3 years ago
Who did it better, NHL 09 (2008, PS3) vs NHL 23 (2022, PS5)
First up: Skating in open ice with the puck
NHL 09 has an animation where you put one hand on the stick, push the puck ahead, and enter more of a sprint. You lose a lot of agility and puck control, but get more straight ahead speed, which is how it works in real life:
In NHL 23, you flip the puck in the air to yourself and immediately regain control of it, which is a really dumb looking animation, and you suffer almost no loss of puck control or agility, but briefly lose any speed/agility/acceleration penalties for carrying the puck, and confuse the hell out of the AI defenders in the process:
And if you're feeling really spicy, you can flip the puck to yourself behind your back all the way down the ice!: