There were many things that went through my mind while playing NHL 2K9, and many ways I had planned to intro this review. But when it came down to it, only one thing mattered: did 2K Sports succeed in bringing the fun back to hockey? That answer, while worthy of a “yes” in simple terms, is much more complex given the wide spectrum of gamers in the world and the wide audience 2K Sports is trying to reach.

Starting fresh with the controls, the developers wanted to create a style that players could enjoy the first time they picked up the controller. Contrary to the reiterated reports that three key buttons (shoot, pass and check) would be all you’d need to get through a game, this was only true while playing under the default controller setting. If simplicity isn’t your bag, NHL 2K9 offers semi-pro and analog stick-oriented schemes that feel closer to the hockey game that it appeared the developers were trying to leave behind.

The new scheme – now labeled “classic” under 2K Sports’ current direction – is not that far from Midway’s NHL Hitz series. Wrist shots are executed with a simple tap of the X button; hold and release X to perform a slap shot. Passing, dumping, speed boosts and backwards skating have all been assigned to specific buttons. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

The presentation of pre-game and in-between play effects has become one of the most competitive areas of sports game design. NHL 2K9 ups the ante by adding to the already existing slate of realistic animations. Before each player starts skating onto the ice, the arena goes dark with only spotlights and specific areas lit. Then, right on the ice, a projector shines cool images, highlighting the home team while exciting the crowd.

Player faces are more detailed and thus more prominent, though still not comparable to the standout character models of the NBA 2K series. Player interactions have been fine-tuned to more closely match the way real hockey athletes perform on the ice. Excluding a few bad moments (part of a player's body occasionally disappears when colliding with another), the way they skate, shoot, check, spin and turn around is very natural. When pulling a 180 after rushing the nut, the player must physically slow down as he turns around. The reaction isn't instant, which leans toward the simulation side of the game.

NHL 2K9's controls are good but contain many contradictions. One-timers do not lead to easy goals – a wise development choice. Slap shots, however, can be achieved without much work so long as you are not blocked by other players and stand directly in front of the goaltender. This might be somewhat accurate (it's not uncommon to feel like a real hockey match was lost because the goaltender was the only one protecting the net). But you'd think that if someone wound a slap shot long enough, the goalie would reposition himself and be prepared to stop the puck. During overtime shootouts, this is very much the case. But in an average game against any average team, the key to winning is often that center position.

Additionally, players move faster than a simulation hockey game but are slower than an arcade title. That isn't a problem unless you wanted one or the other; if a mix is acceptable, NHL 2K9 nails it. Though these contradictions may be annoying at times, the only thing that should have been changed before the game shipped – and must be changed before NHL 2K10 is released – is the obnoxious goaltending mechanics employed during shootouts.

Rather than guarding the net intuitively with a couple of basic left and right movements (and perhaps up and down to stop high or low shots), you control a beam that turns green when aimed toward the puck and turns red when aimed away from it. The beam expands from the goalie as a way of showing that it's him you are in control of. But that's never how it feels. Even the slightest push of the left analog stick is met with a clunky jerk that makes specific block maneuvers impossible to pull off. There's a reason for that. If you fail to block the puck via the first cumbersome act, a second one appears: now you have to drag a puck cursor toward the circular target on screen to prevent the puck from landing in the net. Aside from being a mini-game within a hockey title, it really doesn't have anything to do with the sport, and hardly falls under the category of pick-up-and-play.

Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda commentary is a significant improvement, not just for the NHL 2K series but for the entire sports genre. The two sound generally excited about each play, even though their non-specific wording (they often say "he" instead of "[enter player name]") frequently sounds no more advanced than sports commentary was 10 years ago. What's really impressive is how varied their lines are and how rarely they repeat themselves compared to previous iterations. However, the developers should know that the game doesn't need commentary during every second of play. There are a lot of unnecessary lines (ex: how the players are struggling to hit the net when only a couple of shots have been taken) that appear to have been included to avoid having any period where the commentators are silent. But silence would have been preferred – when you've got music pumping in between plays (sometimes humorously but always effectively) and loads of sound effects that mimic the sport well, a commentary breather wouldn't have been looked at poorly.