As it happens, EA Sports NHL 09 for PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 is not only EA's best hockey game in years, it's notably better than the competition, NHL 2K9 from 2K Sports.

If you're a fan of the coolest game on ice, a new iteration of NHL gaming is pretty much an essential annual purchase; you simply choose between EA's NHL game and 2K Sports' NHL game each year.

This year, EA Sports NHL 09 is the one to buy not only for its updated rosters, rules, regs, jerseys and cover athlete (as usual), but for its superior graphics and animations. Better still, its modestly revamped, finely tuned controller mechanic make it a game you actually play rather than just pull triggers and tap buttons in sequence, repeat. An optional controller setup still allows for old school (NHL 94, to be precise), two button, rapid fire, give n' go, tick-tack-toe, he-shoots-he-scores hockey, but real meat is found in its default control scheme that defies button mashing.

As with last year's version, 09 relies (mainly) on both analog thumbsticks and the four shoulder buttons for control: left stick is the player, right stick is the hockey stick position and pass or shot direction, bumpers for checks, sprawls, dives, etc.

2K's 2K9 for PS3 and X360, on the other hand, does offer a "simplified" control option like an apology for last year's thumb-screwing "pro-stick" control, which also remains. Funny, but instant accessibility with potential intricacies have long been the 2K hockey's most redeeming quality; it's starting to feel dated. Still works, still makes for great, smash-bang hockey; just not as cool and sophisticated as EA's offering this year.

NHL 09 also includes some innovative, nuanced control features otherwise overlooked or underdeveloped in previous iterations. If you want to dump the puck into the offensive zone, for example, you can now loft it lazily and make a line change rather then just slap it into a corner and chase it; when in possession, you can now shield the puck with your body; on defense, you can now lift an opponents stick (as opposed to just poking at his puck); tactical things like that.

And there's always the adjustable parameters that lets you dumb-down the game to simple, "arcade" hockey like the days of old, but NHL 09 is finally at it's best as an exceedingly realized, challenging but rewarding hockey simulation that makes instant sense.

What's more, it makes long term playability sense, too, with a vastly engaging "Be a Pro" mode that lets you learn the game from scratch as you take a guy from the AHL to the NHL (includes quite a bit of bench-warming) and, hopefully, on to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup. It's a mode that not only lets you re-think what hockey videogames are all about, but one that does genuinely improve your gamer skill set while illustrating just how deep and demanding a hockey career really is (2K9 offers no such "role playing" mode, though it does let you drive a Zamboni, which never gets dull... wait, yes it does.).