As most sports fans know by now, there just may not be a hockey season due to the lockout. Well that is not stopping EA from at least letting you enjoy the 2004-2005 season in a virtual sense. EA's NHL 2005 is ready to play and has added a load of new features, yet unfortunately eliminates one major one. Due to a new salary engine EA has proposed this year, they could not add Create a Player to the final version of the game. This may cause a few fans of the rink to stop reading this review, or even to not buy the game, which actually is a shame as EA just may reclaim their crown as the top hockey game in terms of depth and gameplay.

On the visuals side of things, EA has improved quite a few things about the look of this year's NHL title. First off, you will notice the accurate face mapping for all the NHL stars. What's more, the players will loose their helmets that will reveal their true to life hockey haircuts. You will also notice that the player models are the more realistic in EA's game as copared to Sega and ESPN's. Each arena is accurately duplicated as well, which allows you to know that you are at Joe Louis at just a glance. NHL 2005 has a ton of new animation, from dekes, checks, and taunts, you will be happy to see all the extra animations that EA has added from last season. Presentation has also been stepped up a notch, providing some exciting cut scenes that resemble TV style broadcasts. All this, and running at a fairly smooth frame rate. It is easy to see that EA brought their 'A' game this year to compete with Sega's franchise that is 30 dollars cheaper.

Audio takes a slight check to the boards with sounds that seem to have been ported over from last year's version. All the in game sounds, commentary, and one-liners are almost carbon copies from last year. This is a shame as I have always enjoyed Jim Hughson as a play-by-play man, but I can only take his catch phrases so many times. The only really new addition in terms of audio is the famed EA Trax that offers some of today's teeny punk bands. The lack of custom soundtracks from the Xbox is also a real downer. It would have been nice to custom tailor my stadium music as it is in real life. It is easy to say that the audio in this year's NHL is the game's weakest asset.

Gameplay from the NHL franchise has taken its lumps since coming to the PlayStation 2. The game either did not play fast enough, was too arcadey, or just not fun at all. This year, EA may just have found the right formula, as NHL 2005 feels much like the polished games of yesteryear, with today's technological advancements. The best and most useful advancement in the controls is the two button shooting. Now you have one button for slap shots and one for wristers. This adds a surprisingly complete new area of depth to an already well playing hockey game. The rest of the game plays extremely well. The controls are responsive, quick, and easy to pick up and play. Another impressive feat this year is the A.I., which has gotten the uber treatment. If it has been a great while since you have last played a hockey title, you may want to start this on easy level. Even on the lowest setting, the CPU gives you a good challenge indeed. The goalies are quick to notice dekes and fakes, the players will try to dodge oncoming checks, and even the CPU will try to get away with sneaky penalties that miss the eye of the ref. Gone is the arcade style of game play, as you will rarely see high scoring games in this version. It is easy to know after one or two games where the attention went in this year's version of NHL.

NHL 2005 is chock full of game play modes. Your typical Exhibition and Season modes return for quick fix fun. Added to this year is a World Cup of Hockey mode that allows you to take place in this year's event featuring teams from Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, and many more. This mode is set in a Round Robin tourney event style of competition. Also a Free4all mode gives you one net, one goalie, and every man for himself. The one to score the most goals wins. This particular mode is frantic and entertaining that will add more hours of game play. You also have the option of online play to try your skills against another human. Here you can also get the latest scores and chat while online. The meat of the game is obviously the Dynasty mode. Here you run a team of your choice. You control everything from naming the GM, maintaining morale, signing TV contacts, performing day-to-day operations, dealing with trades, and much more. You have 10 seasons to bring the team you take control of to the top of the mountain. The lack of a create-a-player takes a bit of depth from the dynasty mode, but there at least is a create-a-team feature if you want to add a fantasy team to the mix. With a deep dynasty, fun free4all mode, and online play, you will be having so much fun you will forget soon enough about the lockout.

NHL 2005 definitely has its hits and misses, but where it counts most, the game play is where EA's game surpasses the rest. The ease of play, with the challenge of a good A.I. creates the perfect balance that not only makes for a realistic competition, but an enjoyable one as well.