The physics engine upgrades makes NHL 15 looks phenomenal on nextgen systems
Last year EA Sports managed to get a couple of releases out on the new generation of consoles, such as FIFA 14 and Madden 25, but a few other franchises like NHL had to wait a year to make their next-gen debuts. Now the time has come for NHL 15 to drop the gloves and come out swinging on the PlayStation 4. Unfortunately the end result is lacking, even with the extra time to prepare. I mean, I love hockey. I've been playing hockey games since NHL 93 on SNES, yes I started with 93 and not 94. In the past 21 years I've been playing hockey games fairly frequently throughout numerous generations and decades at this point. In the past six years since the last release release the NHL 2K series, EA has not only improved the series but they've arguably turned it into their best sports franchise.
On the ice, the game is solid, but requires the difficulty increased, and all of the sliders to be adjusted to make it enjoyable. The default sliders are somewhat comical, even for someone who has never played an NHL game before. Without breaking a sweat, you’ll be able to skate around your own zone with the puck for the length of an entire period with relative ease, and still manage to score 10+ goals a game. As you increase the difficulty, the improved AI will play a much tighter game, putting their sticks in the passing lane, and knock you off the puck at any opportunity.
The menu in NHL 15 for each game mode has been improved and looks very nice and is easy to navigate. Be A Pro has been changed as there is no way to make you being draft higher or lower as it is randomly selected now. Another feature made in NHL 15 that has been taken out is the ability to skip to your next line change so it now makes you watch what else happens which is grueling. Speaking about features that are not include in this game, and there is a bunch, there is no Winter Classic like there has been in previous years. They didn’t add the Stadium Series into NHL 15 which was big last year in real life, they have also taken out the three stars of NHL 15, shoot out mode, battle for the cup, seasons mode, and much more. If that isn’t bad enough people playing on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 bought the same game as NHL 14. The only improvements that they see is celebrations and hearing the announcers.
GM mode is another feature many fans should be familiar with, and it too has lost a significant function from past entries. There is no option to play the mode online with friends in a league, instead it is strictly offline. There are some other oddities attached to operating your own team, one of which is the scouting option. In order to better understand where to find prospects, you possess the ability to send a scout to a certain area of the globe looking for specific positions. When a scout’s assignment is up, they will report back to you and say their trip has been completed, but in the scout menu it will say that there are still several days left on the trip. You may also send a scout on an assignment, immediately change your mind and send them somewhere else, but the game will say that you have still scouted that area once even though the scout never even had a chance to examine the players or gain any information. These are minor details, but considering the game was promoting advances in minute details such as physics of the various uniform layers and arena realism, it is odd that things such as this slipped through the cracks.
NHL 15 is a good entry in the series; gameplay still smooth and enjoyable, the physics engine upgrades provide more realism and variety in-game and the game looks phenomenal on next-gen systems. What ultimately makes the decision is how much you care about the missing game modes. If you’re only interested in online games and couch multiplayer then this is perfect for you, if you feel the absence of those finishing touches wait to see what EA updates and make your call then.
