NHL 2006 Demo

Hockey is among the most violent sports out there, partly due to the fact that the players are somewhat allowed to fight with each other and seriously injure themselves by performing harsh tackles on one another. Despite this, it is still a sport with a very wide audience, as well as a very supportive fan base for every major team.

NHL 2006 is the latest installment in the very successful EA Sports series, which brings many improvements regarding the graphics, physics and the actual gameplay mechanics you can make use of during the matches. Thus, the puck behavior has been greatly refined, since it now acts much more closely to the real thing, thanks to the Realistic Puck Momentum (R.P.M) technology. This means that the puck can now injure the players on the field, if they find themselves on a collision course with a well-placed hit.

The way the players move on the ice has been considerably improved as well, making it much more simpler to position yourself on the field and pass the puck with more accuracy than before. New tricks can be performed with ease, which allow you to fool the goalies and score points, although the player doing the trick must have a certain skill level in order to achieve the desired action.

In case you get bored of the same teams, the game allows you to put your creative mind to work and come up with your own players. It is also possible to model their appearances, by tweaking their facial attributes and adding distinctive marks or scars in order to inspire fear into the other players on the field. Naturally, this can be expanded into an entire team, which you can then lead to victory into the most prestigious tournaments in the world.

As far as the technical part is concerned, there are major improvements when it comes to graphics and sound, especially due to the improved animations and the refined commentary that gives the game a more realistic feel. Thus, every action on the field is interpreted and pinpointed by the commentators, whether it is a goal or an injury.

Unlike soccer or basketball, hockey does not enjoy quite the same popularity levels, but it is among them nonetheless. NHL 2006 does a good job at representing the sport and it should make the fans quite happy to take a stab at managing their favorite teams.