The American National Hockey League - toothless simpletons smashing the crap out of each other and generally making fools of themselves on a slippery frozen surface. As good entertainment as the BBC's celebrity skating was, the NHL is on a somewhat different level to ex-footballer David Seaman planting his partner face-first onto the ice for the fourth time in an hour. For those that don't know, ice hockey involves psychotic and usually short tempered men skating around an ice rink trying to chase a small disc called a puck in order to attempt to put it into a tiny goal. The main way to achieve this with some success appears to be to take every opportunity to trip, push or slam your opponents into the surrounding walls, occasionally throwing your gloves and hat to the ground to engage in frozen fisticuffs.

While other sports seem to be coming into the fray of the video games genre, ice hockey has been a firm favourite among game developers for some time. NHL titles first surfaced on the PlayStation One in 1997, with EA Sports' popular release of NHL '97. In fact, I can recall many a day when I should have been at university, sitting in the front room of my flat trying to defeat the horse-headed team on NHL 2004. Admittedly I had enough narcotics flowing through my system to kill most land mammals, but imaginative horse-headed opponents or not, it was a very addictive title.

With the latest versions, improvements upon enticing gameplay from previous NHL video games have made for highly regarded releases. There has always been something very natural about the control provided from the analog stick and how it relates to a players movement on the ice. This may be because developers identified that like on ice, sharp movements and changes in direction are a little harder to achieve using the thumbstick, or it may just be a stroke of luck. Regardless, while the movement of players comes very easily, getting the puck past a big fat goalie is another issue. Taking time out to work through the tutorials goes from eyebrow raising to eyebrow frowning in just a few poorly explained exercises. You are quickly introduced to the new passing style that can be activated to assign one control to each team-mate, meaning that clicking the corresponding button will pass the ball to that player. It's not a bad idea, but when you bear in mind that you need to activate this then deactivate it before you can shoot, it isn't very practical when a near seven-foot madman is bearing down on you armed with a stick.

What is most impressive about this title though is the huge range of game formats to be chosen from the main menu. Whether you want to endure a complete season with all the complexity of trading players or if you want to just dive straight for glory in the playoffs, NHL 2K6 caters for your hockey needs. There is also party mode, which has a variety of games available that take a different look into the game of ice hockey, plus of course full online play, which is a must in this day and age for any self-respecting sports title.

But let's face it, we all know what we play hockey games for; the fact that should you not appreciate a rather heavy check, you can throw your stick to the ground and express your annoyance by repeatedly punching your opponent in the head. Things haven't changed too much though and it happens at fairly random intervals. What has been added is the presence of a referee and the enforcer player. Each team has an enforcer, one player slightly more intimidating the rest, with the ability to reduce opponents' attributes by scaring them, and scaring the referee into letting them get away with murder.

The only missing feature from previous iterations is the ability to create and manage your own team with fully customised players. But massive improvements in graphics and gameplay pretty much make up for this. The game looks fantastic, and sounds impressive to a degree that we have come to expect from 2K Games. Rock legends such as Panthera and Jet Black Summer have made contributions to the soundtrack and many Brits will be familiar with the commentary of Bob Cole and Harry Neale.

I can't really put my finger on what it is about ice hockey that seems to make it so playable within a video game, but once I've started a game on NHL 2K6 I can't seem to put it down until I have had a fight with every team in the United States. What makes it more impressive is that I am far from a hockey fan; in fact, the closest I have ever come to playing is during my days at school when the comprehensive I went to got banned from any future hockey tournaments for letting the tyres down on all the private school minibuses. Therefore, I can only conclude that those ice hockey fans out there will find this game, along with a good dentist to replace their missing teeth, a necessity for anyone with a love of the sport, while even the non-sports fans out there will enjoy the fast and frantic gameplay.

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).