Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

Oh, thank God. After the most horrendous

year-and-a-half, we finally have NHL hockey again. Finally, we have a reason to show up to work hungover. A reason to not do homework. A reason to curse at our television sets in French.

If my life’s work could be summed up by one exploit, it would probably be my prowess at hockey video games. You can therefore imagine my shock and delight that the classic NHL 94 was being included with this year’s NHL 06 (GC, PS2, Xbox/EA Sports). While feelings of nostalgia can be powerful, this addition was merely a diversion for the two people left on the planet without a Super NES emulator, but I digress…

NHL 06, thankfully, is a lot better than last year’s iteration. The skating physics have improved greatly (quick turning is a lot less frequent) and the momentum from speed bursts and checking feels more realistic. What the EA Sports series has always managed to do well is the character animation. The goalies have the ability to stack the pads, or to crawl along the ice Dominik Hasek-style, and the players have new deke animations that make everyone look like Mario Lemieux.

Perhaps I’m just so overwhelmed by the return of NHL hockey (“my NHL,” apparently) that I am utterly blind to the lack of improvement when it comes to presentation, and the vomit-inducing EA Trax soundtrack. And those looking for a meatier dynasty mode or season mode, along the lines of Madden, will be disappointed yet again. You still can’t create fantasy drafts for dynasty mode, though at least EA opened up their cold hearts for a fleeting moment to allow gamers to create their own players. The player editor mode is actually robust; creating facial features can be done using the analog controller, and I was able to create a fairly decent-looking Guillaume Latendresse (unfortunately, none of the Canadian junior teams have been included in the game, but you do get the official European Elite league teams).

Another new feature to this year’s game is the use of the right analog stick as the skill stick, which means that when you have the puck a number of cool-looking dekes can be done, while without the puck you can check or shake the puck loose. Seeing as 2k Sports’ NHL 2k series has been doing this for the past couple of years, this mode doesn’t feel particularly fresh. And it works slightly different from the 2k series; for one thing, the dekes don’t feel manual at all—move the skill stick in a direction and the player will seemingly do a preset move. It’s as though you lack the complete control to make these dekes, which is somewhat disappointing.

NHL is NHL. The lack of improvement over the years can be vexing, but this year’s version has made some major strides in gameplay, and will fill your hockey need.

Arcadia on the way

The worlds of video gaming, music, technology and entertainment will be splattered together in an orgy of sonic delight this November 4–6.

The festival Arcadia, to take place at SAT, will have five zones of gaming madness, including the Arcademic zone, dedicated to education in game design; the Gaming zone, featuring games from all three consoles, and local games from Ubisoft, EA and a2m; and the Sympatico/MSN zone (who are also the main sponsors) will have PC games.

Classic gamers can whet their appetites at the Flashback zone, which will look like a museum of gaming, and the Arcadia scene will have live music.

Check out www.festivalarcadia.ca