Is NHL 16 EA's last chance for you?

[nddurst]

It is for me.

I, like many others, did not buy NHL 15 (or 14, or 13 for that matter). I bought 08-12 on release day and played them constantly, but with 12 I started getting really bored with the product and it's the last version of the game I've purchased.

I recently played NHL 15 for the first time and I was shocked at how far the series has strayed from being a fun, well-balanced, true-to-life hockey game that fairly represents hockey as a sport.

I'm not going into the details of the game that I didn't enjoy, because they're all documented at length on this forum already. My point is this--every year around May I come to these boards looking for information on the next iteration of the game that will arrive in the fall. And this year might be my last time putting myself through it. Last year's marketing hype, filled with promises that were never delivered on and the release of a completely unfinished game with GLARING holes, both feature-wise and gameplay-wise, has pushed me to the edge.

If big changes aren't in the works for '16, like better goalies, defensive tools, AI and offline mode improvements, I'm done with this series for good. I'm going to move on, knowing that we will never get the NHL game we deserve as long as EA Sports and the current development team are the ones making the game.

I'm curious if anyone else feels the same way. I've got a short list of 5 things that I want to see listed as improvements. If they're not all there, I'm done. I'm already not buying your games, EA...now I'm going to stop caring altogether.

[Simple Mathematics]

I will buy the game when editing players is put back in. Until then, it is a no buy for me. I gotta have the Revamped Rosters to enjoy the game.

[headzapp]

I was bleh about out how I thought they skipped a year to work on the game, and to find out they did nothing that off year (for the xone and ps4). Everything that made it into the game is the best it has been. My only gripes that I hope to be fixed are better goalies, player collision as it happens in real life, loose pucks, real board play, using defense to put pressure on the puck handler.
So I believe next years game will be what everyone wanted, or at least close. Plus all the missing features will be back in. It's like the first Madden on ps3 that was a basic game. If they don't put things back in or make better improvements then yeah I wouldn't get it, but that would be suicide if they did that.

[manitoba450es]

Latest tuner and a couple slider changes and this is the most I've ever played a NHL series in a long time. Game play is great. Can be better. Especially goalies but game play is awesome. It's bare bones and there is lots of features I'd like to return and added but I hope they don't stray far in game play. Just add some more control of the D man's stick and it's golden

[canucksss]

I skipped 14 (360) and did not buy 15 (nephew gave it to me who used to work at EA) for PS4, in 2 weeks, i exchanged it to NBA 2k. Of course, I told my nephew about it prior, so not to offend him.

I will rent it from gamefly just to see on my own if EA corrected the much needed corrections (player differences and teams, coz I dont want close numbers especially between L1 players to L4 players).

To answer your question, 13 was the last chance for me buying NHL video game (bought NHL game every year since '94). But I will keep checking in via Gamefly, and if Im satisfied with the product, only then I will buy EA NHL.

[MizzouRah]

Quote: Originally Posted by manitoba450es

Latest tuner and a couple slider changes and this is the most I've ever played a NHL series in a long time. Game play is great. Can be better. Especially goalies but game play is awesome. It's bare bones and there is lots of features I'd like to return and added but I hope they don't stray far in game play. Just add some more control of the D man's stick and it's golden

Agreed.. I play almost every night, season 2 now.

[13whitebread]

I want to be immersed into the game with more score overlays and more talk about the season series between two clubs. And maybe have the sliders work a little more effectively. Better defense obviously. Doc needs to sound more fluid and less robotic. However Eddie and Ray sound excellent and spot on just hopefully more lines less repetitive. And the penalties could increase and more variety as well. Even though I consider this year a debacle much because of the misinformation that was out there and the team did have supposedly more time to work on it. But I think it will get a lot better when they don't have to release a game for last gen but hockey is my sport I have tried madden and I don't really like it and it needs to improve as well

[Vikes1]

Honestly, my big issue with this game continues to be the near total lack of play between the blue lines,vs the ai. The constant up and down, back and forth nature of the gameplay just gets very boring for me. If this alone was fixed for 16...it would make NHL 16 a sure buy for me.