NHL 08 has added a new aspect to its Dynasty mode in that you can now play the games of your team's minor league affiliate during the season. These games are optional, but they are a fun diversion from the NHL play and give you a chance to watch the development of your players firsthand. Also new to the Dynasty mode this year is a revamped salary negotiation system that adds additional considerations such as playing time to a player's decision to sign with your team.

The create-a-player feature has been expanded to add a team creator as well. While you have to pick your team name and logo from the lists provided, you have complete freedom in designing your uniforms. You can select a number of different styles for your team's jersey, pants, socks, and more, and you can apply numerous colors and highlights to each from a huge color palette. You can specify five different colors just for the gloves. Once you spend the better part of an hour designing your home and road uniforms, you then fill your team's roster by taking your pick of any of the NHL players. The only catch is that you have to stay within the $50 million salary cap.

Online play has been improved with the addition of support for both league and co-op play. Online leagues can consist of 2 to 32 teams made up of NHL, AHL, or international teams. Each league has a lobby that lets you see who else is online and who's available for a game. The co-op team play supports up to six players, three on a side, and you can specify whether to use player switching or to lock each gamer to an individual player. You'll occasionally run into some lag while playing online, but overall the online experience is a good one and it's nice to see the additional modes added in NHL 08.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 90%. NHL 08 is a marked improvement over last year's game and is the first next-gen hockey game to really feel next-gen.

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