A prodigy son with the incorrect friends.
After being feed up with those interesting teasing videos showing that cute and dynamic interface I have to admit my first reaction was to find a tissue to clean my drool. And pass to the nex t video then.
Inmerse on a fantasy of exciting ice hockey, violent fights, ESPN's highlight-of-the-day-goal and some catchy tunes my only thought after seeing all that was: "Nice".
Of course good things don't last forever and they arrived when I got my new copy of this franchise. Determined not to waste any time, I stopped worshipping the box, opened it, and took from the inside this new-born child, this progidy which I expected to be the next breathrough in computer sports.
Nedless to say how disappointed I was when I realized the interface didn't change *that* much, ignoring it for a moment as my fingers clicked viciously into the "advance arrow" to start my first game.
After a very short load of time, something I still sense like a strong point of this series, the -aweful- truth presented upon me: I couldn't help checking, and double checking and triple checking to see if I was hustled by the people who sold me this: for an instant I thought I was ripped of with a bad NHL 06 copy in a new fancy box.
Ladies and gentlement take my word as sacred when I say EA division in charge of NHL spent the last year doing nothing.
Sure, there's a 3 mille long line of people waiting to tell me the impressive and revolutionary concepts the game introduced in PC gaming. Forgive me for not being a literate in this matter but I will have to strongly disagree with that.
First of all, seems the "NHL 07" we all saw at the preview pictures and videos is not the same we got in our PC and compatibles. That's, for what I've seen and heard, a console version. Let's face it: consoles are in charge now. As an old-school PC gamer there's nothing that hurts me more than that. Would be like finding that Largo Leckuch was actually a bad pirate without relationship with our beloved Threepwood. I know. I'm with you.
Secondly, despite the game feels like NHL 06, hears like NHL 06, play like NHL 06, wises to be NHL 06's "collectors edition", it is not. Is a new game, with a new price tag, a new box and, forgive me if I could not find it inside he packaging, but some people say a new concept in playing games.
Stil, I played the whole dynasty season, with my own custom team ("Las Vegas Cashiers", by theway), and won the cup. First couple of games in easy, then in medium then in hard. After the open season, playoffs' and a couple more games from the new season I still can't take this weird taste from my mouth that is telling me: "Dude, you have been cheated on".
The players move basically the same, the goalies commit the same ridiculous saves, and suffer the same ridiculous goals too. Oh and the referees are still blind and, for worse, you can't still hit them on purporse. Oh, let's face it, how many times you wanted to charge towards a bad referee with your best hitter and send him to the seat for the rest of the season, just to let "them" know they have the whistle, but you own the barbarian horde.
Besides the we-can't-make-new-player-and-goalies-movements thingy, the dynasty menu, with some small new additions, is basically the same. Now you have Minor League where you can send players to "improve" or just because you need to cause you are over the salary cap. Rest assure Joe Sakic was not very happy to spend 90 games in there cause the NHL just wouldn't let me pass the 44 M. Something you can't change either.
Play-by-play. The same as previous versions. And when I say the same I *mean* the same. Same play-by-play, same commentors, same expressions on the same situations. Nothing new. I mean it.
I'd have to say the only thing that I liked about NHL 07 (yes, there are a couple small things), was the new shooting system. No matter if you have Mr. MVP 100-in-everything-newly-created-cheated-player, shots are played by odds too so, you won't get 100% shooting no matter what. Players now miss, and they miss big time. Of course, the newly drafter rookie from Siberia probably takes one opportunity to shoot at the goalie and he scores¡ while Sakic spent 10 shots doing it without even hitting the bar. Get used to it.
Stadium sounds, crowd comments, sings (for the cheer up) are --yes, you are right!--, exactly the same.
Overall, I liked (far from "enjoyed") playing the season. Will I play a second one?. Not a chance. Perhaps you are calling me pretentious, or you are just agreeing with me on every single word I typed. Either way, the game is nice, but not *that* nice.
They haven't reasearched about today's gamers, computer specs, and all the mambo jambo. The game is not near hardware demanding. I'd consider it a "very good game from a small european software company" but, coming from the biggest games producer on earth?, they should feel insulted by their own product.
To finish this amateur review, I am letting you know I just uninstalled the game already, put in that precious, lovely packaging and stored it on my shelf. Next to NHL 2001, NHL 2003 and, while ironic, NHL 2006.