NHL 11 Thoughts/Review

GAMEPLAY
This year broken sticks are in, and that is a plus for me. I love, and hate at the same time, winding up for a slap shot at the point on the power play, only to have my stick break and they score a short handed goal. The hitting physics in this game is a little unrealistic but this is year one of a three year phase for them so I'll wait until then so they can perfect it. The hustle button I never notice a difference when I push it, except in practise mode. The one thing that bothers me about this game, well two things bother me, but right now the one that bothers me is that players with high speed still have a problem using their acceleration to blaze past backward skating defenders and usually get the puck poked away from them from behind. It drives me nuts. The other thing I hate about this game is the poor AI. I've played the game for about a week now and have not let more than 15 shots on my net in any game. Even strength time usually gets wasted by d-men who carry the puck all the way back to their end of the ice and slowly move it up, passing back and forth in the neutral zone. Power Plays rarely ever register a shot because they are constantly looking to pass to the point and if you put your human controlled player at that point, they'll skate right to you so you can poke it away. There is something I mention in the 'Be-A-GM' section that could prevent things like this from happening. The drag about the fact that I only allow a few shots per game is that they'll score three or four goals - all identical - by walking into the slot and roofing a shot top glove side. The CPU should be allowed to score tip ins and point shots also on a more frequent basis.

CREATE-A-TEAM
This has so much potential to be great. I think if the CAT system was improved you could have one of the best online customizations around, as well as that this could lead into an expansion mode for dynasty/franchise/BAGM. You should be able to have every jersey template available in the game. You should have WAY more logos. And more importantly more relevant TEAM NAMES. Last year there was nothing more frustrating than having a logo that didn't even come close to matching up with a team name. Enough said.

ONLINE
EASHL for me is a dead mode. Once anyone figures out the one or two ways to score in this game, it is exploited to the max and I can never have a decent game. EASHL has become 'who can score the most cheese goals' and not what EA had intended this mode to be. Personally when I play a game, when I find out the one or two ways to score, I avoid them like the plague and try to win games the traditional ways. Shots from the point, garbage goals, etc. I don't see myself playing this mode anymore this season because I cant seem to lay a hit. My online player is a better hitter than my BAP hitter, and I can lay guys out in BAP yet in EASHL I always breeze right by people. The online leagues mode was untouched from last year which sucks because it had so much potential to be the best mode out there for online gaming. I used to play Madden 10 with my buddies in an online league. The draft would take us 3 hours and we would play our games versus the CPU and meet up in the playoffs. It was so fun to do the drafts and have that real fantasy aspect of it. The NHL game could benefit from taking aspects of the Madden game. I like that you can make trades but there should be more than 1-for-1 deals to allow bigger trades. Fingers crossed for next year. One online thing that absolutely needs to be in the game is some sort of roster vault. For us roster customization guys, it would make it so much easier to pass on our rosters. Not everybody want's a custom roster so EA can still put theirs out. If you had a more comprehensive Create-A-Team you could upload jerseys to download and use yourself. That would be pretty cool.

HUT
This mode is a waste for me. I played it maybe two or three times and I do not see the appeal. My best player over three packs of cards was Sean Curry (71). This wasn't an issue, but the big issue for me was that of my three packs, I didn't have 12 forwards and ended up having to put four defensemen on my forward lines. I played an offline tournament and was raping the competition. I beat Lewiston 7-0 and outshot them 59-1. I later found out I was playing on ROOKIE and was unable to change the difficulty which really let me down. I can win on Superstar so why not let me play my game on superstar with my horrible team. I'm sure this mode has a lot to offer, I just never got around to enjoying it.

BE-A-PRO
I play this mode periodically. I usually get frustrated with the game and give up. This year you play in the CHL's Memorial Cup which is pretty cool. You pretty much pave the way to the NHL draft based on your performance. EA has nailed this aspect of the game. Once you get drafted you play in the pre-season and if you're good enough you'll make the team. There is nothing wrong with this mode up until this point. There should be an option for coach strictness, one of three options being Strict, Lenient, Passive. Strict would mean that if you do not play the games manually, you will be demoted on lines and eventually down to the AHL. Passive, and this is the mode I would play the most, would let me sim games without consequence and let my progression determine my roster slotting instead of how many games I play manually. I know thats the point of the whole mode and everything but heck, sometimes I don't want to play 82 games a season and frankly with roster updates coming out all the time, I'm more likely to start a new one when those come out. Lenient would be a mix of both strict and passive, and this would mean that you can get away with simming some games but you should probably be playing important games like home games, during a losing streak, against rivals, scoring slumps, etc. The draft could be more of a spectacle just for Be-A-Pro sake. You could be sitting in the stands in a suit, and they could display a graphic of your Memorial Cup stats or some highlights from the tournament and then have you stand up, walk to the podium and have someone unveil a jersey - and that is how you would find out who drafted you. It's a little touch that would go a long way - I assure you. One little 'blip' that bothered me was that I never got to choose my age in this BAP, and because I was 19 I got assigned to the AHL when I should have been sent back to Juniors.

