Still same ole arcade gameplay we expect from EA...

User Rating: 7.5 | NHL 07 X360
By Jeffrey9910 | Review Date:
I had really high hopes for NHL 07, so I decided to give it a try before trying 2k7. I'll start off with the good. Graphics - The game looks amazing, some of the best graphics on the 360. Once the graphics get in motion they don't look as good. I have two big problems with the graphics. 1)The checking animations are horrid, looks like two stone figures running into each other. And nobody ever leaves their feet. No matter who or how big the check was. 2)What moron @ EA Sports put black letters on a dark gray background for all the overlays? It is impossible to tell what period it is without pausing. Sound - By far the best part of NHL 07, the two play by play guys are great and repeat very litle. The crowd sounds good and realistic. Gameplay - This is where NHL 07 fails in comparision to the "other" hockey game :). 07's first downfall is they need way more sliders, while 2k7 may not play true-sim out of the box, 2k has sliders for everything so you can set the game up the way you like it. EA has sliders for just the basic stuff, and after I adjusted them (Game speed all the way down, fatigue effect up, puck control all the way down) EA needs to add more sliders for Pass Aim, Pass Assist just to name a few. Apparently EA thinks every pass in the NHL is tape to tape. While the skill stick is suppose to be the greatest thing since slice bread, it has it problems. It's great for dekeing & shooting, but the problems lie in the fact that it is also used for checking. So you'll be in the corner fighting for the puck and next thing you know it comes flying out and towards the goal. Defense in this game is about useless. it feels like you have no control over the player when skating backwards, if you have every play 2k games that was skating backwards should feel and act like. My biggest gripe with the gameplay is that the AI goalies NEVER freeze the puck, you could have 3 guys in the crease and he'll still try and pass the puck out which leads to easy scoring chances. While most of my complaints may be a small problem to most,A) you can't promote a game as most "Authentic" with stupid stuff like that, or do like 2k and add a slider for it. B)a 9+ rated game, as some have done on here, shouldn't have these problems

In closing if you want a fun, arcady game, NHL 07 is right for you, if want to play a hockey game that mirrors what you see in every NHL city I recommend looking elsewhere.

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