NHL 15 – Xbox 360 Reviews

I don’t usually take the time to write reviews for games, but I feel like this game deserves/needs one to help people decide whether it’s worth their time and money. I saw all the reviews that obliterated the next-gen versions, and read through the posts here before buying, so it’s not like I didn’t know what I was getting into here. Still, I’ve been playing the NHL series since they started, and not having a copy newer than ’13 was killing me. I can’t say if this is a clone of ’14, but the 8 zillion people saying that here can’t be wrong.

There are some good things about this game, but the overwhelming feeling I have when playing it is abject frustration.

Pros: There aren’t many. I guess the fact that they didn’t gut all the modes and options like they did on next-gen is a plus? To be fair, the overall playing experience is fun and satisfying — mostly. Play develops well, and more often than not I find that games are tense with ebbs and flows just like I want. For the first time in a long time the soundtrack isn’t eye-gougingly terrible. It’s never as good as FIFA, but that’s maybe just me. Either way, it’s good to hear things that don’t sound like cring-worthy hard rock again.

But that’s all outweighed by….

Cons: Almost every "improvement" is a huge letdown. 1.The new commentary is atrocious. I’m willing to admit Bill and Gary were getting stale after the same soundbites since ’07, but I’d almost rather have that than this passionless, flawed mess. Doc Emerick’s biggest strengths are his massive vocabulary and his emotional calls. Neither is present here. Even when saying his most famous phrases (Waffleboarded, etc.) he sounds like he’s running on 20 minutes of sleep and two cups of decaf. It’s almost unsettling to hear him call "RING TEN BELLS FOR THAT SAVE!" with the volume you’d use around a napping toddler. Combine his total lack of emotion with repetitive nonsense (if he mentions "the shadow of the boards" again I’m going to lose it), and the fact that Eddie and Ray say about two things per game, and you have a recipe to color me underwhelmed. On top of that, they’re often factually wrong, something that I’ve never seen in a game, on any system. Complimenting my team on their red-hot start to the season when we’re 4-6, or saying that you can watch the game for 10 years and never see a save more impressive than a run-of-the-mill blocker stop ruins any element of realism.

2. The AI controlling players without the puck seems to be getting worse. I know this isn’t real-life, and I know it’s going to make mistakes, but I give up at least one goal a game because the computer pulls the weak side D-man to double team a player on the other side of the ice that’s already covered, or leaves my center floating at the blue line covering nobody. It’s less noticeable on offense, but I’ve still had enough of turning the biscuit over because my winger straight up ran into me running a cycle.

3. Little issues with finishing touches grow from small gripes to legit criticisms of the effort put into this game. Okay, maybe production was tight so EA didn’t have time to change the name of Tampa Bay’s arena, even though that was announced months ago? Sure, changes to jerseys happen quickly and without notice sometimes, but man am I excited to use those nasty new Blues’ threads. Oh, what’s that? They’re not at all in the game? Hm. Weird, my favorite team’s next game is showing as one that happened two months ago on the menu screen tv thing? That’d be nice to stay up to date on, it’ll probably catch up, right? It won’t? Well, I guess it’ll be great to have a reminder that the Wings were in Toronto three weeks ago. The computer is willing to trade me the pick that will become McDavid for an 80 overall roster guy, my late first round pick, and an unsigned prospect with 3 star potential? I’ll take it, but damned if I don’t feel dirty about it.

Random gripe: Am I the only one who thinks it’s really weird how everybody’s ratings seem inflated? I’m glad it’s across the board, but it’s weird building a team with legit 3rd-liners in the low 80’s, and scrub 7th D-men rated as high as 78.

I didn’t mean for this to be a friggin’ novella, but the short version is that this game is about as well put together as a piece of Mike Milbury’s analysis: you’ll take it because it’s the only thing they’re offering, but you’re going to hate yourself for not skipping it.

The effort that EA put into this game is appalling. The sheer nerve of a company to deem this kind of game acceptable to release to the public with a new name just shocks me. I PAID FOR SOME NEW AUDIO. The "new content" would be better off being added as a DLC.

Don’t make the same mistake I did and get the nex-gen or nothing. First time I punched a wall because of a damn video game. Dont get me wrong, I played nhl 14 nearly every day this entire year. I dont see myself playing NHL 15 for more than a week before tossing it aside.

Horrible, this is a joke. I put this in my XBOX 360 the first day after preordering it, I literately thought I accidentally put in NHL 14 by accident. Is this a joke EA? This is ridiculous. The 2 things they changed from 14 is the commentary team and the soundtrack. I do not recommend getting it at all.