BE-A-GM
This mode is usually the only mode I play in the NHL series. Thankfully EA didn't butcher this mode and has made it quite a treat to play this season. This year RFA's have been added to the game as well with CHL players being able to be sent back to junior. These things are huge for people like me who play BAGM for game depth purposes like this. One issue I am having with this mode is the overall lack of GM personalities. I took the Penguins into franchise mode and stuck Crosby, Malkin and Fleury on the trading block during the pre-season and went an entire season before getting an offer on one of them. I tried to trade Crosby to Atlanta for 2 firsts and Patrice Cormier but the Thrashers GM told me I was insane. Maybe it's just me but I don't think Sidney Crosby would last very long on the real life trading block. This year you can have up to 5 players in a trade, and this is great but you're never going to see a 5 player deal because 'trade value' has so much stock that you forget about the name and overall you're getting back. When I did finally get an offer for Crosby it was Steve Ott and Jed Ortmeyer (both who made their way to Phoenix). Phoenix thought this would be an acceptable offer and thought I would consider it because the combined salary was close to Crosby's and that meant that it was an okay deal to make.. Are you kidding me?! The 'Trading Block' system needs to be corrected as well. One thing that it could benefit from is separating positions from player types. What I mean by this is, if I am looking for a certain type of player in return, I am going to adjust the 'Prospects/Prime/Veterans' tabs. But then if I jack up the Prospects tab and also the Defenders tab, I'm going to only get offers that include defensemen from all walks of life, and not necessarily prospects. There shouldn't be the ability to only add forwards, d-men or goalies for depth purposes. You should be able to differentiate what kind of players you want at what position. This way it would give the trade offers a little more substance instead of the crap that usually gets offered. Last season I made a 'GM PROFILES' guide for NHL 10 that you could use to mimic your favourite GM. If EA added actual GM's and gave them personalities like draft tendencies, and the likelihood of signing an UDFA (just to name a couple things) the transaction AI in this game would be perfected. This I think would also prevent GM's from letting star players go to Free Agency or top prospects to sit in Free Agency also. I would also LOVE IT if GM's could get themselves in CAP trouble, similar to the Blackhawks. I know this will never happen because every team would do it, but I mean if Crosby's sitting on the table and you can mortgage the future for him, but wind up $2M over the CAP, you should be able to make the deal. Sure salary cap rules need to apply in the season, but in the offseason you are allowed to get yourself in that kind of trouble just as long as you're compliant by October 1st. Maybe next season, call this mode Owner Mode where you can appoint a GM, or stick with the current Gm, or find yourself a new GM from the 'GM Free Agency Pool' of qualified guys lingering around the league or recently retired 18 year NHL vets. Secondly, a full staff should be added to the game because we all know that sometimes the coaching makes a serious difference in how a team plays their games. MLB 10 : The Show has the staff system perfect. Each staff member brings the team certain qualities. For example, John Smith is a Powerplay specialist, but also can boost your teams overall speed by 2 points, his downgrade though is toughness. Using + and - attributes you could have coaching staff to suit your needs and hire him with emphasis on the powerplay. Having actual coaches will also give your team more realism because the coaching staff will have styles and strategies that would be applied and this could prevent some sticky AI situations. One thing I would like to see in the future is the ability to click on past games to get a scoring/penalty summary and a box score. The one thing I hate about this mode, is the 'Loading' screen tutorials that explain things like what potential means. EA has been trying to lure new fans to the game for the past two or three years now with things like '94 controls and stuff. If you weren't a hockey game fan last year, you're not going to be this year. I'm 23 and have been playing hockey games since NHLPA 93' on SNES. No RPG fan who is at Blockbuster is going to look at this game and be like 'maybe I'll give this a try'. You're either a fan of the sport which lets you be a fan of the game, your a fan of the game, or your not a fan at all and you're not going to play it anyways. The other thing I hate about this mode, and this has been consistent over the last three or four years, is that the Free Agency pool is filled with European guys. SURE if they're a free agent over in the Elitserien then they could be signed in the NHL, but when you look at their attributes, these guys are going to get signed 99% of the time and replace the prospects you've implemented from the CHL because of overalls. There should be an 'on/off' for European free agents in the settings before going into a season. One thing that bothers me about the AHL is that after a season or two, the CPU will sign players to AHL contracts to fill out your roster and these guys usually win out over fresh prospects and it will slow their development. Your property should come A#1 and should get playing time over these other guys.

FINAL THOUGHTS
In closing NHL 11 is a notch better than NHL 10 for me. NHL 10 had so much playability for me and probably ranks as one of the most playable games in my history of gaming. I usually get bored with sport games mid-season and move onto something else but NHL 10 kept me going all year. NHL 11 will do the same, I can guarantee that. The new HUT is great, don't get me wrong, its just not for me. I see the promise and potential of it, but yeah. I hope the NHL series takes after FIFA and has a ton of leagues in the game, making it the most covered hockey game out there. The only fear I have with that is all of the roster blunders and jersey screw ups that happen now with an 11 team league, will be quadrupled when you add more leagues. NCAA has got to be in next years game, and would make for an UNREAL BE-A-GM mode. ECHL would also be a welcome addition and if they could get the KHL in the game it would make the game 100% whole. EA has got to respect its hardcore gamers and get rid of that awful tutorial at the beginning of the game, explaining the controls and vocally telling you how to differentiate if you're a lefty or a righty. That tutorial is nicely hidden in the TUTORIALS section of the game. There are so many little things that could be changed also. Cleaning up the Create-A-Player and organizing equipment better would be nice. Including more jerseys to select per team would also be a sick addition. The Fifa series right now is having a hard time because how can you make a Manager Mode more accurate because it's not that in-depth to begin with in real life. The NHL series still has a ways to go and could add mounds of things in the near future. But for right now NHL 11 is a great time passer and I look forward to playing more of this game once I get my rosters up to date. I give this game a 8/10.