OUR RATING: 9.2 EXCELLENT About our ratings

TANGIBLES: Gameplay: 10 Visuals: 8 Audio: 9 Value: 9 Quality: 9

Why you should buy it: Not Available Why you should rent it: Not Available

UNIQUE RATING: 9.2 SUGGESTION: N/A

The unusual completeness of last year's game is also here, to a degree, minus the bugs that were brought on by its rushed release (such as the season-ending injury bug in 2K5's Season and Franchise modes that caused crashing problems in the playoffs). Your party modes are still there, mini-games, online play, even the Dream Team ladder, which admittedly loses a little something without ESPN helping out. It's a shame how not even the Otters' Ken logo is available to unlock for your custom teams, as that would have been a nice touch.

The litany of established rule changes are also in effect for NHL 2K6. Most of them, anyway. The goalie can only play the puck in a limited area behind the net without getting charged with a two-minute delay-of-game minor, the two-line pass is gone, you can't make substitutions after being charged with an icing call, goalies...well, they look smaller. Also, there's now a severe lack of real estate behind the net (quite a shame, considering how wraparounds work now) and tag-up offsides is back. There were some new rules left out, such as icing being waved off when it happened during an honest attempt to pass the puck up ice, but these rules fall into what were already gray areas in terms of game development (ie: icing is never waved off in video games, even when an opposing player could have realistically stopped it before crossing the red line at the far end). Hopefully, those “judgment call� rule changes will find their way into the Xbox 360 version of the game in two months. As it stands now, even, NHL 2K6 does a great, if not an exemplary job of representing the “new NHL� we've been hearing so much about. Unfortunately, unlike EA's game, NHL 2K6 players will be left waiting for an online roster update before seeing all of this summer's crazy player movement take effect.

The aesthetics are a mixed bag. The game was developed toward the Xbox this time around, and it shows. Even so, there were some visual aspects that have improved, and others that have gotten worse across the board. One atrocious example of the latter would have to be the game's menus, which are not only ugly, but a pain to navigate, especially at first. In addition, some jerseys have taken some steps back this year instead of forward, for example, the Colorado Avalanche jerseys have the larger font they needed but don't look nearly as polished as they did last year, while the Nashville Predators jerseys, for whatever reason, don't feature italicized names on the back (unless this is a change they're planning to make to their actual uniforms for the upcoming season).

The sound is also a crap shoot. If you're a PS2 owner, you're pretty much hosed. The poor man's EA Trax you'll find in this game aren't anything you'll be too happy to hear, and you won't be able to custom-soundtrack your way out of it. The best you can do is shut the menu music off entirely. This is somewhat made up for by the flawless on-ice sound effects, but only somewhat. On the plus side, Xbox owners finally have working custom soundtracks, which is good, because nothing beats hearing “Welcome To The Jungle� during the pre-game skate, Judas Priest's “Breaking The Law� when a penalty is taken, or Van Halen's “Right Now� during a third-period face-off. Amped IGO also endorses Black Label Society's “Battering Ram� for home team goals. Finally, the commentary team of Bob Cole and Harry Neale, while competent at the very least, make it pretty clear they're replacements, as they are certainly no Gary Thorne and Bill Clement.

All things considered, NHL 2K6 is an excellent follow-up to last year's therapeutic installment of the NHL 2K franchise. It's not perfect, but when you add up the rule changes, the vastly improved gameplay, the bug fixes, and the $20 price tag, it's impossible not to recommend this game to anyone who loves the sport of Hockey. NHL 2K6 is a shining example of everything a sports game should be, even with the loss of Sega and ESPN.