Odd Collections

Project 52: 7/52

For some reason I had the urge the other night to collect obscure NHL player trading cards, bought cheaply at Dollarama. The idea would be to buy these packs - which presumably are leftovers, misprints, etc that the trading card company deigned not to include in the "real" packs - and sort through, collecting players who are virtually unknown to the common fan. There would be bonus cards as well for players in the wrong uniform for the current season (see: Rick Nash in a Columbus jersey - or Radek Bonk).

To be honest, I have no idea why this urge washed over me. I know when it came: I saw a package of extra hockey card inserts at Wal-Mart. Naturally my first thought was, "gee, I would love to collect hockey cards nobody wants!"

In hindsight it's completely silly. I know this. But even now I still kind of want to do it. What would I do with these cards?  I feel like I would most likely start a blog and post about these obscure players in a "where are they now" vein.

This is intriguing me even more, now. It's grown from a completely ironic idea to a legitimate idea. Obviously this means someone has already done this, no doubt. Don't expect to see anything from me too quickly.

Here's the one example that started the thought process of all of this:

NHL 2004 Rebuilt

Before the long weekend, I stumbled across an online community dedicated to - and I mean this literally - rebuilding the PC version of NHL 2004.  I spent most of the weekend installing it and getting it ready to go on my laptop.

First, a little history.  NHL 2004 is widely regarded as one of the best iterations of the popular EA Sports franchise.  I believe NHL 2011 has overtaken that assessment as far as console gaming is concerned, but since EA Sports no longer produces NHL series products for the PC, NHL 2004 remains, in many gamers eyes, the best NHL game on the PC.

One of the really awesome parts of having a game on the PC is the ability to modify just about every facet of the game, from uniforms to game menus, as well as music/sounds.  I remember doing this with NHL 99 when that game was still current.

People have done that with NHL 2004, replacing just about everything they can: rink graphics, jerseys, player faces, coach models, statistics, rosters (rosters are up to date as of the trade deadline of this year), game clocks (CBC, TSN, ESPN, etc.), and in-game menus.  It's ridiculous how much they've been able to do, and how well-done it is.

Anyway, I really recommend it if you have a copy of NHL 2004 handy for the PC.  It's amazingly fun.  Oh, and because I'm an idiot and didn't mention what the site is called: it's called NHL04 Rebuilt, fittingly enough.

While we're on the sports topic, I just thought I'd mention that I'm going to be doing some off and on writing on The Blue Jays Luddite, a new Blue Jays blog started up by my brother.  Expect a little bit of cross-promotion from time to time.

NHL Slapshot Review

I finally got the game - after trading in something like 8 games, I was able to purchase NHL Slapshot for $12 and change.  Pretty sweet, considering my aversion to paying $70.  So how does the game measure up?

Admittedly, I haven't played too much of the game yet.  I jumped into a quick exhibition game, pitting my favourite Ottawa Senators against the despised Toronto Maple Leafs (which, for some reason, have a rating of 86 compared to Ottawa's 85).  This was after spending about 15 minutes trying to put the stick peripheral together, which is not very well documented in either the game manual or the accompanying training video.

I then decided to play the new mode for this game, Peewee to Pro.  It's exactly what it sounds like - you take a player (which you can either create or select from existing players) from the Peewee leagues all the way up to the NHL.  Thankfully you can start at any level: Peewee, Bantam, Junior, or Pro; I say thankfully because the Peewee games can get a little tedious - thank goodness for 2 minute periods!  However the games do get a little challenging after a few games, and gives you a good learning curve for playing with the stick.  It's also beneficial that in both Peewee and Bantam there are no penalties or play stoppages, so you can get even more used to the controls.

There's no mode available to take full control of a team over the course of several seasons, but that's mostly because this game is not aimed at the people who would want to play NHL 11 (which unfortunately is me).  Even more indicative of that is the ability to skip the season and jump right into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is actually a feature that disappeared from previous iterations of the NHL franchise, so I appreciate it.

And in thinking about it, I really don't mind not being able to build a team the way you can in the regular NHL series.  There will be online roster updates, and the ability is there to edit rosters, so it's still customizeable.  I generally don't play more than a few seasons anyway, and the peewee to pro mode fills that gap well enough.

The soundtrack for this game is amazing (the Olé song notwithstanding).  There are gems like The Final Countdown (yes, THAT song), The Twilight Zone, and Shipping Up to Boston.  Overall, fun and awesome tunes.

As for graphics - well, they're standard EA graphics.  Good player models, and great animations.  The gameplay is good too, even if it does lean more toward arcade hockey.  I can tell you it is certainly a lot of fun setting up goals (more so than scoring them - which is also a lot of fun!).

If you're hard-up for hockey realism, you're probably better off with NHL 2K11 for the wii - or NHL 11 if you have a PS3 or xbox.  But if you prefer a fun game with great graphics and gameplay, NHL Slapshot is the game to go with.