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NHL12 – The Review

September 28, 2011   kevkev   No comments


Once again it is time to review the latest version of EA Sports popular NHL series; which this year added new features such as a shiny new collision system that uses real time physics (think GTA IV and its use of the Euphoria Engine), Winter Classic Mode and The addition of NHL legends mode; offering us the chance to play the career of The Great One.

Every year, this game receives a warm welcome from most critics (*cough* unless a UK gaming magazine, when the game is simply ignored); and sales of this years version have been stronger than previously shifting a whopping 451,000 copies in the first week which is a rise of 17% from last year.

So with all these new features and critical praise; is it a solid Stanley Cup contender? Or is it more of a “March to the Playoffs” failure?

Nah Nah Nah, I’m Faster than you…

Picking up the game, the first thing that strikes me is how light the case is. This may seem silly but with most games you expect some weight from the contents; which usually include the disk, a manual and several pages of junk such as adverts and helpline advice.
However, this year NHL12 features only a limited amount of material inside the box. The Manual is now officially dead (well who reads it tbh) but can be viewed in game should you need to. With the control scheme being exactly the same as last years, upgraders like myself will not feel confused.
Inside the box in case you are interested is the controversial EA Online Pass code sheet, an advert for a pre-order of SSX and my favourite waste of space, the EA sports precautions, warranty and PlayStation support leaflet (this may be region dependent). This book contains health and safety advice and my most favourite part; a diagram showing you the location of the buttons on your controller… because it so hard to see where the Triangle button is.

Moving onto the actual game (because lets face it who actually cares about a case after all), on inserting the disk and being entertained by the usual loading screens we are taken to a new function; the option of importing last year’s save profile.
“Fantastic” you think. “This will import all of my data such as players created, custom lines, difficulty settings and even my custom playlists”.

Wrong. The only import it brings in is your be a pro persona – however importing does allow you to skip the training mode you are usually forced to sit through and obviously the usual create your persona that would follow. It would be nice if EA could include the importing of difficulty settings for example in future versions however to have the game recognise you as not being an NHL on console n00b is to at least be appreciated.

Following this stage you are taken instantly to last years Winter Classic. You are automatically assigned to the Pens (sorry if your a fan of any other team) and the game begins almost instantly. Quitting this game takes you to the main menu as would presumably playing the full game.

The main menu is virtually untouched again (not a bad thing), with Invites sitting at top, followed by Play Now, Ultimate Team, Winter Classic, EA Sports Hockey League, Be a Pro, Be a Legend, Game Modes, Online and My NHL finishing off the list.

Working downwards on this list, Play Now is what it says it is. The quickest way to start playing as your favorite hockey team; and you can choose from NHL, AHL, Elitserien, SM-Liiga, DEL, ELH, National League, International Teams, OHL, QMJHL, WHL, Prospects or the New Legends team. As usual, EA has not paid of the licensing of any International hockey team jersey; so do not expect to see Team Canada or Team Sweden’s jerseys as you will be disappointment.
Also available in this mode is Battle for the cup; allowing you to skip the “boring” season and jump straight to either the playoffs or the cup – and lets face it if your a Florida fan perhaps its best you do the latter option there as then you will at least get the chance to play for the cup. This mode also allows you to play for other cups besides Lord Stanley’s Mug namely the Calder Cup, The EA Cup and The Memorial Cup. So if you have always had some sadistic bastardized vision of Detroit and Toronto competing for the Calder Cup; then this will make your dreams come a little closer to reality. This mode can also be saved during so you can start a long series and return to it later if your not “man” enough to play all 7 games in one shot.
One other small note of interest in the menu on Play Now this year is that your last two team choices are saved for your session. So rather than seeing the menu revert back to the last two cup contenders it will now go back to whoever you last played as. Sadly this doesn’t save to the game and will revert back to the cup contenders next time you reload the game. The game play mechanics are discussed a little further on in this review.

Ultimate Hockey League is the next feature on the main menu and this is unchanged from previous years. Admittedly I have less experience in using it than many; however the premise of it for those who are completely unaware – you create your team and collect/earn players at random competing in the league online.

