I was just curious if anyone has purchased and played
Hockey Universe 2016? It can be found here:
Hockey Universe - Your Icehockey Manager
(There's a demo available.)
I've already purchased it and think it's great... but was curious what others here think about it (I respect the opinions of members of this forum quite a bit). The interface kind of makes it look like a simple game... but I've found that it's one of those games that is "easy to learn, but hard to master." There is an amazing amount of stuff going on under the hood in this game... many, many decisions that can effect player and team performance in a positive or negative way. What is your philosophy as to pairing up players to room together on road trips? That is just one example of a decision that can affect a player's attitude and, in turn, affect his performance on the ice and potentially even his willingness to want to negotiate with you in the future. I hesitated to just give one example, because there are SO MANY more... yet it never seems like there's too much micromanaging... It's just fun. You can also try to influence a player's attitude by talking to them one on one. The games themselves are semi-quick played, but yield very realistic results... and there is an element of drama in the 3rd period of close games. A lot of customization available too. There's just too much to keep going on here! Give the demo a try. And like I said, it's not terribly impressive looking at first... so give it a chance.
Almost forgot to mention: There's a self-installing mod set available in the forum that gives you real-life logos and player pics and game sound... and updated rosters!
Highly recommended!