1. AaronC.

   10

   Although EA's game is prettier, on the PC at least (1024x768 full detail) 2K6 is a solid improvement on 2K6 (and i never have to hear that that insane blocker dive save referred to as "not spectacular" again). EA's game is great if you like a 5-1 game at the end of the first period (and that's CPU vs CPU) and if you like to play with all the rules off and no penalties, however, if you like a solid game of hockey and are a fan of Hockey Night in Canada you are in for a treat as soon as the players hit the ice. Though I'm not and never have been a fan of icon passing i'm glad they made it an option. If you are not a fan of Pro Control, at least it's not THAT integral a part of the game. The graphics are only a marginal step up from last years game and since i just moved, I haven't been able to fire up the good ol 5.1 surround yet (can't wait tho). Funny, a friend of mine and I have been playing 2K hockey for 3 years and though we always have a blastafter a year of playing each game certain gripes acome up, last year (2k5) our major complaints were: Colour commentator MUST BE FIRED (he was), arrrgh, why can't we just tell the players to crash the net (fixed) and canned commentary on individual players is WAY too repetitive if you want to play through a few seasons as one team (fixed by giving stats rather than compliments). The general lack of variety has also been fixed with more celebrations and arguments against penalties. I've even seen players from my team give the other goalie a pat on the pads after a good save. The fighting has been improved though, and you have the choice whether or not to fight. As in all hockey games though that mechanic needs improvement. I do miss the overall tension meter from last year and the pushing match cut-scene for a late hit though I always wished there was more variety. A late hit usually draws a crowd and there should be players trying to keep each other seperated from one another and "discussing" each other's behaviour. There are a few gripes about the commentary though minor they must be brought up. Once in a while Harry Neale will say a team is 2 goals behind (a problem with canned commentary) when they are only one and I noticed Ottawa had a 6 game winning streak and the stat on the bottom said that and Neale said 3 games. All in all it's still better than EA's super-repetitive commentary ("has his pocket picked" like 10 times in a game when something more generic would at least SEEM less repetitive). All in all, though EA definitely made an effort to revamp their game this year and I must say I'm more impressed with NHL06 than I have been with any NHL game since 98 for pc, it's simply to action packed and i got tired really quick of the "rush the zone shoot they rush the zone shoot...rince lather repeat until the score is 19-16" with nice graphics and that new Blink182 ( just an example I know there's no Blink182 in the game) song playing in the menu screen. I want a hockey sim, a game i stand a chance of losing and having a reasonable score if i play with more than 5 minute periods (I prefer 10) . If this review is incomplete, I apologize, i have a newborn that demands my attention a little more than this and i've lost my train of thought several times. I gave NHL2K6 a 10 not because it's perfect but because it's the best hockey game ever made and is the closest thing you will get to the real game that isn't developped by Blackbox (the only developer i'd rather have on a hockey game than Visual Concepts) like the excellent NHL2K for the Dreamcast.… Expand

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2. Ross

   6

   Game's not that great at all...if u think its better than ea's 06, you are fooling yourself! -poor gameplay -looks like crap -useless new features do not buy.… Expand

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3. MatthewK.

   2

   Well where to start, I bought both NHL 06 and espn nhl 2k6. I had my hopes up for NHL because last time I played it was boring and not fun, but the espn 2k5 was great and I loved it. The bottom line I have to this game that it has only few good things about it and the rest it crap tottal crap. THey took a good game and made it worst. Ex, first game I play goail comes out and hes mask is missing and I can see right into his head, that made me mad, I also find they took away some good features and animation like when you skate now you dont see the lines I hate that, and the ice stays perfect the whole time like come on thats not real, I think the crowed had better animation then the whole game its self. I give this gmae 2 stars haha because I like the goalis saves and I like some of the camera angles and the crowed is cool haha and better then ea sports fans. I think everone should play both and make up there own mind but NHL 06 is way better and now is cheaper then last year.… Expand

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