Expectations, Scores, and the Sports Gaming Review
 

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

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.

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.

Great Read. Well Written. Spot on.

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.

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.

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.

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.