As a HUGE hockey fan and Canadian that won't miss a game, I'd like to offer my opinion of NHL 07 with mixed reactions.

User Rating: 8.5 | NHL 07 X360
By jperc | Review Date:
As a HUGE hockey fan and Canadian that won't miss a game, I'd like to offer my opinion of NHL 07 with mixed reactions. First off, the positive. EA Sports definitely had great things in mind with this years release. Taking a year off to regroup and develop this next gen game from the ground up definitely got them back into the game from a big deficit. They scored a few unanswered goals with this baby! The greatest feature is the new stick handling. Many called it revolutionary, and that's exactly what it is! Definitely takes some getting used to though, but after a few hours you'll get a hang of it and probably never go back. The best application is in the shootout where it actually takes skill to score a goal. And try a spin-o-rama backhand while the goaltender is completely tricked and already commited to the wrong side. It is beautiful, not to mention rewarding for the player. No more canned animations or one button for special moves. You can actually feel like you scored a goal. With that said, why the hell can't you save a replay to show your friends or upload when online to EA servers to show your friends a la Burnout Revenge? Back to the positive...the graphics will blow you away, as always EA does a great job in that department. The animations, especially the goalies are great. I've seen goalies do things never before in a video game. For instance after 10 games or so, I saw a puck trickle behind a goalie and the fastest way to cover it up was to fall on his back before it went in. Very realistic. Along with the animations, is the cool puck dynamics. Things actually happen by fluke which is cool, happens occasionally in a real game too. Gotta love when a goalie gets a piece of the puck but is unaware that it's trickling in behind him. As for gameplay, finally a hockey game that plays like real life For instance, you can actually keep the puck behind the net while your players regroup. The AI also does it often too. You can also do a real box pattern on a powerplay. That's one thing that always bothered me with other hockey games, it was never seen, but HELLO! it's the most common play in a real game on the PP. Kudos to EA for actually watching a NHL game and designing that into the game. Also, you can fight for the puck along the boards, it's not all just quick action here. The presentation is nice, between plays and periods the replays you want to see, are shown. Again, why can't we save great ones? Sorry, had to mention it again, how else am I going to brag to my friends when I do a play I'm really proud of. These postives really make NHL 07 a must buy for hockey fans. You'll be spending hours in the shootout mode perfecting your moves for a dynasty mode

OK, now it's time to talk about the negative things in the game. First off, the camera angles are horrible. EA, PLEASE FIX THIS!!! 2K7 definitely has an advantage in gameplay because of this. The zoom feature is not good at all. I find it zooms out but then forgets to zoom back in on a breakaway. This makes the new stick handling feature really frustrating because my player is so small and far away I can't see him to do my fancy moves I've been practicing in Shootout mode for hours. ;) I've tried every angle and nothing seems to make me happy. I've turned off the auto zoom and it's a little better but still, come on guys, please fix this in a patch or at least for NHL 08. The commentary is just downright bad. Way too repetitive. I constantly hear "that's in scoring range!" change it up for crying out loud. After about 10 games, I've never heard any history on players etc. Also, they announcers totally lack excitement. A puck can be rolling through the crease and they will say "that's a scoring opportunity" like they are watching curling on CBC. I mean come on, light a fire under these guys asses! They sound like they are half asleep. Another thing, why the hell are faceoffs so bloody hard to win? After a few games, I still don't know what I need to press to win one. Perhaps the manual will shed some light considering the new controls? Nope, you'd think the world was running out of paper, probably the thinnest manual in Xbox history, basically useless. As we're on the controls, the passing is also frustrating, how many times do my passes not hit the player? Too many for sure. Oh and one-timers, yeah they no longer work. I understand why EA decided to put them lower on the scoring scene because every other hockey game, it's the main way to score. But now, they like never work at all. I haven't scored one goal with a one-timer and I've done some amazing ones where the goalie should have no chance. Did I just hear a penalty? Oh, try and get a penalty other than tripping, good luck! I've played about 10 games, and EVERY penalty was the same, tripping! Where's the roughing, holding, high sticking, hooking etc.? Another bug I found is the the 3 stars. They can be wacked at times. I won a game 5-0 and guess who the #1 star was? An opposing team forward. For what? I do not know. Most tripping penalties maybe?And my captain who scored 2 of the 5 goals, wasn't even a star. Hmmm...

In summary, EA has made a solid contender this year, they definitely made a comeback in OT. It's not a perfect game by any means, but the most realistic I've seen. I would call it ambitious and revolutionary with some disappointments that need to be addressed for next years release. All in all, if you're a hockey die hard, go buy NHL 07, you'll love it. If you just like hockey for the fast arcade experience, you'll probably be more happy with 2K7.

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