NHL 06

NHL 06
North American cover art for PS2 Pictured: Vincent Lecavalier
Developer(s)	EA Canada
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Platform(s)	GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, PC
Release date(s)	September 6, 2005 GameCube NA September 6, 2005 PAL September 23, 2005 PlayStation 2 NA September 6, 2005 PAL September 16, 2005 Xbox, Windows NA September 6, 2005 PAL September 16, 2005
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ OFLC: PG PEGI: 16+
Media/distribution	DVD, Nintendo optical disc

NHL 06 is a hockey-simulation video game that was released in September 2005 with a North America-wide TV campaign proclaiming, "The Rush is Back!" The game features a slight graphics improvement and the return of the Create-a-Player feature, which was notably absent from NHL 2005. The complete redesign of this feature was based on EA Sports' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 and subsequent installments, allowing for much more complex changes in a player's appearance than simply eye or hair color. This is the first NHL Game to be rated ESRB E10 and PEGI 16+

Features

Team features

The game also includes HC Davos from Switzerland to go along with the European Elite Leagues. Due to the lack of the IIHF license, the game does not include real team jerseys for national teams or the World Cup of Hockey. Instead, the World Cup of Hockey is now known as the "EA Sports World Tournament". This also means that the national team jerseys were modified by substituting the team logos with flags and randomizing jersey designs. However, there are two backgrounds in the menus showing a bench with Canada in their real jerseys and a goaltender in the real Finland jersey, even though the USA logo is still visible on the USA helmets and Russia's jersey script logo can be also seen on Russia's ice rink.

Addition of NHL '94

The developers of the game placed a surprise in the PlayStation 2 version; playing NHL 94 is an option, and it appears the same as it did when it was originally released, including the appearance of the since-relocated Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers, and Quebec Nordiques.^[1] The game did not feature the original rosters.

Covers

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier is featured on the cover in North America, and in Nordic countries, current Carolina Hurricanes forward, and former Chicago Blackhawks forward Tuomo Ruutu of Finland, is featured.

Notable players not in NHL 06

NHL 06 was released earlier than expected to boost sales against Take Two Interactive's NHL 2K6 and competing Gretzky NHL games. Because of this, the 2005 draft class is not included in NHL 06 by default. These players include some of the faces of the league such as Sidney Crosby, and Alexander Ovechkin. But they can be created in the game to compensate for this.

Leagues

• National Hockey League
• Elitserien
• SM-Liiga
• Deutsche Eishockey Liga
• National League
• Created League

Soundtrack

NHL 2006 Soundtrack
Artist	Song
American Head Charge	"Loyalty"
Animal Alpha	"Bundy"
Avenged Sevenfold	"Bat Country"
Beatsteaks	"Atomic Love"
Billy Talent	"Red Flag"
Bullet For My Valentine	"4 Words (To Choke Upon)"
Fall Out Boy	"Our Lawyer Made Us Change the Name of This Song So We Wouldn't Get Sued"
Institute	"Bullet-Proof Skin"
Kaiser Chiefs	"Saturday Night"
Mando Diao	"Down in the Past"
OK Go	"Do What You Want"
Pennywise	"Knocked Down"
Rock 'N' Roll Soldiers	"Flag Song"

Reception

Reception
Review scores
Publication	Score
Electronic Gaming Monthly	7.3 out of 10
GameSpot	7.6 out of 10
IGN	8.5 out of 10

References

1. ^ NHL 06 Hands-On - PlayStation 2 News at GameSpot

External links

• NHL 06 at IGN.com
• EA NHL addon site lots of mods and downloads