NHL 14 - Playstation 3

Just a brief review of my initial impression here. I've been playing EA's NHL sims since the franchise began. Though I haven't played every version released since then, I've had ample opportunity to experience the evolution of development of this series. This is the first NHL Hockey sim I've bought in several years, and I have to say I'm impressed in no small way. This looks and feels like the kind of hockey simulation game I imagined years ago. NHL 14 probably has more options than I'll have time to explore, but the on ice gameplay is what it's really all about, and what I've experienced so far has been pure joy. I've personally played hockey in real life, and this game is the closest, in my experience, that's delivered the range of elements that make it such a great game. The intuitive controls and the AI are a quantum leap from the games I played just a few years ago. I've always loved the customizable features of this series, and this version has all of that, and then some. Intimidation plays a role in real NHL hockey, but for gameplay purposes I prefer to avoid the slugfests and focus more on the essentials; skating, passing, shooting, sound strategy, etc., and this game not only allows one to adjust the gameplay to your own preferences, but delivers a realistic simulated experience that makes you feel like you're on the ice in a real NHL hockey game. In summation, I don't know how much more can be done to improve this game series beyond possibly going to VR holographic trideo in the future, but if you're looking for a fun, exciting NHL hockey simulation with loads of features that can be tailored to your personal gaming preferences, then look no further than this one, at least until next year's game is released. PS - I haven't tried multiplayer yet, but from the amount of work than went into the single-player features, I can only imagine it's even better than last year's version.

So far, I've played ~80 games (I had the early release) in EASHL with most being in club play, but a handful of OTP games as well. The good things I've seen so far are that hitting generally works, skating seems reasonably fluid once you have enough stats on your player, goalies aren't making saves they shouldn't and aren't letting in too many weak goals, the new EASHL seasons makes things a bit more exciting, stick lifting now seems to work well enough and not give constant penalties, and that the AI seems to be improving on the offensive side. On the other hand, it also has a few areas for improvement. AI on D during a rush is almost useless and gives up the toe drag wrist shots from the high slot as it has in the last 5 years or so. On top of that, these seem to be going in at an alarming rate for players who likely are well below having their legend card yet. Larger players seem to have a big balance boost, which makes it nearly impossible to knock down a player more than 4 inches taller than you. Poke checking seems inconsistent. Forcing passes through defenders works too often, and offense seems to be much more able to pick up loose pucks than on defense. It will be interesting to see how future tuners change this, as EA doesn't seem to have much of a rhyme or reason for many of the changes they end up making, so we could be looking at a much different reaction in 3 months or so. UPDATE 9/16- While at first fighting seemed like an improvement over the old system, after getting into a few dozen fights the majority of online players just seem to mash the punch button and manage to win more often than not. There doesn't seem to be much of a way around this either. Using R2 to dodge and counter is somewhat difficult to do, and if they manage to connect with a hit, you might as well just let them win. At least the old system gave you a ton more control as far as dodging went. More disappointing is that face-off spamming (continuously trying to win the draw before it is dropped, making your character twitch) still works in the game despite countless complaints and EA promising to fix it. As a top 50 center right now with 60% wins, I still manage to have games against these guys where I go 30% while they are clearly exploiting the system. Its been going on for a few years now, and should have been fixed long ago. Finally a more minor issue is that low speed skating that you would do defensively to get into position and face the puck is more difficult than it should be, and results in too many cases where I'm out of position because the game decided I wanted to do a big spin rather than just turn my hips.

NHL 14 is definitely worth it. The latest NHL game that I owned before purchasing this was NHL 11 and this is a big step forward from that. Fighting is better than ever. The skating is smoother and faster than previous versions. The hits are amazing and it feels great to line up a player and watch him fall to the ice. At first I found the face-offs to be surprisingly difficult to win after winning most of my face-offs in NHL 11, but after getting the hang of it I began to like the new face-off strategies. For those of you who find it hard to win face-offs, do not look at the manual when it comes to face-offs. You need to hold your grip by pushing the right stick to the right or left and then rotating the stick down once you see the referee begin to move his hand. Timing is everything. Compared to NHL 11 I found it easier to score in NHL 14, but also found that the AI would score more goals as well. Online Versus play would sometimes lag a bit, I'm assuming this is due to my opponent's internet connection not being good. Overall, NHL 14 is a great game and any hockey fan will definitely love this game. However, there are some software issues that should have been fixed before this game was ever released. Though, they do not impact the game play. Some of these issues are the fact that the music played when you are loading a game always cuts out for a second and a thin black horizontal line appears across the screen for a split second.This seems to appear at the the exact same time in the loading screen every time. Also, the custom music volume is very low. I do not know why EA has not fixed these simple software bugs yet.

