Recent reviews by Kykke

Some of the negative feedback here could be my own fault because I was expecting the game to be very different. Despite the topic being old school hockey I feel the game is taking itself too seriously. The game pace seems too slow for arcade hockey. Also it seems to be missing one of the most important things on hockey games since NHL'94: one timers. I know NHLPA'93 had fighting and blood but everybody forgot it instantly when NHL'94 came out and it was solely for one improvement (one timers).

When I play this game I don't feel like I'm in control. Especially shooting and passing is very clumsy and lacks any finesse and fluency. I already mentioned the one timers but the passing overall is so unpleasant that you rather just skate to the zone and take a slapper. The skating feels and looks actually pretty good but players should move much faster.

I'm not too pleased about the controls either. The developers have copied the controls from EA's NHL-series, and while I understand it makes this game accessible for NHL-fans it may not be the best suited option for this game. Also I've never understood the point of putting checking to right stick because it's one action that basically should require only one on/off button to execute. Why not have the right stick to control your hockey stick all the time?

One important thing in hockey games is the randomness and the one of most important things to achieve this is puck physics. I mean despite all flaws in presentation that's the one thing that kept NHl 2K-series alive for so many years. The great memories are born from incidents like "Remember when you tackled my forward just when he was about to shoot one timer and the puck hit his ass and crossbar and then went in from the back of goalies pad. Man it was fun to watch replay of that.. I think I still have it somewhere".

Pros:
- Presentation
- Soundtrack
- Skating

Cons:
- Shooting
- Passing
- Tackling
- Repeative gameplay
- No replays
- AI

Open-world shooter that keeps the training wheels on and breaks the immersion with excessive HUD.

Unforgivable, unforgettable, uneasy. One of the best games of 2012.