Next up, is the much hyped Winter Classic mode. This is obviously based on last seasons game and not the forthcoming; and therefore takes place at Heinz Field. A good question here for any game buff – did EA create the stadium from scratch or just pinch it from Madden 12?
Straight away you are offered the chance to play the Winter Classic as it was last season namely either as the Caps or the Pens. Choosing this takes you to the usual setup screen however you cannot change the jerseys (they are set to Winter Classic only) but you can adjust the difficulty and the starting lines.
If you feel more creative, or are the fan of a team who will never get the chance yet to get the chance to play in the Winter Classic, then you are in luck as EA will allow you to create this match up. In this mode you can choose any jersey so if your a fan of a team who is using that now unoriginal Winter Classic jersey template you can choose that and make it look a bit more relevant to your team. Sadly this mode only allows NHL teams to take part which is a shame as it would have been fun to play as an AHL team in this mode and I am almost certain it wouldn’t take EA long to code it in. Following this selection screen you are taken into the game which whilst the mechanics are the same as any other game you have the added bonus of snow, a rougher surface and some flashy visuals with… fireworks. Yay. Playing feels different to an indoor game and the crowd is significantly louder. All in all its a very nice addition to the game but I am not sure as to why its been so hyped.

Traditionalists look in horror as the evil Florida Panthers get their first ever taste of snow

EA Sports Hockey League follows this mode in the menu. Again I don’t play this mode and can’t comment on it – but as I don;t see much mention of it around I will assume its like the NHL11 version except with the new engine.

Be A Pro mode is again like last years offering. If you have ever ambitioned to play as yourself of another rookie in the NHL then this is the mode you will want. Very realistic as you can actually opt to sit on the bench and watch the game when your not on the ice. Its not too hard to work your way up so long as your good and play well in games; however if you just want to go straight to the NHL thankfully EA has included the option to allow you to jump straight in. What is new to this mode however is the added option of being a CHL pro; but besides the team options this is no different to the above mode.

Be a Legend is another new feature added, and in this mode you play very much like the Be a Pro mode; with targets to achieve and playing out a season. You start with only Jeremy Roenick as the option to choose; other legends such as Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman and (my personal favourite legend) Gordie Howe requiring you to unlock them. These can be unlocked by meeting your targets in game. No surprises in guessing who the hardest player to unlock is – I won’t give it away; but here is a hint – They don’t require 99 points to unlock.

Howe is in the house

The Game Modes section on the menu follows the Legend Mode, and features previous “flagship” features that used to fit on the main menu but have been slowly booted off. Be a GM mode needs no introduction, and is the best option for anyone wanting to just control the team and to play as the team all season versus a single player. Note: You can only play as the GM of an NHL team, so again lower tier teams get left in the dark.
Playoff Mode virtually mimics the race to the cup mode; however in this version you start at the very beginning of the playoffs up against 15 other teams. This mode allows you to choose other leagues; or to even customize the league. You can then choose to follow the rules previously or opt for a knock out elimination series. Besides this it is virtually the same as the Race to The Cup mode.
Season Mode is the same as be a GM without the added paperwork; and this version does allow you to play as other leagues.
Tournament Mode allows you to play the fictitious EA Sports World Tournament; complete with fictitious jerseys or the more realistic MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Create a Play mode and Practice Mode are what they say they are allowing you to create new plays out to implement int your other game modes; or to try out some new moves respectively. I expect the hardcore fans will appreciate these modes whilst many other gamers will possibly never even glance at them.
Finally, rounding of the main offline game modes, Shootout Mode is the usual “barrel of laughs” shootout mode where you will either struggle to remember what button does what as the goalie, or attempt to outsmart the cpu goalie.
Online gives you the usual options to take your game online and put your money where your mouth is and has the usual modes such as versus, ranked, shootout and league.
The rest of the options in the main menu relate to more functions such as Player Creation, Roster Management, EA Sports media hub allowing you to view videos and photos saved within game and of course to change the in game music – so if your some insane maniac bring back Ole Ole Ole ; Game Settings; EA Sports Profile Management and Game Credits and if you feel like it play the Interactive Tutorial.

