you travel all the way back to a village, just so complete a sub quest or pick up an item that is only available in a distant village. So yes it's a pretty small game map compared to some other RPG's but it really isn't so small that you don't sigh as you realise you have forgotten to buy something, and will take you quite a bit of time to journey from one place to the next.

I was expecting Infinite Undiscovery to be a turn based battle affair something along the lines of Blue Dragon or Final Fantasy X, I was surprised that this is an action game with RPG elements added to it. (I am not sure why though, as I have played Tri-Aces other games such as the PS2 game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, and that has a similar style of fighting) In Infinite Undiscovery though, you aren't transported to a separate battlefield to fight, you are already on it.


You fight against enemies and creatures in the game by running up to them and attacking them, or if they notice you first they will come and attack you. You can however surprise the enemies by connecting with a party member and using a long range connect skill, by doing this you will then get the chance to get a rare drop item by defeating them within a set amount of time highlighted by a bar in the top left of the screen. It is with these connect moves though that the game adds something different, with you being able to command your linked party member to attack certain an enemy with a special attack. (They learn more special attacks as they level up and you can assign 2 from the connect menu) You don't have to fight all enemies you come across though you can just run past them if you want to, but then you miss experience points.

The connect option isn't just used for battle though, you use this in villages as well as certain characters can speak to certain people and animals to get side quests. One thing that I didn't like about the side quests is that you can not just check your menu to see which ones you have started, so your left scratching your head thinking what the heck was I doing at times. This is the same with the main quest as well, so if you don't pay attention to a cut scene you could be running around for 10 minutes like a headless chicken. (This is why you don't accept chat invites while playing the game)

It isn't just your party members that learn new moves though, as you also learn them again through levelling up. These special moves are activated by holding down the A or B button depending on which one you want to use. When you don't want to use a special move and just fight normally, you just press the A and B buttons, you have combo moves to make it a bit more interesting which can see your enemy getting lifted into the air and juggled to get more experience points with every hit to keep them up there. Bad news though the max Air combo possible is 999 hits. (I think my highest was 70+ so I must suck) You can also do normal combo's and ground combo's as well, with you regaining attack points for a normal combo and HP and MP for a ground combo.


A lot of people have said that this game is short, with an average play through including crafting (Which we will come to later) and side quests the games around 40 hours long and that is not including finishing things you missed and the Seraphic Gate that's unlocked after finishing the game on Normal or Hard, which will add around five more hours or so to the game. When you consider most games last around 6-7 hours on the 360 I don't see why they are complaining. Yes for an RPG it isn't weighing in at the usual 50 hour mark, but it isn't far off that. So there is no need to string the game out for five hours longer if the story doesn't require it, The same people would then complain that the story dragged on to much for no reason at all.

As story`s go this one won't surprise many people as you battle to save the world just like you have done so before in many other RPG's, however there are a few twists here and there that make it entertaining enough. As you would expect the story is told via cut scenes and for the most part these are pretty good, however these do contain some annoyances such as some of them featuring voice overs and 10 minutes later when you get another cut scene you just get text instead. This is pretty lazy and really we should have been given voice overs for all the cut scenes or none at all. As when you just get the text to read you feel like you have been let down, a scene right near the end has really poor dubbing on as well with the voices being way out of synch. This is really a minor annoyance at best, but it still annoyed me all the same. Despite this though the story is pretty solid and well thought out. I quite enjoyed the experience overall as you learned about Capell and the other characters as they grew together through out the game.

There are two ways to get better equipment and potions during the game, and that is through crafting. If you have played Final Fantasy XI or any other MMORPG then you will have a rough idea what it is already, for those that don't basically crafting is combining 2 or more items together to make a superior item, from a more powerful sword to something like a potion that replenishes more health than the standard affair. There is a wide range of different items you can make with different characters. You have to use the connect skill in towns on one of your party members to be able to select the option for them from the party menu. (Not all party members can craft though) You can also select it out in the fields between towns as well giving you the chance to create multiple items as you set characters working on different items at the same time. You will get the occasional failures though when crafting something won't work one time but will the next.


Capell doesn't use crafting skills himself though, he uses something called enchanting. Enchanting will add a time limited status to the character you choose to cast it on, these can be anything from +20 attack power, element added attacks, stronger defence to x3 money. Like crafting as long as you have the items you can cast certain enchantments.

One thing I found strange in the game is if you are in the middle of a battle and need to use a potion to replenish your MP, you have to hit the party menu and click items then scroll down to the potion you want to use. While doing this you are open to attacks and looking for a certain item can take you 10 seconds you don't have in a boss battle. This could have easily been resolved with an option to map certain items onto the left and right of the D-pad, again this is a minor thing and won't spoil your enjoyment but annoying all the same.

A lot of thought has been put into the game about what can be added to make the game different from the current RPG's on the 360, and one of the answers Tri-Ace came up with is situation bonuses which reward you with items, money or even better outrageous amounts of experience points. You earn these by doing certain things such as getting kills with catapults or defeating an enemy or reaching somewhere under a set time. The game is sneaky though and doesn't tell you before hand the conditions, its more a case of congratulations have some stuff for doing well which is pretty nice and unexpected.


It's not all hack and slash though as you also get to solve quite a few puzzles along the way, with one such scarring me for life as I ran around a forest section trying to reach one point, only to be warped miles away from where I was supposed to go. To say this was a hair pulling moment is an understatement, I am still having nightmares about it now, once you learn the system to solve it though it's not to bad, just make sure you have a pen and paper ready incase you need to write something down to help you work out how to get past any you get stuck on.

Once you complete the game there is still stuff to do such as the usual tidying up of any side quests that you never finished, the best thing however is the Seraphic Gate. The Seraphic Gate sees you and your party return to areas you have been to before through out the game, defeating much tougher enemies as you try to reach the portal to the next section. You also face bosses every few sections, these are a one on one affair which are pretty tough to say the least. It it nice to see this mode was added though instead of just being dumped by the game once the main story is finished and adds a bit more bang for your bucks.

The game may not win many awards for being truly innovative and changing the landscape of gaming as we know it, but that isn't what the game sets out to do. The game sets out to keep you entertained and make the time you spend with it fun, and I have to say that I quite enjoyed my time with Capell and his pals as they set about their journey to triumph over the evil Order of Chains. As RPG's go this is a great effort and one that I am sure you will enjoy if you decide to buy or rent it. It does so much right and very little wrong you can't help but like the game.