Whenever lawyers and money get in the way of professional sport things tend to turn out ugly. Unfortunately this has turned out to be the case in the NHL, where disagreements on the leagues new collective bargaining agreement have left fans without any ice hockey action. Fortunately though all is not lost, with Sega Sports NHL 2K5 finally hitting the stores and giving gamers the possibility of getting an NHL fix, albeit in the video game form.

Like all ESPN titles this years NHL is for the most part pure eye candy. The player models are crisp and detailed and the animation is fluid and believable. Skating full pace and then pulling back on the right stick to come to a stop is performed extremely well, with the animation allowing for believable motions and not permitting unbelievable turning and skating. The ESPN licence is integrated seamlessly into the games presentation, although not quite as well as its NFL sibling. So expect the ESPN graphics and logos to be plastered all over the menu and game screens.

Critical for any ice hockey game is the ability to score from multiple positions and from multiple situations. In previous years the goalie would be practically unstoppable from certain angles but poor from some 'hot spot' locations. I'm proud to say ESPN 2K5 has the best scoring functionality of any NHL game on the market. Consequently this makes for a more balanced game with unique goals occurring deep into the games life cycle. This balance also flows through into the amount of goals scored, with special moves like shot fakes and deeks improving on the normal slap and first time shot to present gamers with a diverse array of scoring options.

Even non-fans of Ice-Hockey can relate to the fact that the sport is tough and fighting can be common place. To simulate this, 2K5 uses a running tension meter which gauges how agitated each team is. There is nothing like increasing a team's tension through a nice variety of cheap shots and dangerous clips. Ilya Kovalchuk getting on your nerves?, no problem just skate behind him and give him a not so friendly smack on the back of the legs. Likewise, big hits that knock your opponent onto the subs bench are sure to get them upset. Truth be told the actual fighting engine is bland, limited and anything but tension filled, but there is nothing like giving the oppositions star a bash on the back of the ankles for playing a little too well.

These cheap shots integrate well with the new 'Total Stick Control', which includes the aforementioned deeks and tricks as well as giving gamers the ability to manually move the stick on defence. Through skating backwards and manually moving the stick it's possible to be far more of a defensive force than previous years. Plus if need be you can dive in front of the puck for some last ditch goal saving attempts, despite the fact that diving head first in front of a small hard projectile doing over 100 Kp/h could be interpreted by some as being particularly insane

Like EA's NHL game, 2K5 offers a large number of strategies and special tactics. Of particular note is the ability to alter lines at the face off stage in an easy and followable process. Performing actions like inserting a scoring line when you have the powerplay is logically done and offers a noticeable improvement than if you left the normal guys in place. If tactics tickle your fancy you can also delve into special schemes and formations that take advantage of certain players and situations. For example Atlanta has Kovalchuk, who is the team's best player and plays left wing, consequently their playbook has the option of completely using this side to initiate attacking moves.

Possibly the only criticism one could level at the gameplay is the sometimes sloppy nature of the passing. The game goes out of its way to preach the advantages of the first time passing, however crisp three or four passes tend to come unstuck due to either some odd AI movement or passing in unintended directions. Despite this SEGA have included a nice little mode whereby you have the ability to control the player without the puck. This gives you the ability to make intelligent runs into space and then call your team mate for the pass. It can be especially useful in getting guys like Martin St.Louis into good goal-scoring positions.

Audio wise commentary is provided by the duo of Gary Thorne and Bill Clement, it isn't quite as deep or well scripted as some other ESPN titles but it still gets the job done admirably. Unfortunately Chris Berman makes far more of a lesser impact in NHL than could have been expected, seemingly being restricted to picking a dream team full of people with apparently funny sounding names. As usual custom soundtracks are supported so you can listen to your own tunes rather than the largely no-name music the game contains.

NHL's franchise mode is a real star performer, all the usually trims and cuttings are included but added to the mixer is the scouting mode. Whatever team you choose you will have a number of amateur clubs that populate your designated region, as a result it's possible to scout and sign players from these teams. What makes this nice is that you have the ability to scout talent from a huge variety of talent pools and hopefully sign that promising young star. As you might think this can be a very hit or miss affair, with that young star turning into that middle-aged no hoper in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately like all ESPN titles Xbox Live capability was stripped out of the PAL version. So we have to settle for 1-4 player games rather than online matches. Replayability is increased somewhat because of the inclusion of a 'party mode'. Basically it's a selection of 15 mini-games that borrow heavily from the aspects that make games like Super Bomberman so addictive. They fit a nice little niche and might just fit the bill for those long Saturday nights.