Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by John DeGiorgio

Now we’re talking! It’s hockey time in the world of gaming and I couldn’t be more thrilled. As a lifelong fan and player, this is the day I’d have circled on my calendar of release dates, if I had such a thing.
Last year, the 360 was released long after the NHL games hit the shelves and even with the late start, there was still something missing. EA sat in the locker room while 2K Sports had a clean sheet of 360 ice to themselves. In the recent past, EA has dazzled us with slick looks, but a game that resembled bumper pool more than the NHL, when the puck was dropped. Last year, without any competition, NHL 2K6 was the “Madden” of hockey and the best game by default.This year, EA tapes the sticks and laces ‘em up with NHL ’07, making it a two horse race that we’ve been waiting for.

This game is very easy on the eyes. In a game that always had the upper hand in the hockey looks department, EA has stepped it up once again. The graphics have brought us right top where we thought we’d be in this new generation of console gaming.

The player models have taken a step up in detail on every level right down to the uniforms. Your ‘sweater’ is detailed enough to see the raised stitching, number and logo patches along with a little bit of independent movement (no sign of the Buffaslug yet). This all comes on the heels of the NHL switching to the Euro-style, tighter fitting shirts next year. Sticks have stepped up with the times too and have all the new colors like the neon green that the kids love these days.

One slight drawback that bears mentioning is the lack of licensed goalie masks. Now, I’m sure it might take some money to get the rights to put the artists’ work adorning the masks of today’s NHL goaltenders, but this is EA we’re talking about. They bought the exclusive rights to the NFL; how much could the mask-painters union cost ‘em? It’s time to finally step it up.

It’s another EA game filled with their TRAX. I’m not going to harp on this, but what can I say. Putting all the effort into the soundtracks that EA does might be a plus for some people, but really, who’s going to buy a hockey game on the basis of the soundtrack? It’s a non-factor. At best, the soundtrack is like being stuck with someone else’s CD collection. You might get one or two things out of it, but don’t expect to go away with a laundry list of songs you’ll be pulling from iTunes when you leave the ice.

There’s been a strange turn of events concerning the announcing crew this year as well. Sega used to have the ESPN license but now EA has taken that over. In the mean time, ESPN has dropped the NHL. So, now we get the old hockey announcers (Thorne and Clement) from the network that doesn’t air hockey games. I just figured I’d throw all that out there in light of a real comment on the announcing crew. I don’t remember anything they said during any of the games I played. I consider this a good thing.

Mark it down: Controls for hockey video games will never be he same. Mark it down: There has never been a worse excuse for a game manual. These two things are joined at the hip. We all know that EA is notorious for giving us the bare minimum when it comes to instructions for their sports games. For the most part, this is understandable. These games have been around for years, and other than the ‘new’ features we get every year you could play them with your eyes closed. This is far from the case this year and to capture all the new controls a we get a nice, spiral bound, 215 page guide to lead us through…No, wait, that’s right, EA gave us a 9 page pamphlet with only 6 pages of actual game info to explain something we’ve never done before!

I’ll do my best to explain what I’ve been able to figure out to this point. The best place to start is with your right thumb. Up until a few weeks ago your right thumb would be tapping away to shoot and pass. Not any more. Your right thumb is now firmly attached to the right analog stick and it’s that change that takes hockey games to the next level. Other than passing (with the right trigger), the right stick is now your hockey stick. Moving left to right performs dekes and drags. Backwards and forwards create your shots. The change that this presents brings new life to the genre and makes you wonder why they never thought of this before, especially since we’re seeing the Tiger Woods-ification of everything coming out of EA Sports lately. The right stick swing from Tiger has been copied into the kicking game of NCAA and NFL, perfected in Fight Night and now, blazing a trail in NHL.

Back to the manual for a second: we are given a heads-up on what to do on the offensive and defensive side (think Hit Stick) with the new controls but what about face-offs? No clue. I’m about 1 for 373,562 in face-offs. There’s nothing in the manual to help you out. I’ve read everything online, all the tips from others but with no luck. I’m OK with not being good at face-offs, that’s fine, not everyone is Rod Brind’Amour but I’d at least like to know what I’m supposed to be doing! Am I passing back with the right trigger? Am I shooting backwards? Am I trying to knock the opposing center off the puck and then take it from there? Am I supposed to be doing all of those things? Help!

Now for the controversy: No speed burst. Here we go. This may be the make or break feature for some people with this game. The innovative controls are very good, but if you hate them, you can go old school. The speed burst is gone. In theory, I’m not sure what I think about this. Having played hockey my whole life, I’ll acknowledge that you can ‘find another gear’ at times and find some extra juice for a few strides, but the way that this has been handled in video games has been way over the top. Ironically EA was the worst offender when it came to this. You could scoot your players around at rocket speed for the entire game with no repercussions. Now they’ve gone cold turkey and I actually think it works in this case. Not everyone will agree, but I don’t miss it and think it adds to the game on the ice.

