NHL 12 review

For my next blog post, I decided to review the new EA sports NHL 2012 hockey game.

I have always been a loyal fan to the EA sports NHL series and always been very judgmental and critical about every new game. To start off, I would give NHL 12 a 8.5/10. The NHL series has always been my favorite (possibly biased because I play hockey) and every year I have seen a significant improvement in games. This year was different.

EA sports has improved the gameplay tremendously from 09-11 and the step from 11’ to 12’ was somewhat low. This really disappointed me because the gameplay tends to be my main focus.  Most of the time I am playing Xbox live against other people or just playing my friends. NHL 12 tended to improve the out of gameplay modes a lot more. For example, they fixed up the Be a Pro mode and added Be a Legend. A new feature in Be a pro allows you to simulate to your next shift instead of watching the computer play. I really liked this improvement because watching the CPU play got boring.  Be a Legend is pretty cool but something that I probably won’t play. This mode brings back old hockey legends back into the game such as Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. There are many more legends in the game that if you keep paying Be a Pro, you can unlock. Another cool feature added was “Winter Classic Mode” which was created really well but it could easily get old over time. This feature allows users to play with any team in last year’s Winter Classic at Heinz field in Pittsburgh. The graphics and presentation of this mode are absolutely unbelievable and this mode ads a little different touch to the game.

The game play improvement is not as good as I would have liked, but there are many little things that show some cool improvement. My favorite new feature would have to be the new physics engine added to the game. This physics engine creates realistic like bounces and hits like we have never seen before in the NHL series. You can now break the glass with a hit, knock a player into the bench, or knock off his helmet. Another thing they changed is that now every player plays like they would in real life. For example, Patrick Kane, who is a very small guy, will not be able to throw bone-crushing hits on bigger guys such as Chris Pronger. Also, everything is live. The goalies can get taken down, the nets can be knocked off, and the glass can be broken. It makes the game more realistic and shows a nice touch. Also, players can now battle in front of the net to get good position weather you are on offense or defense. If you’re on offense, this is a good feature to screen the goalie and get shots from the point. If you’re on defense, you can clear guys out of the front and let your goalie see the puck. Another fun feature is that they now added goalie fights. The goalies can skate up to center ice, and fight with the other one, just how it can happen in real life.

Overall, NHL 12 improved all aspects of the game. Personally, I like when they focus on the game play improvements and there was not as much as I would have liked for this year. The game is still significantly improved when it comes to game play and I would highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys playing the NHL series.