The NHL lockout has many hockey fans singing the blues. Like last year's edition, NHL EHM 2005 lets you step into the front office and this year play the season that never was. You are the GM and control all aspects of your team. You control the roster, the staff and the tactics. It is your responsibility to bring home the title, and keep the board happy. If you do not, you will soon find yourself seeking a new job.

Hockey is a truly global game, and NHL EHM 2005 reflects that. You can control more teams from more countries in this year's edition, and while the company has asked that we not comment on specifics (licensing issues), I can say that fans of the series will see a vast improvement and be very happy with the work that the Sports Interactive and SEGA lawyers have done to include important leagues. This fact alone makes the latest incarnation of the EHM franchise worth the price of the upgrade. Unlike the usual superficial upgrades fans of various sports franchises see, EHM's addition of new leagues really makes the game more complete and serves to be an even more complete picture of the global hockey landscape.

The improvements do not stop here. The very first thing I noticed is that the game runs much quicker as compared to the year before. My biggest complaint about the first edition of NHL EHM was that I often found myself multitasking because the game took so long to process. MSN and the game in conjunction became a necessity. This year, that concern is gone. On the same PC, I found simulation times quite acceptable. They don't detract from the enjoyment in the slightest.

Besides performance, they've redone the game's UI. The game comes in a sleek, pretty package that is easier to use and navigate. For those who have played the Football (Soccer) Manager franchise, you will be right at home. Overall, they have vastly improved the UI, which is shaping up to be quite solid will not impede your fun.

Brand new features this year include refined scouting, and most importantly a training camp system. In this system, you are able to invite players to camp where they'll participate in workouts, drills and inter-squad games. Your team, anyone you invite, and if you chose to leave it open, a slew of players who come on their own, will participate as they try to impress you and make your club. At the end of the camp, the coaches will tell you who they think earned a contract, who played well, and who did not. You can also look at the stats from the inter-squad games to make an informed choice. This feature will definitely prove useful for the lower reputation leagues.

International management was a weak point for me last year. For those that are not familiar, one of the rewards of playing many seasons and winning is that you, as a manager, gain a higher reputation. This can be used to take better jobs, as well as grabbing a dual-role, as the GM of whatever club you chose and an international team. Last year, there were lingering bugs where unfit players plagued minor nation rosters, too few tournaments to make the job a lot of fun, and I often found that the big country jobs, such as the US and Canada, were unattainable due to the longevity of some computer GMs in the post. You could also not begin the game as an international GM. This year, there are dozens more international tournaments, the show-stopping bugs are gone, you can start as an international GM, and two nations, the USA and Canada, more closely reflect real life in that they hire their GM on a tournament by tournament basis. This ensures that you will not have to play fifteen seasons while you wait for an international job at a high reputation country to open up. Overall, the experience is a blast! Even as a green GM in a lower reputation league, I was able to get a taste by directing the Ukraine. In a few seasons, I hope to grab a team Canada assignment.

Another neat touch added this year is the ability to simulate the game at super speeds. Due to the time commitment of simulating a game while you controlled the action, I often would chose to delegate the on-ice coaching. In NHL EHM 2005, the highest speeds simulate the game in five-minute blocks. This allows me to act as the on ice coach, making adjustments at the intermissions, and not be forced to spend more than a minute in each encounter. For those who prefer the play-by-play, you can still slow it down to near real time.

Replayability in NHL EHM is nearly infinite. One of the beauties of real hockey is that the different levels of the sport require different ways of thinking. They reflect this in the game and it provides players with an array of unique challenges. For example, when you are the GM of younger players, you rely heavily on scouting to make up for the high turnover, as older players move on to the professional ranks. The challenge in the NHL is to make shrewd signings, good trades, keep a balanced budget, and develop good prospects. There you can rely on a player for ten or fifteen years, and build long term plans that are so much sweeter when they reach fruition. This year, with more leagues than before, there are more challenges and game play types to explore. One of the most rewarding things you can do is to become a GM of the most obscure team in the most obscure league and build your reputation through winning. This then lets you grab jobs at higher reputation teams, and slowly move around the world, building until you reach the pinnacle of hockey, the Stanley Cup.

If you picked up last year's original NHL EHM and enjoyed the basic idea, but were warded off by the various bugs, limited leagues, slow processing times and UI, then I strongly suggest you keep an eye out for NHL EHM 2005. It is looking like a vastly more complete, polished and, I might add, challenging, version of the game. The Sports Interactive team has refined the game and made a good game even better, but they have not reinvented the wheel. If you want to see for yourself, you can download their beta demo from their official website (http://www.sigames.com/ehm/). The game should hit shelves later this summer, or early fall.