NHL '07 gives players the ability for many more moves with the innovative "skill stick".

User Rating: 8.9 | NHL 07 X360
By onthe_dl | Review Date:
It's evident that the right producer could spin the ea series of NHL games in a fresh new direction. Intuitive perfectly fits the feel for this game, after playing a few games, you quickly start to understand the major renovations done to the controls and why they bothered with them. Of course you can choose to use the standard face buttons of nhl 06, but why? The skill stick adds much more replayability to the game since it's a new way to play hockey. Every other game to this point has had the same control scheme, that's why it's such a relief that ea changed this, and upgraded it to feel fluid and in-control.

An other obvious addition to this game is independent puck physics. Yes, at first it really did seem like a big gimmick, but after a few games i noticed many strange goals that you would [un]expect to see in real hockey games.

Realism has been a big theme to this first season for next-gen ea hockey, where sticks flex and boxes form on powerplays/shorthanded play. That's right, you can play a passive box (and it really works).

Some downfalls to the game are that it's not the smoothest looking game out there. But the framerate does not bother gameplay (it would just be nice to see higher fps), and a slight delay between cutscenes that looks just awkward. An option left out is fantasy draft, yes it sucks, but the option to create your own roster could be an alternative. Create-A-Player is indeed featured in the game, as many stated it did not make the xbox 360 version of the game. And for all those stat freaks, yes you can edit current players in the nhl, be it their numbers or attributes, you can change it (just not equipment).

The game features a play now mode, a world tournament, a dynasty mode and the dodge penalty shootouts. the free for all mini game did not make it's way back for ea's next-gen hockey debut which was a little disappointing that you couldn't practice passing and defending any other way then actually playing a game.

Overall the game plays like a great hockey game, the visuals are top-notch and there is enough depth in the dynasty mode to keep you happy till next years nhl game.

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