Title NHL 07 Date 03.13.2007 Genre Sports Platform Xbox 360 Developer EA Sports Publisher EA Sports

First of all, allow me to give you a little background about myself. I have been an EA fan for the past 6 years. NHL 2000 was the first hockey game I ever bought and I have stuck with the series every year since then. EA has always offered a more complete experience, I felt. Sure, it had its flaws, but no other hockey game replicated the atmosphere of a real hockey game like EA. To a certain extent, EA has retained this ability. Unfortunately it has taken some major steps back as well.

Gameplay
EA hyped up its skill stick quite a bit in the months running up to the release of NHL 07, and as one might imagine, they produced a fairly successful feature. The skill stick is a great addition to video game hockey and it greatly improves the realism of player control. You can pull off a variety of maneuvers with the skill stick so when you slip past the defender, you feel like you've truly earned it. What's more, the new shooting control (thrusting the right thumbstick forward) gives shooting an excellent feel. All in all, EA has done a great job with the skill stick, and its something they should pursue in future releases.

Unfortunately it seems as if EA spent all its time in development on the skill stick. Yes, the skill stick is a major alteration, but they have ignored some other serious issues in gameplay that more or less cancel out the advances they have made with the skill stick.

The first major problem I have noticed is the ability of the goalies – they are too good. Most of your games will be low scoring affairs since the new goalie AI has been beefed up to such a great extent. Playing tough goalies is always fun, but when you watch a real hockey game you know that half of the time shooters will score on breakaways and two on ones. In this game, however, I never felt pressured if I gave up a breakaway because I knew that my goalie would stop it anyway (I am playing on “hall of fame”, the highest level too). In past EA titles the opposing team had always been able to make me pay for making a defensive blunder and that's part of the excitement of hockey. That part of the game is stripped away here, making the whole experience much less dramatic and dynamic.

Once you learn the skill stick you will start winning every single game. Yes the opposing goalie will provide a challenge, but if you learn some fancy moves you will slide one past him every now and then… and eventually you will never lose (especially because the CPU has such a hard time scoring). Now I'm not saying that you will win pretty, because 50% of your goals will be garbage goals such as shots that slip through the pads or wristers that bounce of the net-minder's shoulders. But you will win, nevertheless. And this sucks the whole experience out of dynasty. In my NHL 06 dynasty I had a very competitive season going. I almost missed the playoffs my first season and lost in the 2nd round. I had a tough time in my 2nd season and 3rd seasons, as well. I haven't even bothered to play through a full season in 07. It's just too easy—there's no suspense as to whether or not I'll win or lose, so why bother?

Of course there are some other blunders this game makes, such as the lack of creative defense and silly skater AI that refuses to set up on the power play. But those I can live with (to a certain extent). I cannot live with a gameplay engine that sucks the intensity out of a dynasty.

Graphics
Graphically, this game is deceiving. At first glance you'll see some beautiful detail on the player models that make you say “Wow, this is definitely next-gen business.” Unfortunately, this graphical impressiveness isn't upheld during actual gameplay. The most notable problem is the frame-rate which is way too choppy for a hockey game. I have never seen a problem with the frame-rate in a past EA hockey game—at least never a problem as big as this. While the frame-rate issue shouldn't be considered game-breaking, it's still fairly annoying, and fails to live up to next-gen (or current-gen, for that matter) standards.

Some of the animations are also fairly frustrating. Shooters will sometimes “wind up” very awkwardly taking slap shots. The poke check animation leaves much to be desired—it looked a lot better in 06. On the other hand, the wrist shot and snap shot animations, as well as the goalie animations are pulled off quite nicely, showing that the developers obviously gave some thought to the whole skill-stick dynamic.
Another minor thing (or major thing, it's all based on perspective) is the horrid replication of player's faces. Some faces were done quite well such as Joe Thornton's. However the majority I have seen are just plain BAD. A good portion must have been randomly generated because they are very far off the mark. I was surprised at this, given the fact that NHL 06 did a fairly good job with player's faces. Aren't we supposed to demand even more eye-candy on next-gen systems. Overall, the graphical department isn't a disaster—but it falls far short of being satisfying.

Audio
The Audio, like most of EA's past games, is fairly strong. The soundtrack fits my tastes (got to love the punk/emo stuff). Some might complain about the music, but this will vary based on personal taste. I happen to like it.

The broadcast is done by Gary Thorne and Bill Clement—fine announcers. The game is announced very well, and it sounds like they are announcing a real game. This is one of EA's attractions. It always creates that hockey atmosphere that I love, and they did it again this year with even better, more accurate broadcasting. Sure, the announcing will get repetitive, but that's bound to happen in a hockey game. I have no complaints about the game in this regard.

Another interesting audio enhancement is the crowd involvement. The crowd now reacts more accurately to what is going on in the game. So if you're up by 1 with less than a minute to go the crowd will start to make some noise, cheering you on to victory. It's things like this that really make the game feel real and authentic—at least in terms of audio. Overall, the audio is great, and I hope EA sticks with more of the same in future years.

Features
NHL 07 isn't very consistent with its features. While the dynasty mode is similar to the dynasty mode of NHL 06 (and thus, pretty awesome), it drastically watered down its create-a-player function. The dynasty mode has some new additions including the ability to send players to the minors, a salary cap, as well as an option to place players on waivers. Although NHL 2k7 has a more in-depth franchise, I see no real problems with 07's dynasty mode.

Its create-a-player mode is a different story. I'm going to be honest—I like to put myself in the game. And when I put myself in the game, I want to customize myself so that I look pretty accurate/stylish. I was able to do this NHL 06 with its massive create-a-player menu. NHL 07 doesn't even come close to matching the customization options of its predecessor. It is sad that they didn't simply keep the formula they had in years past.

Another minor gripe some players had was the omission of create-a-team. I never create a team so this didn't bother me, but it might bother you if you're into that. Interested in online play? Don't bother getting this game. I haven't tried it (since I'm not big on online games), but it's pretty much a consensus that EA's servers are horrid.

Overall, NHL 07 is decent in the features department. Its dynasty is solid, which is what is really important to me, but it lacks other details that we should expect from a title that should be progressing with each new installment, especially in a new generation.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Question
I was very disappointed with hockey video games this year. Perhaps I came into this season expecting too much, but neither NHL 07 nor 2k7 got it right by my standards. They both shine in certain areas, but they also struggle alarmingly in others. So, the ultimate question is, NHL 07 or 2k7? This isn't a 2k7 review so I'm not going to go into detail, but I pick 2k7 over 07. I've never been a 2k fan since I feel it lacks the hockey environment that EA has been able to create. But in terms of more competitive gaming, 2k7 delivers much more consistently than 07. That's my opinion.

Hopefully EA and 2k sit down some time while developing their 08 titles and seriously address some issues that are plaguing video game hockey, because this year did not cut it for me.

Game Score

C

Reviewed By: Contributed