ESPN NHL 2K5

The Franchise mode allows for more control and realism when managing your team. You can hire several coaches to help guide your players, including a head coach, offensive coach, defense coach, scouting coach, a goaltending coach, and more. When it comes time to hire and fire players, you use actual money, and not points to negotiate contracts.

There are also some special game modes available, such as the skills mode, where you can choose accuracy shooting, puck control, hardest shot, fastest skater, and a few more. You can also play in Party Mode with one to four players, which pits you in fast action games.

The game features multiplayer hockey over Xbox Live and PlayStation 2's network service, allowing you to jump into a game or create or join a league of friends and foes.

The Skybox is back, and it's been slightly improved. You earn points by completing tasks, such as scoring five goals in a single period, winning ten faceoffs, etc. You can then use these points to purchase unlockables which will adorn your Skybox or allow you to play as special teams.

You can also unlock retro jerseys and once you win a trophy, it's added to your Skybox, with the Stanley Cup being the center of attention. There are three mini-games you can play from your Skybox; air hockey, shuffleboard, and a trivia machine.

For those who have an Xbox, you will have the ability to import the music on your harddrive and set songs (or bits of songs) to play for various events. You can choose to play something uplifting for when you score or something insulting for when you get scored on.