NHL 15 was one of the most incomplete things I had ever played. Me being a huge hockey fan, despite very poor reviews and knowing a lot was taken out, I had to run out on boxing day in 2014 and buy myself a copy (yes I live in Canada and a fully priced game with no sale will run about $90 so unfortunately I buy most of my games on boxing day). I knew the game would be missing some features and the gameplay would be different. But wow was I amazed with how poor the game was. Barely ANY features or game modes, the A.I was the worst I've ever seen in a sports game and overall the gameplay just felt sub-par to NHL 14. Overall 15 was a huge disappointment and probably the worst sports game I've ever played. Which leads to the next instalment NHL 16.
Visuals (9) - Immediately NHL 16 feels much smoother and quicker than 15. The menus are responsive and speedy unlike 15 which felt like it took forever just to navigate through the menu screens. The look of the menus is stylish and looks great which is a welcomed change from last year. The on-ice visuals are amazing once again this year which was the only good think I can say about NHL 15. These next-gen NHL games have both looked incredible. Very well done player models for MOST NHL players, arenas look identical to real life pictures, and crowds look good as well. Mascots are also in the game but I didn't pay much attention to them, although it does add to the realism a bit. The visuals is the best thing about this game for sure, the look of everything from the menus to the on-ice experience is spot on and very well done. Overall:9
Sounds (7) - In the menus you are greeted with the same menu music from 15 which is nothing special really. Just standard background instrumentals. In game commentary is barely changed from 15 with Doc and Eddie saying the same lines over and over and over, and it grows stale very quickly. These are two of the best hockey commentators out there yet they both sound bored out of their minds when reading their lines. Some points they do sound a bit enthused, but overall the commentary is bland and unchanged from NHL 15. The saving grace for the sound is on the ice. From the skates gliding on the ice surface, to the fans reacting after a big hit, and of course the goal horns which are all spot on (aside from a few) it sounds very good and very real. Some teams even have matching goal songs which I have to give credit where it's due is pretty neat an example that quickly comes to mind is Hell Yeah by Rev Theory for the Winnipeg Jets (Blue Mountain State anyone?). The sound overall is good. Commentary could use some work, menu music is alright, but the on ice sounds are the saving grace for this game. Overall:7
Game Modes (8) - THEY'RE BACK! Yes NHL 16 actually feels like a product you don't immediately feel remorse for buying because it actually has game modes in it. The reason behind giving it an 8 is because these things all could have been in NHL 15 and all were in 14 yet EA promotes them as new. Just because they're new to next-gen doesn't mean they're new guys. But yes the favourite game modes are back this year and a welcomed return for me is season mode. Sometimes I like to just play a season of hockey and just relax playing a few games here and there. Be a GM which was in last years game makes a return and fixes a lot of the problems that 15 had (although it is still pretty easy to manipulate other GM's and get good players for almost nothing). Shootout mode returns as well, why it wasn't in 15 I have no idea but it's back. Same old stuff. Lastly the three big modes I can talk about. Be a pro returns. This mode was in 15 but I only played about 10 minutes of it because it had been completely dumbed down and stripped of any fun to be had in it. 16 returns to form and Be a pro is actually done pretty good. The new coach feedback system feels off but this is just a personal nit pick as you can play in the Memorial Cup and score 3 goals every game, but if you're rating doesn't improve you won't get drafted until the third or fourth round. The whole thing just felt kinda random to me. Also the real favourite returns, Ea Sports hockey league. Gone are the days of levelling up stats after games and improving. EA now has a class system like you would find in fps games. I thought I would hate this feature but I must admit it suits better than having a bunch of snipers on the ice skating around trying to deke around every player in sight. This mode works very well if there's no computer a.i involved and I still find myself playing it from time to time. And finally "Everyone's (EA's) favourite mode" Hockey Ultimate Team. I can't comment on this mode as I refuse to play it along with any other Ultimate team mode in other sports games. I know a lot of people love it and I know you can play it without spending any real world money which is good but personally I refuse to play any game or mode that tries to get you to spend real world money (I'm looking at you GTA Online). What can I say? The game modes are back. It feels like a complete game again, but I can still only give it an 8 because there isn't anything new here just all the modes they took out of NHL 15 that were in 16. But it does feel nice to actually have game modes to play again. Overall:8
Gameplay (4) - Here we go. The reason that I don't find myself playing this game anymore. You can have amazing visuals, and great atmosphere on the ice, but without good solid gameplay you can't keep me playing for very long. Where do I start with this? We'll start with the biggest problem, the computer a.i. I know many people play EASHL mainly so this wouldn't affect them if they have two full teams, but we'll start with the computer a.i which is broken to say the least. I've had games where the opposing team will sit in their own zone for 30 seconds passing the puck back and fourth making no forward passes at all. Computer team mates will often just throw the puck up the centre of the ice and cause a turnover or try to bring the puck back towards their own goalie when a player from the other team is right on top of them. The skill of the a.i is also very uneven. I tried this out as the Stars and I played against the Blue Jackets. The a.i has insane difficulty spikes! I know hockey is very back and forth and can change very quickly but for a whole 10 minutes you can be destroying the other team with 20+ shots on goal and them only having 4 and they will be up by a goal. I play on superstar hardcore simulation, so it really takes away the realism when the shots are 18 to 4 and the score is 1-0 for the opposite team. Also the a.i will have random difficulty spikes where they just begin to make amazing passes too quickly to intercept and they almost always score when this happens. It happens 2 or 3 times a game where the a.i will race down in your zone and just begin passing way quicker than normal and it is impossible to hit them or get the puck away from them. I don't know if this is only happening to me because I suck but the game defiantly feels like there has been a change in the a.i when this happens. Away from the computer a.i I played a lot of online matches. Just head to head, the game feels better but still has that same balancing issue. I could have 30+ shots on someone who is not very good, while they can have 5 and the game will be tied. This doesn't happen as often as in NHL 15 by far but it takes away the realism of a hockey sim. The gameplay is pretty much unchanged from 15, aside from making the backhand less affective (thank the lord) it feels pretty much the same. The new deke system is good but it is far too easy sometimes to pull off amazing looking moves with a garbage overall player. On the topic of players, why do I never see Ovechkin or Datsyuk pull off amazing goals? You can sim 20 Capitals games while just spectating and you won't see one nice highlight reel goal from Ovie. The players don't at all act how they would in a real life setting. Sure, Ovechkin would score a lot of goals in those 20 games but 90% of them would just be normal looking wrist or slap shots that every other player on the ice can do just as well. It takes away from the game when EVERY player acts and plays the same way. This is the problem I have with these next-gen NHL games. The focus is on making the visuals next-gen, not the gameplay. NHL 14 got it right and I wish these games would have the same feel with the visuals of NHL 16. Overall:4
Overall (6) - Yes NHL 16 is better than NHL 15 in most ways, but it stayed the same in a lot of ways as well. Visuals still look outstanding, new (old) game modes make a welcomed return to next-gen and you can't go wrong with the minor gameplay improvements here and there. But overall it feels the same as NHL 15. Same bland commentary, same broken a.i and poor gameplay. It's a step in the right direction but still needs a lot of work in terms of gameplay and a.i programming. As a die hard NHL fan it sucks to not have a solid hockey sim on Xbox One yet that I wanna keep playing 6 months after release. Hoping NHL 17 will improve over the last two (and feature John Scott on the cover)