[RLaguna]

I agree mostly with the above poster and what to further add what I think are the major problems with this game...( and series lately)

For one, The teams do play too much like carbon copies of each other, even despite the fact that their Team Strategy sections do indeed show different settings from team to team....its just not distinct enough on the ice to really notice the different team styles of play like you actually see in the real NHL.

Another problem that could be related to the above problem, is the lack of real seperation of player skills....Im not just talking about distinctions between good and bad players, Im talking more about all the subtle attributes that make up a player's unique profile and play style. In the real NHL, you can instanly see all the nuances of each player's skill sets if you watch them. The NHL 2k series did a wonderful job of creating all these subtle player ratings and attributes and I think the EA series has to do a better job of creating seperation in these subtle player traits on the ice to create a much more dynamic experience

A 3rd problem which can also be related to the above 2 issues creating sterile and very dejavu and repetive game to game experiences that get dull is the fact that the game's core AI engine needs to be greatly expanded to be more human like and less predictable in certain situations....There has to be more of a variety in decision making, mistakes, mental errors, and just all around deaper ai analysis rather than just having the game's AI trigger events when certain circumstances are true....its too predictable and routine and appears very shallow.


4th problem, is the game needs to do a much better job of animating a much greater range of player movements and motions to capture all the essence of NHL players with much improved physics engine playing a larger, more realistic role in the interactions of the player, and puck. Checking should be more fierce and animated with greater variety...not more Explosive and fake, but just more natural and realistic looking with a greater range of banging up into the boards and scrumming for loose pucks....There is simply too much cleanly executed tick- tack- toe hockey. There should be a much greater sense of struggle and physicality to get off a clean shot...Needs to just be a better mix (ratio) of sloppy and grinding fight for possession of the puck hockey versus all out end to end hockey

And Finally, I really think the Franchise Mode is pathetic and has been the most under inspiring Franchise mode of any sports game for the last several years now! There is no sense of playing with other NHL teams in your league. You feel so alone. There should be a main News Section that encapsulates all the News and Stories from around the League.

You should be able to dig deeper into stats and boxscores around the league by clicking on them to open up more detailed information. You should be able to click on teams in the standings to see a deeper level of team detail and scheduling and scores, stats, etc from each team

And you should be able to click on a DAILY Schedule of ALL TEAM GAMES and be able to PLAY or SIM ANY GAME on the schedule if you like. This allows you the flexibility and freedom to play key games between 2 teams that you may want to play out rather than your own teams game. And it would also allow you to play out the post season playoff games as well if you wanted to. Franchise Mode needs much more in terms of factoids, on screen stats, presentation and just all around freedom and customization options available to the user to custom taylor more of a sandbox Franchise League of their choice...the way they want to play it.