It's easy for those of us who pay close attention to video games (sometimes too close) to forget that most of the consumer public doesn't pore over web sites and message boards to figure out which games are great and which need to be avoided. A vast majority of those who buy games do so with little research and make purchasing decisions based on the store layout, the box cover or a brand name. Of course, publishers realize this. It's the only rational reason for Sony to make and distribute Gretzky NHL 2005.

The first frustration in playing Gretzky is the camera. Even though there are several options, including one called "traditional," none of them quite do the job. Some are far too close, limiting your view of the ice, and others are too far out, which strips away any detail the graphics have to offer. In the spirit of sport and enjoying the idea of being able to see other players on the team, I used the views from farther away most of the time.

Doing so takes away any graphical detail in the game, and generally speaking the visuals in the game aren't bad. The level of detail is a far cry from what you'll see in other sports games, but there's nothing glaringly offensive. There just isn't any "wow" factor or sense of realism. In order to play the game, though, you'll need to keep the camera fairly far back. That reduces your players to small figures and leaves you to concentrate on the game, which isn't a good thing.

The core gameplay is simple. One button to shoot, pass, dump, check, etc., and the basics are very easy to pick up and play. The problem is in the responsiveness of your player. The idea of momentum while skating - players can't usually turn on a dime - is taken to the extreme. Sometimes it's hard to even get a player to go in the general direction you want. There's a general sluggishness to the movement that makes the game feel slow. The constant cut-aways between play stoppages don't help, though they can be turned off.

Responsiveness is also a problem when shooting. If you hold down the shot button, the shot will be increasingly more powerful and you may even see a targeting icon pop up to help you aim. Finding enough time for all of that to happen is rare, however, since it feels like there's a significant delay in response time when shooting. This makes quick wrist shots almost impossible. No matter how much I experimented with the shot button, it was almost impossible to pull off a quick reaction shot. The puck either stayed glued to the stick while my player waited to get decked or he ended up pulling back for a slapshot. Instead of crisp and fast, the response times are sluggish and frustrating.

But that doesn't mean it's hard to score. In general, the defense spends way too much time out of their own zone and that gives you lots of breakaway opportunities. Secondly, there's a delay between when the goalie passes the puck away and when he's ready to stop another shot, so intercepting a goalie pass results in a near-gimme. And lastly, even though at first it seems like the defensemen play hard and smart and never give you enough time to get a shot off because of the slowness of the shooting, after a few games you'll realize that some defensemen just camp in front of the goal and give you lots of room to maneuver. So instead of the poor controls resulting in a defensive struggle, you'll score plenty of goals in spite of them. In fact, you'll score way too many for the game to be considered realistic, even on higher difficulty settings.

Mike Emrick and Darren Pang do the announcing, and it's generally terrible. It's obvious there was an attempt to be as detailed as possible. Instead of just calling out the action, they use player names often. It's a nice try, but the comments are out of place as often as they're correct, and they repeat even more often than is typical in sports games. They also don't say anything terribly interesting. They're either trying to describe the action you've already seen or they're inserting a terribly out of place bit of color commentary.

The franchise mode offers all the basics, like trades and line editing. But there's no budget to worry about, and the free agency system basically allows you to sign whoever you like with no repercussions. The draft is also strange, as there are many, many rookies with high enough scores to start for most NHL teams when in reality most rookies take a few years to develop.

Between the free agent market and a lush draft day, you'll be hard pressed to send out anything but the league's best come opening night of a new season. Add in some buggy stat tracking that skews the leader board and you've got a franchise mode that's not worth the time.

Online you can immediately start playing other people in exhibition games or set up a tournament. I was never able to find enough people to fill out a tournament, but the option is there. Also available are options for voice chat and rankings. The performance online was solid, too, when I could find a game, so the online portion of Gretzky is respectable if you like the core gameplay enough to play against other people.

Gretzky NHL 2005 supports the EyeToy, so you can use the camera to capture your image and put it on your created player. You'll also be able to unlock some goodies by completing different in-game challenges. There are several Gretzky's available from different eras for play. Once you unlock them and put them on your team, look out. His stats are high, as they should be, and any realism you may have been clinging to will go right out the window.

Bottom line: A few years ago this game wouldn't have been considered half bad. But today, Sega's ESPN NHL 2k5 is so much better than this, for $20 less, the two games don't belong on the same shelf. The only way anyone should be fooled into buying this is because of the Great One's name on the cover. During the Christmas season, I know how hard it is to convince the loved ones in your life that, even though they asked for a certain thing, there's a better option. Usually, it's not worth it. Just get little Timmy the Gobots he asked for even though Transformers are way, way cooler. But in this case, it's worth the battle. Get him or her ESPN NHL 2k5. They'll love you that much more.