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There's even the "skill stick," which allows players to make crazy moves or crushing hits with the right analog stick. Celtics: you skate towards the opposing team's goal, take your best shot, and the other team grabs the rebound and dashes off the other way. Perhaps taking too much of a cue from this year's NHL rule changes designed to speed up the game, you race up and down the ice, trading possessions like the old Showtime days of Lakers vs.
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The first problem with NHL 06 is the basic gameplay: in some ways, it feels more like basketball than hockey. It's fun to race up and down the ice for a few games, but NHL 06 is a product of a franchise that's lost its way, and lacks the kind of magic that will make you want to stick with it for long. The graphics might be a little sharper and the players have a few new moves, and yet it all feels a few years out of date. Play NHL 06 today, however, and much of the thrill is gone.
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For a few years after that, we were blessed with some nice translations to the PC, and, with high-res graphics and our Microsoft Sidewinder gamepads, all was good. Back then, it seemed we were all playing along on our Sega Genesis or SNES, racing up and down the ice, deking goalies and setting up perfect one-timers. Not coincidentally, they were the most recent glory days of the NHL itself, back in the early 90's when the New York Rangers were making their run at the Stanley Cup, before expansion teams started popping up in Columbus and Nashville and the league eventually imploded in a year-long strike. I remember the glory days of EA's NHL series. Favorite features from earlier seasons return, including professional play-by-play and color commentary, the chance to design and develop a custom player, and full representation of the National Hockey League's real-life teams, players, and arenas. Larger players can put their full force into a clean check, but smaller players will be more agile, and able to turn more quickly to avoid those big hits. In addition to puck movement, the momentum of the players themselves is now accounted for. Fast-moving pucks may now even injure unwary defensemen, or cause goalies to lose their cool. The game's "Real Puck Motion" ("R.P.M.") physics system is designed to accurately reflect the sheer power of that little hunk of hard rubber moving at 90-plus mph, and allows effects like "rippling the twine" of the net, or even bumping the goalie's water bottle. The "Skill Stick" control option is designed to allow players to aim their shots more accurately, with a quick flip of the right analog stick. The "06" edition of EA Sports' classic hockey series hits the ice with a number of new features.
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