Expectations, Scores, and the Sports Gaming Review

[RaychelSnr]

In light of the scores that NHL 15 received around the Internet, I started thinking about the concepts of review scoring and user expectation when it comes to sports games. To be sure, there have been a lot of vocal fans and consumers who are upset about what they feel happened with this year's version of NHL 15. You don’t have to throw a stone far to hit someone who is bothered by what they feel is an incomplete product that doesn't fit with the steady quality that NHL has enjoyed up until this point. I echoed a lot of these sentiments in my own review, where I described a "dissonance" in the way the game provided some enjoyment with its gameplay and presentation while at the same time disillusioning me with its missing features and paltry mode selection.

Read More - Expectations, Scores, and the Sports Gaming Review

[Hollywood88]

Great read. And you touched on something that I'm surprised the masses have not picked up on. My beef is two part. First is obvious. The missing modes, the secrecy, the lies that were uttered, all in the hope that the questions would go away and you would just buy the damn game. Worst, for people who don't follow the development of games. Those people were straight up burned. But that's was EA wanted. If they truly cared about the consumer they would have put the game out at a much lower price to justify the lack of modes.

Second part and this burns me more is the people who bought the game that knew it was watered down because they just had to have a hockey game. Those people are truly hurting the evolution of sports video games because they are telling EA through their purchase that they can get away with this kind of nonsense and the followers will just buy anything put out. Once you make that purchase ea wins and the sports gaming community loses. So buying it and then saying that the game is no good or boring or there's not much to do doesnt help the sports gaming market at all. You really think EA is listening. All ea cares about is reporting in their quarterly report to the stock holders that their game exceeded its sales projections. And if it doesn't and the stock price takes a dive, executives notice because it hurts then in their pockets. And thus people who make these horrible decisions get fired.

If you don't like NHL15, do your part and stand up to the corporation and don't buy the game. Don't buy it when it drops in price. If you have to have it buy it used.

[SVCbearcat10]

I think sports games should have 2 review scores. A score based within the context of the series since it is an annual release, and a score based upon sports games in general.

For example, Madden's scores can go high some years because of how it has improved over the previous version; however, it is way behind games like FIFA, 2K, or the Show. The rating is misleading because people can choose sports games over each other (skipping NHL 15 because FIFA 15 looks better). Yes, it may be the best Madden ever, but it's not best sports title out.

[Juevos]

Great Read. Well Written. Spot on.

[13whitebread]

I will give two points that I would like to make. POINT#1: This is the first game in the Next Gen series and with that being said I was willing to give them a free pass in terms of what I was expectining especially with so many changes this would be examples: New Commentary and Presentation. POINT #2 A pass could not be given here because they had 2 years to work on this game. In closing I think the biggest problem I had this year was EA's lack of info that they shared with the consumers. If Season mode is back in next year I am coming back but just cannot do it this year unfortunately.

[snc237]

Nicely said. A lot of us I think 5 is the end of the world cause on other sites anything below 7 is a bad game. There is very little difference between a score of 5 and a 2 when you visit gaming sites. The way you explain it here is great and I wish more things were reviewed like so.

[saintjimbo1885]

Nice read but I would like to see scores/ratings given to all the various categories eg. gameplay, online, offline, customization etc. and then maybe provide an overall score based on these.

This way a game like NHL could be scored highly for gameplay but low for everything else.

[BCDX97]

Gamers are complaining more now than ever, and reviewers are starting to get in on the act.

NHL 15 has the best graphics and gameplay I've ever seen in a hockey game, but a lot of folks would rather just moan and groan, such fun.

[HarrySTruman]

In theory, I'm all in favor of using the "whole range" of a grading curve. But in reality, American grading systems run from 50 to 100, or even 70 to 100. In American schools, a 55 is not "average"; it's an F. So when I see you give NHL 15 a 55, my impression is that you've given it an F. Maybe I'll take the time to read your grading rubric to discover that you think a 55 is a C or a B- or something; but maybe I won't. If you think it's "average," why don't you use letter grades and give it a C, or a C-plus, or whatever letter grade you think reflects "average"?

[bxphenom7]

Great read. And you touched on something that I'm surprised the masses have not picked up on. My beef is two part. First is obvious. The missing modes, the secrecy, the lies that were uttered, all in the hope that the questions would go away and you would just buy the damn game. Worst, for people who don't follow the development of games. Those people were straight up burned. But that's was EA wanted. If they truly cared about the consumer they would have put the game out at a much lower price to justify the lack of modes.

Second part and this burns me more is the people who bought the game that knew it was watered down because they just had to have a hockey game. Those people are truly hurting the evolution of sports video games because they are telling EA through their purchase that they can get away with this kind of nonsense and the followers will just buy anything put out. Once you make that purchase ea wins and the sports gaming community loses. So buying it and then saying that the game is no good or boring or there's not much to do doesnt help the sports gaming market at all. You really think EA is listening. All ea cares about is reporting in their quarterly report to the stock holders that their game exceeded its sales projections. And if it doesn't and the stock price takes a dive, executives notice because it hurts then in their pockets. And thus people who make these horrible decisions get fired.

If you don't like NHL15, do your part and stand up to the corporation and don't buy the game. Don't buy it when it drops in price. If you have to have it buy it used.

