Let the hockey wars begin! (Almost.)

If you’re a fan of sports video games, this is the time of year that you live for– and that your wallet probably cries about. We’ve just recently seen the release of Madden NFL 09 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 09, and now the hockey wars are about to begin with the releases of NHL 09 and NHL 2K9 this coming week.

It’s interesting to see the two hockey franchises taking different directions this year. 2K9 will present a game that focuses on accessibility and improved presentation, while NHL 09 looks to build on the runaway success of NHL 08 and add some sweet new features, such as Be A Pro and full 5-on-5 online play.

Demos certainly don’t tell the whole story, but after spending time with the demos for both games on PSN, I came away excited for NHL 09 and was left wondering whether the final version of NHL 2K9 would bring some excitement. NHL 09 handled just as sweetly as NHL 08 did, plus the visuals were upgraded to a consistent 60 frames per second during gameplay. Meanwhile, for 2K9, I was frustrated by the lack of passing accuracy and was left rather unimpressed by the visuals. 2K9 does seem to improve on its lackluster presentation values from last year’s effort, but the demo had no commentary to speak of and some of the sound effects seemed dull. (The soundtrack, however, was pretty good IMO.)

If I had to say which game was going to be the ONE game on ice to get this year, I’d have to say NHL 09 right now; however, I’ll be spending time with the retail versions of both games later this week. Stay tuned for detailed impressions soon.