Like I said earlier, I can’t wait for the NHL games to come out each year. Maddenoliday is nothing compared to my NHLiday! Thanks to the league staying wide open with no exclusive rights so I can get two games every year. Sure, I’d get two games, but I’d inevitably only play one with regularity. The 2K series from Sega was that game. While I sometimes became disenchanted with the lack of goal variety (one-timers and backhands), goalie abilities and general game settings of 2K, EA was putting out an awful product. The game played like bumper pool. Insane speeds, ridiculous hits, vacuum goalies, and players with the on-ice discipline of team of 6 year olds. Wow, what the difference a year can make.

Starting from the crease, the goalies have taken a tremendous step forward. Right from the start, EA gave us a glimpse of what was to come in their downloadable demo on Xbox Live. While it was only a shootout demo, you had to sit up and notice what was going on between the pipes. Many scoffed at this. Sure, EA was shoveling down a demo that showed off something that we’d never see in an actual game. Nice try, but we’ll see what you get when you buy the game. Well, as they say, it’s in the game. Not only do we get realistic movements out of the netminders but they can actually string moves together to keep the red light from coming on. Come out of the corner and use your new, fancy right stick to fake a shot and drag the puck across the net to go upstairs, stick side? The man in the mask will actually go into one move at the near post, slide out of the animation smoothly and transition across the net to into position to make the save on the other side. This is what we needed.

The other big goalie news is that they are no longer giant magnets to a metal puck. If your shot is going between the goalie's arm and body, it goes in the net. There is no longer some gravitational pull where the shot labeled for the net ends up somehow in the goalies glove or chest. This puts more pucks back in play because you get realistic rebounds and pucks that trickle out to the corners and sometimes in the net.
The more realistic rebounds put some extra pressure on the skaters and EA has this covered pretty well with a combination of smarter positional play, slower game speeds, realistic hitting and yes, the lack of a speed burst.

The speed of the game has been toned down right out of the box. Although there are setting to make further adjustments, in the past, the slowest speed available was still too fast to realistically simulate a game. That’s one other thing to knock off the list of past problems.

Positional play has been refined as well. Defensemen will now play more to the situation, especially on the power play. You now see a true box, with the puck side players applying pressure when the opportunity arises and, more importantly, others will usually make an attempt to cover the holes. Also, as a counter to your new stick control; the defense has stepped up their poke checking to an extreme degree. They will not only poke the puck off your stick, but swing their sticks into passing lanes to thwart any offensive chances.

To put all the changes into perspective, I used to apply a single strategy to all my offensive attacks in NHL games. I’d speed burst up the wing, carry to the circles, stop and wait for a teammate to pass to and have them one time a shot on net for a potential goal. This was money in the bank. I might not score, but I could always get the shot off.

Now, all kinds of bad things happen most of the time when I try this. First, the lack of a speed burst makes it tougher to blow up the ice to get this rush started unless I have the right player. Second, the defensemen actually play their positions, so even if the puck side defenseman doesn’t cut off the passing lane or put pressure on the puck carrier, the second defenseman will step up and cover the man breaking into the slot by taking the body or blocking the shot. Now, let’s say that everything worked out and I got the shot off; the new smarts and anticipation of the goalie has him sliding across the crease to make the save. I’ve been foiled!

One last thing that I want to mention on gameplay is the hitting. The ‘old’ EA had everyone in a uniform able to launch anyone else over the boards with ease. Crushing hits were delivered all over the ice. Now, if I take a smaller guy (Gionta) and try to have him lay out a bigger player (Chara), that smaller player will bounce off. On the other hand, you really need to get moving, or be in the right position to lay someone out (all with the Hit Stick-like right stick). Mostly, you’ll see what you would in a real game. Some big hits mixed in with a lot of contact that simply move players off the puck.

As usual, I’ll start by saying that sports games usually offer the most replay value due to the nature of what they represent. No two games are exactly alike. From there you get seasons, playoffs and even a dynasty that’s a little unwieldy in its execution, but allegedly deadly accurate when it comes to cap-ology in the new NHL.

Online is minimal and still lacking league creation with stats. You can play your buddies but maybe not in the manner you’re looking to.

As a huge hockey fan, I can honestly say that I was getting bored with what I was seeing in the past few years. EA was going arcade and 2K was a solid sim with endless tweaking and some fatal flaws. Last year EA sat out the first year of the 360 so we were left with only 2K. Well, now EA hockey is back with a vengeance. In one of the most surprising moves in sports gaming, the company famous for putting out incremental updates every year has really stepped it up. This is even more shocking because it’s the first NHL game on the 360. Traditionally the first EA games for any new system are a sign off mediocrity. They usually mail it in (see the first Madden, FIFA, Tiger Woods and NCAA) by giving us less than we had in previous years. This changes everything. The new controls, new gameplay and new graphics have given an unexpected treat to gamers everywhere. Not to say that there aren’t issues like the awful manual, tough dynasty and some quirky things like being unable to select your favorite team like every other EA Sports game. This is a giant leap in the right direction.

Gaming Trend Score

88

1. Graphics: 87
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 95
4. Gameplay: 90
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:88