Also on this menu is the hated Jersey Code Entry option, meaning once again you have to wait for EA to release the code and then allow the unlock of jerseys and assuming it is like previous years, this code will not save to the game and require re-entry every reboot.

So besides game modes, what else is new?
Hitting is one area that’s sort of new and improved – Changing to a real time physics engine has allowed the whole On Ice feel jump to a whole new level, with players moving more realistically and slamming people into the sides that much more satisfying. Also, goalie fights have been added. Very hard to actually get the two goalies to battle it out but it does happen if you persist and is pretty much as fun as the original fight mode. This isn’t of course the only new interaction for goalies; who you can now take more control of and actually use to hit players, or if your a player you can now hit the goalie. EA also finally decided to sort out the ever annoying functionality of the goalie continuously covering the puck. The cpu goalie will now debate passing to players on reception of the puck and comes across overall as a little more realistic and daring.

I might be down, but I am still going to attack you with my stick…

Also new to the game is Winnipeg. Replacing the Thrashers during the off season; understandably the jersey being kept such a close knit secret has been locked away in the game requiring the Jersey Unlock code. Until then Jets fans, you get to use the generic NHL jerseys – yay. If you’re a Jets fan and think that you will cope waiting, you may be more disappointment to learn that despite the game being in production at the time of the Jets announcement – there is NO mention of the team name in commentary, on the boards or even the center ice scoreboard. You will have to wait until NHL13 for that privilege Jets fans, but I guess after waiting so long for the return of your team one more year should feel like a walk in the park. As you can see in the screenshot below the NHL jersey looks as good on ice as it does off – read: crap. Of course you can choose to use the old jets jersey on ice if this NHL jersey doesn’t take your fancy but however do also note how Phoenix can also still wear this jersey – allowing you to play New Jets / Old Jets.
On the plus side, certain Ducks fans will feel pleased or angered to find that the Mighty Ducks jersey from the not so distant era has finally been included in the game.

Sorry Jets fans, not until late November

Other major changes are to the highlights system. One of the earliest features you will spot is that Player recaps have been added to the between play commentary videos – a nice touch to help make the game feel that bit more authentic. However the biggest change you will spot has been made to the end of period / post game highlights.  Working with the NHL, EA has recreated the Score Center on ice and highlight tracker. This allows for you to review all the action after the game the same way as you would online. A nice touch again that solidifies the offering once again.

However, no game is without its bugs and once again NHL12 has several. The cpu does like to make some strange errors and none better than what can be seen in the following video – where you will see the cpu turn on its own and shoot against their own goalie. Lucky that the shot was saved?

open source video, online video platform, video streaming, video solutions

In conclusion, ignoring the small bugs, the lack of any Jets recognition and the lack of exciting changes made to the Be a Pro mode, NHL12 really is a solid offering. Sure, at times the menu loading feels slow and the online server can take a while to connect to, even when on a high speed broadband connection but these problems can easily be put aside.
The core of the game, gameplay, being able to just pick up and play are superior in every way to previous versions and prove why 2K sports have simply given up with creating NHL games for the time being.

It gets harder every year to see how EA could improve this game and its safe to assume that this is a challenge the employees at EA Sports enjoy facing, and I am almost certain that it is something that can and will be done once again. Something I would love to see personally is the addition of the International game openers – Playing a game in the Globe would be awesome.

NHL12 is a feature packed, exciting and realistic hockey game unlike anything seen before and will keep any avid hockey fan busy well into the off season next year. For this reason I am pleased to hand out to this game our very first 10 out of 10 rating.

Final Verdict: Outstanding 10/10

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Hit The Ice – Retro Review (Video)

July 03, 2011   kevkev   No comments

Usually, with reviews on here you get a fairly long chunk of text where we talk about how it looks and why its good or bad. For a change however we have created the first video review for this website to demonstrate the game better.
In this review, I take a look at 1992 Hockey Game ‘Hit The Ice” on the Gameboy. Originally an arcade game, it was ported to console format by Taito. The arcade version was fairly popular and often mentioned as a hockey version of Midways “Arch Rivals” Game.

open source video, online video platform, video streaming, video solutions

Conclusion

Whilst the game delivers what it says on the box it feels a little “meh” and the idea of blue and red teams in b/w graphics does not make any sense. The 2 main game modes feel repetitive and the shootout like mode is confusing.

