Unfortunately, NHL 15 is the Only Hockey Game of 2014 and is Missing Features.
Review and Opinion
On September 9th 2014 EA Sports released the long
awaited NHL 15 game across all current console platforms. The first ever NHL
game released on the new Xbox One and Play Station 4, this game had allot of
expectations for its gameplay and features. EA Sports has delivered on the
gameplay, giving players a more realistic feel with the all new physics engine.
On the new Consoles the graphics are unprecedented for an NHL game. With
realistic player features and looks every player actually looks like their real
life counterparts, as opposed to the generic player faces in NHL 14. The crowd
in the stadium has reached a new level, with hard-core fans at every game
following their home teams and an incredible amount of fan models, each fan
looks and acts different, like a real game. With the improved graphics, physics
and realistic gameplay, NHL 15 is the most enjoyable in game experience for an
NHL game to date.
However as an all new
NHL game, players were looking for the added little features that truly make a
game addictive. For an NHL game this means that after players finish a game
there can be a 3 stars feature(top 3 players of the game), replay mode (watch
the games highlights), rematch (play again), stats (goals, assists, +/-) and an
overview of where shots and hits are made or taken. In the new NHL 15 game
there is only the replay and rematch options, making players feel that they are
not getting the full enjoyment out of their game, as the old NHL 14 game has
all of these features. Furthermore while playing GM mode (simulation of a real
life hockey team owner) players used to be able to play as their minor league
AHL team and follow the scores and keep track of all your players in the
minors. On top of this players could also be their own coach, making custom
plays for the team and changing lines easily. In NHL 15 gamers can’t play as
their AHL minor league team or even look at the schedule or stats, and gamers
are not allowed to customize plays and the line changing is much more
complicated, with the computer making all of your decisions. This is making
gamers feel that they are not truly the GM of their team any more and more so
just along for the ride.
The fact of the matter here is that EA Sports has essentially
released a console sports game that is still in Beta (not a finalized version
of the game), and this is the first time in any sports game franchise history
that this has been done, why? Well looking at the market, Hockey is one of the
less popular sports in North America and Europe, when compared to Soccer and
the NFL. There are multiple NFL and Soccer game franchises and therefore EA has
competition and must put out a better game than other developers. On the other
hand EA is the only game designer to have produced any NHL games in the past
couple of years, thus no competition. Keeping these variables in mind is the
reason EA has not released a finalized version of NHL 15, they hold the
monopoly for the niche game and do not have an excess of a million consumers
like their Soccer and NFL games. This makes the game less profitable than their
other franchises making the company focus more on games other than NHL 15.
Unfortunately die hard hockey fans and gamers out there like
myself, will have to wait for features to be added to NHL 15 at later dates to
fully enjoy the game. EA Sports, at launch of the game released a statement to
consumers apologizing for the state of the game and going on to say that it
will be updated and finalized in the coming months. For a game that costs 70
dollars Canadian, in my opinion unless you are a diehard hockey fan there is no
need to purchase this game until all of the updates have come out.
To EA Sports, as the sole company producing NHL games please
do your best to create a game on time that gamers and players alike can enjoy,
do not butter up the game until release date and then tell your consumers that
you are missing features. As a multimillion dollar company, you should
anticipate the time it will take to create a new game on a new platform.
Activision did this successfully with Call of Duty, beginning work on the game
for Xbox One and Play Station 4, 3 years before release. Please EA, care more
about your monopoly in the NHL games franchise, and complete your game sooner
than later, in turn making your consumers happy, and the company more
profitable.
So all in all NHL 15 is enjoyable with the new physics and crowd
systems and incredible graphics on the new Xbox and Play Station consoles. Unfortunately
the true NHL gamer will not be impressed by the complete lack of any new
features and the removal of key features, GM mode features, online team play,
live the life features and statistics.
It’s your call.
Cheers,
Brian Frazer – Best Games Review Blog
Links:
NHL 15 - http://www.easports.com/nhl
