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NHL 15 gets extensive changes

• Galea Razvan
• September 17th, 2014

EA Sports releases have always been highly anticipated among sport title fans worldwide. The NHL series are no different, as upcoming NHL 15 promises to bring hockey fans as close to the ice as possible. The hype began last year when EA Sports announced that NHL 14 will not be available on next-gen consoles, but concerns were put to bed after EA announced the launch of NHL 15 for next-gen gaming devices. EA Canada seemed to take the new NHL 15 project very seriously, giving the game a brand new EA Ignite engine. They promised improved graphic quality and game responsiveness, but things are not quite where EA would want them to be.

The game seems to be lacking a massive amount of features which will become hard to ignore during gameplay. While the shift to next-gen might have paid off in terms of graphics and physics, offering a more realistic twist to the players, the amount of features that have been dropped by developers is outrageous and has no official explanation so far. EA only announced that they are currently working on a patch that will bring back a part of the lost features. Many people might argue that yes, by taking the game to next-gen consoles we’ll have to do without some of the features, but not quite as much. Here are a few examples of what’s missing:

General Features:

• No GM Connected

• No Online Team Play (when this is patched into the game later this year, it will use real NHL players and teams)

• No EA Sports Hockey League

• No EA Sports Arena

• No Online Shootouts

• No Live the Life

• No Be A Legend

• No Winter Classic

Gameplay features:

• No custom camera option

• No Action Tracker replay highlights

• No Top 3 Stars at the end of games.

•  Cup

Be A Pro:

• No option to sim ahead to next shift

• You only play in the NHL; you cannot play for minor league teams

• The Memorial Cup tryout period is gone. You now begin by picking an NHL team, or by letting a random CPU team draft you.

• No All-Star game

Ultimate Team:

• Cannot play against your friends

• No tournaments

• No mobile app

As you can see, the game is lacking a lot, but the news aren’t all bad. NHL 15’s strong points seem to be its gameplay, which is rated as good, and its level of graphic detail which is also top notch. This just might be enough for devoted fans of the franchise. NHL 15 is now available on PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.