Rating: 3/10 – Bad.

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D3: The Mighty Ducks – Review

December 23, 2010   wildwing64   No comments

Christmas time has come around once again. While the Mighty Ducks films have very little to do with the holiday season, they always seem to be shown this time of year for some reason. So, just like last year, and the year before, I’ll be taking a look at the final part of this horrible trilogy that ruined the image of my favourite NHL team.

D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996, Walt Disney Pictures)

Surprisingly, this third movie doesn’t quite follow the same template as the other two. Sure, you’ve got the protagonists that have to beat the “bad guys” team to win a big game at the climax of the film, but aside from that cliché it’s different. Only slightly. This time however, you’re instead mainly treated to some generic teen wangst courtesy of this film’s lead character who, this time around, is not the coach. So yeah, the team has won a Peewee Championship, before making a huge jump to what was essentially the Olympics… so now what?

The film starts off in an unsurprising fashion as we get a series of flashbacks from the past two movies – clearly, this is a sign that it’s the last film in the series. During these flashbacks we hear some sort of press conference going on in the background, which then turns out to be the film’s titular protagonist hockey team being accepted into Eden Hall Academy: a prestigious high school in Minnesota that doesn’t actually exist (sorry kids!), as the new Junior Varsity team. Notably, the “token black guy” character from the first two films is missing altogether, and has met the same fate as half the cast from the original movie in that he’s been Brother Chucked. In his place is a character played by Kenan Thompson (of Kenan and Kel fame) who debuted in the second movie. That’s some pretty harsh writing – or lack thereof – from Disney there. Following this, we get a scene where the team’s coach in the prequels, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) tells one of the players, Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson) that he can no longer coach the team because of other duties. “You don’t understand!” Whines Charlie, before he walks off and leaves Gordon on his own. From here, we get plenty of wangst from Charlie, while Gordon makes only a couple of five minute appearances later on in the film. And this is despite the fact that Estevez gets top billing for this movie. Ooookaaay.

We’re then reintroduced to the rest of the team. Half of them, the newer cast introduced in D2, is walking into school discussing their new coach while the other half will soon skate into school in a big slapstick rollerblading scene down a busy street – which by the way kids, is NOT SAFE – in which we see Charlie Conway’s stunt double jump over a car, and the kids accidently ruin a school assembly by crashing into the back of the stage. During the aforementioned scenes, we find out that Dean Portman (Aaron Lohr), one of the two “Bash Brothers,” could not attend for some reason despite the fact that we see him being accepted into the school right at the beginning of the film. The bad guys team, made up entirely of the generic preppy jock stereotype, all played by the same actors who played the bad guy Hawks team from the first film, is also introduced (and it turns out that one of their players is pissed off at the Ducks because his brother couldn’t get into the school because of them, or something. Whatever), and we also see Conway wearing an old District 5 Ducks jersey from the first film with a captain’s C stuck on the front. Yes, and we’re supposed to believe that this captain’s C was always there, despite the fact that it didn’t exist in the first two films.

Then we get some high school scenes involving a Brazilian Fire Ant farm, classes with generic scary teachers, the generic bullying from the generic preppy jock bad guys team, and Conway meets his love interest who is petitioning to change the name of the school’s varsity teams from the “demeaning” Warriors. Charlie himself doesn’t think it’s a bad name, but she then walks away, telling him and his Warrior jocks to stick together (Don’t worry kids, they get together at the end of the film).

The team soon enough goes onto the rink for their first practise with their new coach – but not before some generic antagonism from the bad guys. They then meet their new coach: “My name is Coach Orion (Jeffrey Nordling). You can call me Coach, or Coach Orion.” He’s a lot stricter than Bombay is, wants the team to play “two way hockey”, and clearly does not get along with wangsty Charlie, mixes up the lines and takes Charlie’s captaincy away from him. Charlie moans about the coach to Hans (Joss Ackland), the old guy from the first film (for the record, the old guy’s brother from the second film no longer exists. He’s been Brother Chucked too). We then see more high school shenanigans, another practise session, and a scene with Charlie attempting to chat up the girl he met earlier. Turns out they have a lot in common, both like Pantera, and she’s never been to a hockey game. He also tells her that a pro team, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, was named after his team.

