While some of the missing features are understandable omissions given the complications inherent in making the first new-gen NHL title (online shootouts and customizing each team's AI likely appeal to a very limited segment of the population) others range from seriously disappointing (create-a-team, fantasy draft, and custom music support are some of my favorite features) to downright bizarre (NO THREE STARS? WHAT HAPPENED HERE?). Some of those features will be coming soon (provided EA doesn't abandon the game entirely as a failure) but this is a review of the game as it was released. If EA didn't think the game was ready for prime time, they should have delayed it like they did NBA Live 15. Maybe it was a really tough development cycle, but the decision was made to release an incomplete game. I hope that "NHL 16" isn't the beginning of a horrible trend. I'm sure it's hard to be innovative year after year in a genre where the subject doesn't really change, but sports games can't start moving backwards.

 

These titles are too important to gaming. In terms of commentary, announcers Doc Emerick, Ed Olczyk and Ray Ferraro are well-informed and provide entertaining voice work- it just lacks that extra punch. There’s plenty of drama and speed on the ice, but it never translates to the TV team. While the new NHL on NBC presentation is a step up in a myriad of ways, there’s not enough emotion from the play-by-play team. In spite of a slew of missing, yet soon to be added content, “NHL 16” satisfies thanks to solid gameplay and the best visuals in a hockey game, ever. In terms of control, it’s the best “feeling” NHL game since the introduction of the skill stick and a great foundation for the series moving forward on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But with only a handful of ways to play right out of the box, especially with Online Team Play delayed until November, “NHL 16” on the Xbox One and PlayStation 3 hurts itself right from the start with less features than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions.

 

Also, in Be A Pro mode, when listing your hometown in the game, the city and state portion do not correspond together, so while I had South Carolina as my home state, there were no cities from the state to choose from,, so I ended up being from the nonexistent Atlanta, South Carolina. This could have easily been solved by allowing you to manually input the city or just let it be left blank. To me, these were small signs that this game could have used more polishing prior to release, especially with features having to be patched in later. The impressive intro leads into some impressive gameplay. The players are as realistic as they can be on a game system - gone are the terrifying automatons (unless you're talking about Barret Jackman, of course - he still looks like a robot here, like he did on the PS3). The jerseys flow with the players, and the players glide across the ice. The physics are hyper-realistic, which is probably due to the developers hiring a physicist from the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva to give them a hand.

 

I understand the need to occasionally start over with a franchise. Rebuilding a franchise on a new engine certainly offers new opportunities, but at the same time it's a challenge to then create a refined experience when the development team is not as familiar with the engine, and EA Sports has had that problem in the past. The first version of Madden that came out with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was a joke years ago, and in fact some of the modes that were present in the PlayStation 2 version only found their way onto the PlayStation 3 Madden games recently (such as the owner mode) or still haven't been added back in (play editor/creator). However the PlayStation 4 take on both FIFA and Madden was strong enough from the outset, and I had hoped NHL would be as fortunate.

 

The overall presentation has also seen some significant changes with NBC graphics and branding handling that ‘TV’ like presentation you’d expect to see on a live broadcast. The commentary team has also received the NBC tune up putting Mike “Doc” Emrick and Eddie Olczyk in the booth. Their inclusion is a welcome change to the stagnate commentary that was recycled year after year for the NHL games, but there’s still some work to be done on the commentary side of things. As you’d expect, some lines of dialogue are used just a bit too often, and at other times the dialogue just doesn’t match what happened with the play. A goalie making a save after blocking three shots in a row was not an “easy” save, Mr. Emrick!