This is pretty much my take on EA for all of its games. Then again, I always wait for reviews first so I don't have this problem. Even though NHL 15's gameplay was perceived as quite good, and yes, GAMEPLAY IS KING, doesn't mean it didn't deserve the score it got with all the missing modes. This is why you read reviews, because you would know the gameplay isn't the problem. In a weird way, I'm not disappointed in people who bought NHL 15 because the gameplay is actually fine. Usually people buy games where the modes are present and the gameplay is bad/average just because they "need" a game for their desired sport, something I like to call the Madden problem. Of course, NHL 15 as a whole package is lacking, especially since its 2014 lmao However, I wouldn't fault a hockey fan for getting the game at a REDUCED PRICE, but even as a hockey fan, you're wasting your money getting it full price.

[actionhank]

Gamers are complaining more now than ever, and reviewers are starting to get in on the act.

NHL 15 has the best graphics and gameplay I've ever seen in a hockey game, but a lot of folks would rather just moan and groan, such fun.

People are moaning and groaning because the gameplay is largely the same as it has been for the past few years, with the same bad AI that they've seen. Every single video i've seen has defensive and offensive AI that doesn't look much changed from NHL12 to 14. Their Next-Gen release was delayed by an extra year, and yet outside of the graphics (that are miles beyond what the old systems offered) and commentary (from what i've heard, there seems to be a lot of dead space, though a chance is welcomed) the gameplay doesn't look much different, and there's actually fewer game modes than before. People just get bothered when we get a whole video devoted to the new way fans pose for selfies and wear silly costumes, and seemingly no time devoted to getting your AI team mates to actually skate in with you on a 3 on 1 break instead of stopping at the blue line.

If you're enjoying it, great. But don't act like the increased complaints are from people just "complaining more" like they do it for fun, and instead realize it's because there are more people being frustrated than i've ever seen around here previously when it comes to an EA NHL release.

[druez]

I don't post often. But, this deserves a comment. Thank you OS, for being honest. Yes, hockey gameplay is a nice upgrade, yes the graphics look great. But, EA really tried to pull a fast one on us all. My buddies and I play in the EASHL. We all moved to Next Gen last year on release. We've played FIFA on Next Gen in the soccer version of EASHL. Anyway, we were all about to pull the trigger and waited all year for the Next Gen version of NHL 15. Luckily, I have the EA Access thing and noticed the game modes weren't in there, including the live the life mode. We all stopped our preorders and didn't pick up the game. (6 copies in total).

Its just not ok, not to include modes on an upgrade like this anymore. They even took 2 years to put out a next gen version. Sorry EA, but this was lame. There is no excuse for them to leave the modes out.

[half-fast]

Re: Expectations, Scores, and the Sports Gaming Review

Great read. And you touched on something that I'm surprised the masses have not picked up on. My beef is two part. First is obvious. The missing modes, the secrecy, the lies that were uttered, all in the hope that the questions would go away and you would just buy the damn game. Worst, for people who don't follow the development of games. Those people were straight up burned. But that's was EA wanted. If they truly cared about the consumer they would have put the game out at a much lower price to justify the lack of modes.

Second part and this burns me more is the people who bought the game that knew it was watered down because they just had to have a hockey game. Those people are truly hurting the evolution of sports video games because they are telling EA through their purchase that they can get away with this kind of nonsense and the followers will just buy anything put out. Once you make that purchase ea wins and the sports gaming community loses. So buying it and then saying that the game is no good or boring or there's not much to do doesnt help the sports gaming market at all. You really think EA is listening. All ea cares about is reporting in their quarterly report to the stock holders that their game exceeded its sales projections. And if it doesn't and the stock price takes a dive, executives notice because it hurts then in their pockets. And thus people who make these horrible decisions get fired.

If you don't like NHL15, do your part and stand up to the corporation and don't buy the game. Don't buy it when it drops in price. If you have to have it buy it used.

Great post. I totally agree, and even though it was hard in some respects, I didnt purchase the game. I felt it represented almost everything wrong with EA, market cornering and game development in general.

[half-fast]

Re: Expectations, Scores, and the Sports Gaming Review

People are moaning and groaning because the gameplay is largely the same as it has been for the past few years, with the same bad AI that they've seen. Every single video i've seen has defensive and offensive AI that doesn't look much changed from NHL12 to 14. Their Next-Gen release was delayed by an extra year, and yet outside of the graphics (that are miles beyond what the old systems offered) and commentary (from what i've heard, there seems to be a lot of dead space, though a chance is welcomed) the gameplay doesn't look much different, and there's actually fewer game modes than before. People just get bothered when we get a whole video devoted to the new way fans pose for selfies and wear silly costumes, and seemingly no time devoted to getting your AI team mates to actually skate in with you on a 3 on 1 break instead of stopping at the blue line.

If you're enjoying it, great. But don't act like the increased complaints are from people just "complaining more" like they do it for fun, and instead realize it's because there are more people being frustrated than i've ever seen around here previously when it comes to an EA NHL release.

Great points, and to add, casual gamers of a single title, or people that simply dont care for, or notice the intricacies of a game often have a negative opinion of those of us who play the game often and who do notice these details. We are generally people who are sick of the empty-headed AI year after year, and general lack of new features that would add legitimate breadth to help make the title what indeed it is trying to be ... a simulation.

[Hollywood88]

Grallis,

Not getting the game is hard for me too this year because I love hockey. But not buying it is the right thing. And even though I miss it there is plenty of other next gen options. Like I said. If I need to mess with it I will get it used. Ea will not get a direct purchase from me.