Oh, finally! The first hockey game of the movie! The Ducks are clad in a white version of the varsity team’s uniforms, gain a ludicrous 9 goal lead over the first two periods, and then somehow let in 9 in the third, ending it in a tie. The team is not happy at the end, coach is angry, etc… oh, and during this game wangsty Charlie gets a misconduct penalty for hitting and breaking his stick on the goal. The expression on his Mother’s face is priceless.

A bit later, we get more high school shenanigans which leads to the Ducks challenging the Varsity Warriors to an exhibition game. They get up as early as 5am to play this game, with no officials or anybody watching, and the game gets quite rough. It also turns out that one of the Ducks star players, Adam Banks (Vincent Larusso) got bumped up to this team. The game is later interrupted by Orion, who breaks it all up, shouts at the Warriors, sends them home and tells the Ducks to remove their jerseys. Charlie refuses, “You’re taking away the best thing we ever had,” he whinges (What? The NHL team’s white jersey? Nah, I always thought the eggplant one was better. But I digress). He’s the only one who starts tearing up about the team’s name, spouts some insults at the coach, who then says “Alright, goodbye Charlie,” so then Charlie leaves the rink. He’s joined by enforcer Fulton Reed (Elden Henson) for no apparent reason.

So after one last mentoring from Hans, the two skip school for a bit, messing around and doing stuff in town, before Charlie suggests they move up to Canada and play in the Junior leagues. Fulton says No, they shouldn’t be skipping school and that the team needs them. “I don’t need you, go!” Charlie then finds out from his Mother that Hans passed away. A funeral is held, for which the entire team is present (save for the players who were Brother Chucked), and Gordan Bombay also appears, laying a custom District 5 Ducks jersey on Hans’s coffin. We then get a scene in which Gordon reveals to Charlie that he graduated from Eden Hall, the reasons for his entrusting the team to Orion, and that Orion played for the North Stars, and staying when they relocated to Dallas to stay with his disabled daughter, who we see in a wheelchair with Orion on the rink. From this, Charlie learns that Orion isn’t such a bad guy after all, and is convinced to rejoin the team.

This and that happens, and the Ducks participate in the third and final game of the film, in their Anaheim replica white jerseys which have been returned to them. Or at least, what appears to be a dodgy knockoff version of it. Adam Banks has returned to their roster, and they play an official game against the varsity Warriors. During the game, Paul Kariya, back then the face of the NHL franchise, makes a cameo as he is questioned for his thoughts on the game by the commentator. Surely he should’ve been in the locker room providing words of wisdom instead? Oh well. Also, Dean Portman returns in time for the third period, and eventually the Ducks win in a very predictable fashion, scoring the game’s first and only goal in the dying seconds of the game. The school’s team name is officially changed to the Ducks, Charlie gets the girl, and Bombay leaves the rink with a smile on his face.

So, that’s the fairly average story of this movie right there. As ever, it’s predictable, the rules of hockey haven’t been well researched, it’s predictable, Charlie is the only character who gets any real development while the rest of the team is a bit flat character wise… and did I mention that it’s predictable? Just like the second film, this movie was only made to even further tie the NHL team and the film series together. An interesting way of marketing the NHL Ducks, just not a very good way at doing it at all. It’s a bit better than the second film, but not by much.

So as a whole, which of the films in this series would I consider the “best?” The first one, by far. Sure, it was a cookie-cutter sports movie, but it was by no means truly horrible, just quite predictable. The second was horrendous, and the third tried too hard with the drama approach. If you’ve seen the film series at all you may find that you belong to one of three groups: you either grew up with the films and just like them, or you’re a fan of the NHL Ducks who enjoys the film series like something of a guilty pleasure, or you’re a fan of the NHL Ducks who doesn’t like the film series because it causes embarrassment to you. I unfortunately belong to the latter group, so this one, like the second, is automatically being marked down.

Rating: 3/10 “Bad”

And that is it for the film trilogy. At some point in the future, I’ll share my thoughts on the Animated Series.

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