For someone who plays video games, there's nothing out there that compares to finally getting the game you have been anticipating for months. It's like Christmas morning, but maybe even better because there's no chance of getting coal or tube socks.

It was Christmas last week for us Europeans, and yes, I must confess that I was outside the gaming store before it opened, anxiously awaiting the exact moment the store would open. No more than 30 minutes later, I was already home installing the game and having breakfast -- well, gulping down some leftovers. As I was told in the army: "Eating is not a culinary pleasure, it is a bodily function." This is even more true when you have more important things to do.

Before I could even say heartburn, I was tinkering with my Be a Pro (BaP) character, trying to choose the right player type for my D-man and pondering whether or not I should buy some boosts or unlock them by playing. Looking through the requirements for the boosts, I decided on playing. Last year you had to spend a lot of time playing offline if you were not ready to spend a little extra money on your character, but this year boosts are easier to unlock while playing online.

So with my two-way forward in tow, I went into the OTP lobby for the first time in NHL 2011. It was quick and easy to navigate the menus, there was no crashing and everything looked more polished and more compact. Bottom line, I found a game quickly and off I went.

It seemed like the game loaded at a quicker pace than last year, and the presentation itself looked improved from previous years -- nothing major but it was a bit more smooth.

And the game itself, oh man is it good. Don't get me wrong, NHL 10 was good, but this is better. It's not just NHL 10.5 but a new game.

Skating seems more organic somehow, movement on the ice is a bit more natural, and the controls feel a bit more responsive. The new manual passing can be a bit difficult, especially when your player is a rookie who is low on XP. But when you connect on a nice pass, it is so much more rewarding than those arcade-style passes from NHL 10.

AI players seem slightly smarter than in NHL 10, although their overall ratings are lower this year. Presumably, though, this was done to encourage more people to play with more human-controlled players, right?

The same seems to go for AI goalies. Sometimes they let in some easy shots, but they are not necessarily as easily fooled as in NHL 10. So far it seems that there are less "always" goals, which is not the same as saying there are no "always" goals.

The new faceoff system seems to mostly work like a charm, although lag may play a bigger role with the new faceoffs than before. Previously, you could anticipate the puck drop when you had lag, but now it seems like the center will just freeze and not do anything.

The physics and checking systems seem to be a bit overdone, but these are new features so hopefully EA will find a nice balance in the upcoming tuners. Regardless, one thing that's bothering me so far is the fact that you can check opponents long after they have passed the puck away without getting an interference call. With injuries playing a role in OTP this year, exaggerated checking can be used as a tactical tool for some teams. This is not a bad thing on its own, but penalties should be tuned up to prevent the EASHL from turning into a Broad Street Bullies tribute game.

After I played a couple OTP games on my own, my teammates started to appear online, and we started fooling around with the practice mode. This mode is something almost all of us EASHL players were hoping for, and it seems like a very good addition to the game. We were hoping for some different practice scenarios, but even a full scrimmage is such a helpful tool -- at least for teams like ours who rely on good tactics and solid team play rather than elite skills. AI players in the practice mode are also pretty aggressive, so it's a handy tool when you want to practice something like cycling the puck on the power play.

After some more time in this new mode, we decided to search for an opponent. We used the modified matchmaking system, which seemed to work well for us. We were able to quickly find an opposing squad. And, on top of that, there seemed to be a lot less lag in the games that we played -- even when the games were Europe vs. North America. Then again, as an Amateur league club we were matched up against Elite clubs more often than other Amateur clubs. So maybe the search time could be increased so the matchups would end up more fair. However, I'm sure as time goes on, more clubs will find their own place in the rankings and matchmaking will improve.

Lastly, one new and funny thing about the EASHL and OTP is that you pick your position prior to the opponent search in the EASHL but not in random OTP games. Should it not be the other way around? Sometimes EA's ambition to improve on the game results in some minor flaws in logic I suppose, but it's the way the game plays that matters.

Final Thoughts

All things considered, EASHL '11 is a big step forward. The developers are trying their hardest to optimize NHL 11. So far there have already been a couple tuner updates, and another one is rumored to appear in the near future. The developers have also taken a much more vocal approach to communicating with their customers this year, and for that I thank them.