NHL 15

Everything looks great, plays well and feels like the NHL hockey I love. Even the tricky teammate AI can be addressed via settings tweaks. Where NHL 15 disappoints, however, is in the trimmed features and modes.

I wish NHL 15 offered a more straightforward season mode, though the options to run your own team or play as a specific pro will give every fan what they’re looking for. Whether or not the horn sounds on home ice, every goal will give the fan in you the same satisfaction as if the game were live right in front of you.

NHL 2015 truly has glimpses of being a fantastic sports title on its own merit, given the improvements in the gameplay mechanics, visuals, physics and even sound. That being said, we have been spoiled to a degree by some outstanding previous versions with all the features and now I find that the series has lost a bit of its lustre given what they cut out to get this one out the door. The omission of key modes really hurts the end product, and in a way it feels like we stepping back somewhat.

EA was so focused on making the gameplay a superlative experience that the company forgot to include a lot of the things that make the series so special. If you’re buying your next-gen console just to play NHL, maybe wait a year. If you already have the console, well, hockey’s hockey, right?

There’s a lot about NHL 15 to be happy about, especially when it comes to actual game time. However, NHL 15 is not a finished product and as such this review score reflects that.

It's unfair to call this game a beta, but with so many modes missing, even though some will be patched in, it doesn't feel like a completed product. The hardcore NHL fans will pick this up, but casual players may want to wait it out and see if EA can patch in some of the features that this game desperately needs.

The new physics system, presentation elements, and graphics are definitely a step forward for the franchise, but the wholesale removal or scaling back of so many modes leaves you wondering how such a great series could struggle so mightily with the console transition.

A backwards step. [Dec 2014, p.81]

Moment-to-moment gameplay is great, making it such a shame that the elements connecting matches is so underwhelming. [Issue#117, p.82]

A jarringly inconsistent first poke at next-gen hockey. Makes bold leaps forward in terms of game day presentation, physics and AI, but large swathes of it seem unfinished. [Dec 2014, p.82]

In the end, NHL 15 feels like the skeleton of a better hockey game.

It's all such a shame because at its heart NHL 15 is a very solid hockey game. It just doesn't do any of the non-hockey stuff right. Honestly, newcomers to the franchise might not even notice. But, series veterans would feel incredibly cheated.

As soon as you're on the ice, this is an entertaining enough Hockey game. But if you're looking for anything in the way of variety in terms of game modes, this is a difficult game to recommend. It plays well, but in this form it doesn't do enough to justify full-price.

From the execution of hockey matches point of view NHL 15 presents a solid ground for the years to come. However, the Ignite engine is not showing itself to the full, therefore NHL 15 looks like a half-baked release. A lack of game modes, lots of technical issues and trimmed gameplay possibilities are here to remind us how much we have been spoiled by the previous instalments, and how much we miss such care.

Compared to previous efforts, NHL 15 falls incredibly short on new-gen platforms.

Taken on its own merits, NHL 15 feels incomplete. In light of the NHL franchise's stellar history, NHL 15 is a colossal disappointment, and a major misstep for the series' first outing on a new generation of consoles.

Don't let the allure of authentic arenas and improved NBC-branded commentary fool you - NHL 15 is a colossal disappointment. Missing modes like the six-on-six EASHL, GM Connected, and Live the Life, NHL 15 starts the game down a man. When you add the fact that existing modes like Be a Pro and Be A GM have been fundamentally stripped of essential features, it's downright insulting to hockey fans everywhere.

NHL 15 plays a great – if somewhat atmosphere-free – game of hockey, but the sheer amount of modes missing from the package as a whole mean that unless you become obsessed with Ultimate Team or enjoy playing severely limited career modes, there’s very little to actually do.

The new engine looks great but while the foundation was successfully rebuilt, many core features are missing. [Issue#246]

With NHL 15, EA Canada has taken its secret weapon and buried it under a thick sheet of beautiful, glistening ice...Though there's some enjoyment to be had on the ice, NHL 15 feels like the first major misstep the series has made in years.