Surprisingly solid.
Gameplay Experience:
To reiterate, it's surprisingly good. As a 2k hockey gamer, it took several games for me to get used to the new control scheme for NHL 07; however, it was a fun experience. Although I thoroughly enjoy the icon passing of NHL 2k7's pro control passing, the use of the analog stick to pass in this game was a fun feature.
This game is absolutely terrible... if you use the default settings. As the Pittsburgh Penguins, I shot over 100 mph on a slap shot with Josef Melichar on the default settings. But after some tweaking, I'm getting realistic results in terms of scoring, and quality of play. No more 100 mph slap shots with Melichar... and I'm hitting 93 with the likes of Gonchar and LeClair, rather than 110 mph.
I must say, I enjoy the manual shot aim in this game. It was nice to be able to hold the shooting button, and use the analog stick to aim at different parts of the goal before releasing my shot. For once, in a hockey video game, you can pick your spots while preparing your shot, just as you do in real life.
Graphics:
I think NHL 07's skating has more fluidity -- in a sense -- than that of NHL 2k7. It just feels more authentic. The movement of the goaltenders is also better in this game as well. The body build designs of the goalies in this game are also superior to that of NHL 2k7's; however, I feel that both 2k7 and NHL 07 need improvement in regards to designing other players.
Sadly, I think the create-a-player feature in the PS2 version of NHL 07 is horrible. While NHL 2k7 has over 50+ faces for you to choose from, NHL 07's created players look very generic and alike. 2k7 also has an enormous database of names so that your created player's name will be pronounced; unfortunately, EA's NHL 07 does not have that. When creating players such as Evgeni Malkin or Alexander Semin, you have to choose a pathetic play-by-play name from a list of nicknames.
MISSING PLAYERS:
If I had to name one thing that makes me sore about EA's NHL 07... it's the rosters. NHL 2k7 has many players such as Aleksey Morozov (who is now playing in the Russian League), Alexander Semin (who is not a rookie); however, for some strange reasons that I'll never understand, EA does not have Semin in their game! But somehow, they have Ryan Potulny! What gives? For cripes sake, if NHL 2k7 can have players such as Pavel Rosa, Roman Cechmanek, etc. in their game, why is EA too lazy to put in those players? The fact that Semin isn't in this game is ridiculous!
GAMEPLAY RESULTS:
I have been getting realistic scores such as 6-4, 2-0, 3-2, 4-1, 4-5, 1-3, etc. Then..... BOOM! I somehow lose 13-9 to the New York Rangers (despite playing good defensive positional hockey). For some reason, the goalies simply couldn't even stop routine shots. The worst part of all was when Henrik Lundqvist scored a goal by dumping the puck, and it went through the five-hole of Marc-Andre Fleury, who happened to be standing motionless the entire time! I was enjoying the gameplay and getting realistic results, and then an insane game like that had to happen and take the fun out of the experience.
FINAL VERDICT:
Those of you who are sitting on the fence between NHL 2k7 and NHL 07: I would recommend that you rent both games first, and decide for yourself which game is better. The create-a-player feature is MUCH better in the 2k game. Both hockey games provide good and bad things about their games... it all comes down to personal preference. Personally, I prefer NHL 2k7; however, for the first time in a long time... I am excited about EA's future in the hockey video game market. I feel that NHL 07 is a step in the right direction, and this IS a fun game to play.
The most annoying thing of all is how many players you can get in NHL 2k7, but those same players aren't available in EA's NHL 07.
I hope 2K Sports and EA Sports continue to push each other to create better games. I think the hockey video game market has an exciting future ahead, on both current-gen and next-gen consoles.
I hope future EA hockey games will include an enormous name database for the create-a-player function (like that of 2k7), and more attributes and sliders as well (like the 2k games). Doing so would enable EA gamers to more easily enhance their gaming experience and customize their game to get the results they wish to get in a hockey game. I hope EA applies itself and puts forth better efforts in their next hockey game... for the first time in a long time, they're taking a step in the right direction.