It's pretty sad to see what has happened to the NHL. If you're a fan of the sport, it's downright painful. Even prior to the canceling of the 2004 season, the NHL was and still is in trouble. With TV ratings that are about on par with professional show jumping, the league has seen better days. In fact, it says a lot that neither 2K Games or EA Sports have bought the excusive license for the NHL. It's just not a super hot commodity at the moment.

Thankfully, the league is back and 2K Games, Kush, and Visual Concepts are still cranking out versions of NHL 2K. This is so far and away the best hockey game of 2005 – the offering from EA Sports isn't even in its rearview mirror. This is a wonderfully designed game from top to bottom that is made for true hockey fans, and not those that want a super sonic speed game of hockey. The only thing from keeping NHL 2K6 from "instant classic" status are some frustrating bugs and lockup issues, which if you are at all familiar with games in the 2K line, should come as no shock whatsoever. The day that 2K Games can publish titles that are at least relatively bug free is the day that the company truly grows up.

There are a lot of cool new features and gameplay improvements that are worth talking about, but all that can wait for the moment. Really all you need to know about this game is that it simply feels like you are playing virtual hockey. There are some realism issues here and there, but for the most part this is the most authentic representation of the sport to ever grace a TV or computer screen. Looking for a 100 MPH backhand shot from ten feet away? You won't find that here. The CPU actually tries to cycle the puck, looking for a good scoring opportunity rather than just shooting wildly at the net.

Each period feels like its own story. This is so rare in today's sports games but it's a vital component in providing long-term replay value. A strategy or tactic that works well in the first period may not work in the second – the CPU will adjust its defense to stop your bread and butter attacking strategies.

Gone are the game's notorious stone wall goalies. With the proper game settings you can get an extremely realistic save percentage out of the net-minders, which in and of itself makes this a must buy for fans of the series. Speaking of goals, NHL 2K6 has the widest variety of goals ever seen in a hockey game, bar none. From 5-hole goals to slapshots that whiz past the goalie to ricochets that slip through the crease, it has it all. Nothing looks canned.

Great gameplay aside, there are some new features that deserve mentioning.. You may now call offensive and defensive plays, such as crashing the net or telling the defense to pinch, on the fly via the D-pad (just like ESPN College Hoops). The new icon passing works extremely well, particularly when on a powerplay. With a click of the right analog stick, each player's icon appears over their body which makes it very easy to cycle the puck quickly and efficiently. Icon passing is actually part of a new control scheme called Pro Control. With it, you can do the aforementioned precise passing but it also allows you to easily execute lob passes, as well as dumping or protecting the puck.

Hockey is about speed and grace but it's also about power and intimidation. The new Enforcer System plays this to the hilt. Each team has designated enforcers (you know, the Jody Shelley's of the world). They are highlighted with a large red E under their player model and have the ability to seriously change the flow of a game. Other players, non enforcers, can even get intimidated; when this happens a large blue "I" appears and they suffer an ability penalty while they are in this state. This is a fantastic way to handle this and is something that should be implemented not only in hockey games but in other sports games as well, particularly football.

The graphics and sound aren't going to blow you away. The play by play is functional but gets fairly repetitive after a while, which is the case with most sports games. Visually it looks a lot like 2K5, although with a bit more spit and polish. The animations, on the other hand, are wonderful. The goalies move beautifully and the skaters spin and shift and change directions perfectly. The game looks much better in action compared to the screenshots.

With a fairly deep single player franchise mode and the usual top notch online league support from 2K Games, there is very little here to complain about. That is, until the game locks up when trying to save your franchise or a goal is scored by a phantom puck sailing through the net. The goal scoring bug is rare – I saw it twice in about 35 games, but if it happens at a crucial point of the game it's enough to make you want to scream. The rosters are also woefully out of date. You can get custom rosters for the Xbox that are more current at ( http://www.2khockey.net/downloads/filesystem/index.php ) but there's no reason why the game shipped with rosters so out of whack. They are that bad.

Bugs and roster issues aside, for $20 this is a no-brainer for hockey fans – it's one of the best, if not the best, hockey games of all time and no fan of the sport should miss it. - William Abner