[bwiggy33]

First, I still cannot understand for the life of me why we cannot switch to the computer in BAGM to adjust their strategies and all of that. You can do it in FIFA so I just cannot understand why it's not possible in NHL. It would help solve AI strategy issues and I'll get into that in a moment. It's just so annoying how simple a thing it is but they don't want people to cheat or something. If someone wants to cheat in an offline mode, by all means allow them. It's not affecting anyone.

Second, I just played my first game. All Star on Full Sim. I started a random Devils BAGM to play the game because that's where the true gameplay comes out. I played the Oilers in the opener. I will not lie, I had a lot of fun. Yes, there are still some aggravating things but in general I think it plays as good a hockey game as we are going to get from EA at this point. For the first time in a long time it didn't feel like a ping pong match. I actually felt like I got pressured in the neutral zone or at least the offensive blue line so there weren't many times where I could skate one player in the zone and go in and shoot from the slot. That to me is a game changer.

For the strategies I mentioned above. It was really annoying because I am 100% confident the Oilers had their strategy slider for passing a tick or two higher then they should. The reason I know this is because they passed way too much. The zip line passing has always been there, but the Oilers were giving up 2 on 1's to pass back to a D man at the blue line. If I was able to adjust that pregame man oh man it would have been phenomenal. Sadly, it can't be done. There is just that breaking point with the strategy passing slider where a team passes too much and where they make great decisions to shoot or pass. The Oilers were just on that fine line.

I had 8 penalties myself in the first period because I was poke checking at stupid times. The Oilers had 2. It completely skewed the shots so those aren't even worth mentioning. I took a few penalties in the 2nd and none in the 3rd until the final minute of the game which bit me in the ***. Truthfully, there were too many penalties but I'll blame myself. It's a really good thing.

The Draisaitl-McDavid-Nugent-Hopkins PP unit was absurdly good. It felt like a bunch of talented guys dominating, which is exactly what it should be. This is by far the most fun I've had playing this game. I don't know what sliders need adjusting yet but I think when adjustments that need to be made are found, it could be a really good game. There's something about it that actually makes me want to keep playing and I haven't had that feeling since NHL 09 probably. Hopefully it stays that way. Obviously 1 game is not a good test because I could be rashly saying it's a good game. Sorry for the ramble but I just had to get a lot of thoughts out.