Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

[mcavner]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Letting me edit players in franchise modes. Seriously. Open up your games designers. I can fix all your ratings and progression problems - without having to restart my franchise all the time - if you just let me fix it for you.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Besides gameplay issues what is holding back the NHL series?

Being a regular FIFA and NHL player and accepting the legitimate business reasons as to the budgets and staffing on both teams I think there are two legitimate issues (and other smaller items) with NHL beyond gameplay:

First: The backbone engine is old. I think they've done what they can with it but at the end of the day the engine limits what they can do in any meaningful way. My sincere hope is that now that the EA Sports teams have had 2+ years with Frostbite and have integrated it into FIFA and Madden, that the expertise gained will allow them to seamlessly incorporate it into NHL. Perhaps with that upgrade the gameplay will see an improvement as the players are capable of even more on an individual level.

Second: Load times. It is mindboggling how long these loads are. Considering how manageable FIFA and Madden are, you'd figure some of those optimization techniques would make their way down to NHL but it is just as bad this year.


Beyond that there are minor things that can be tweaked here and there in all modes. While I enjoy the story modes in FIFA/MADDEN etc, I don't think it's necessary per se in hockey until they can get the game humming along in Frostbite. With the licenses they have there are multi year stories that could be told that could potentially breath some new energy into the game, but they are secondary to getting the main product right.