Good but not great! Not much of an improvement from the prior year. Graphics are very good and it is hockey!

I was about to swear off NHL games for a while with the difficulties I had the past few years with the games. '12 and '13 had too many glitches for me to want to continue playing. Not any more! '14 seems much more smooth to play. The graphics are great, it's extremely realistic, and just so much fun to play! I play Live the Life and Online Team Play. The little tidbits they put into the Live the Life mode are interesting and fun. Only gripe I have is in the Live the Life mode, when it's your shift's turn, often the player coming off the ice comes off at inopportune times or gets stuck behind a net. This has led to 5 on 4 for 10 seconds while my player tries to get on the ice and into position, often ending up in a "minus" since they score and I'm on the ice. For any video game enthusiast and hockey fan, finally a must-buy.

Game is still a few states away, hasn't updated tracker in 2 weeks. The game is alright. EA is trash and unfortunately the best hockey game there is at the moment.

Good game, wish EA Servers had better connection... But this game is the best NHL since 09. The skating system is much better, the hitting is finally awesome again, and plays throughout the game influence the entire game (example: checking to intimidate). This game is a lot more friendly to players who use a bigger build (the older nhls, everyone was as small as could be because they could be really fast and had little consequence for doing so, but with new hitting engine, being fast means you might get killed on the ice.) It may be rough at first, but once you start upgrading your guy online (or buy boosts), it becomes a lot easier to compete with people who have had it since day 1. I have played some goalie online and like it, but like the other NHLs, playing goalie can be difficult and frustrating... But i still play this game, and while it does have its ups and downs, this NHL is like i said the best one ive played since 09, in my opinion nhl 10, 11, 12, 13 were terrible games. So im glad NHL14 did a decent job.

I was not even a hockey fan but I am now after buying this game. I was a diehard FIFA franchise fan and soccer player but after buying this game I am as equal a fanatic in Hockey. I have gained an immense appreciation for the sport from this product.So much in common with Soccer. As far as the game?, great graphics, great online play, great mechanics after you get used to using both analog sticks to be able to shoot correctly and accurately. One draw back is the menu interface, very clunky compared to FIFA and the soundtrack sucks but those are the only "flaws" I find in this beauty! Must buy for all FIFA fans!

Le jeu se lance mais ensuite plante et bloque complètement ma console !!! Envoyé sans la boite originale et rayé en plus !!! Totalement déçue et espère avoir une compensation !!!!!!

Muy bueno, gran mejora en muchos aspectos. Tanto a nivel jugable como grafico te sumerge en la emocion de los partidos de hockey.

観戦中心のユーザーですが、印象を書かせていただきます。 普段はアイスホッケーを見る機会がほとんどありませんが、 このゲームは、COM同士の試合を観戦するだけでも 十分楽しめます。 GRAPHICはかなり洗練されていて、 スピード感や迫力があり、展開も面白いです。 スティック片手にガンガン飛ばす選手はかっこいいです。 時々選手同士のファイトが始まり、これがまた面白い。 GAME MODEもここに書ききれないぐらい 充実していて、やり込み要素満載です。 （LIVE THE LIFE, GM, SEASON, ANNIVERSARY,etc） チュートリアルがあり、初心者でもすぐプレイできます。 COM同士の観戦がSEASON MODEしかないのが、 残念ですが、それでも十分楽しめます。 あとロスターファイルの共有ができれば良いのですが。。。 アイスホッケーは日本ではマイナーですが、 もし興味がある方なら、十分楽しめる作品だと思います。

Gioco assolutamente da avere nella propria collezione sportiva, riveduto e aggiornato con nuove modalità e soprattutto la grafica non è certo inferire a quella della playstation 4....se vi piace una nuova esperienza sportiva di uno degli sport americani più belli e seguiti...acquistatelo senza remore.

Hacia mucho tiempo que no jugaba a los NHL. Han cambiado mucho respecto a la última versión que jugué, debo decir que me ha encantado, ha sido todo un acierto comprar este juego. Lo recomiendo Saludos