Reviewed: December 9, 2006
Reviewed by: David Hillyer

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
EA Canada

Released: November 1, 2006
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone

8
9
9
8
8.5

Supported Features

But everything changed during the 2005 strike. I just haven’t been able to watch a game since then. I don’t know if I got angry at the NHL or just found other things to do with my time and money. A friend even gave me a DVD of the NHL finals last year and I have yet to watch it. I’ve been to a few minor league games this year, but the NHL (or its players, depending on your point of view) really spoiled it for me.

So I finally got a 360 and the first games on my review pile are hockey games including NHL 07! Do videogames have the power to bring me back to the rink?

On the other hand, the menus are painful. EA chose to get fancy and have angled menus, which look really interesting at first, but in practice it’s difficult to read. Thankfully they included the option to make the menus flat, which helps considerably. The text is still a bit small so hopefully you have a big screen HDTV to play this game.

All the current NHL teams are available for play, including 4 All-Star teams broken down into East/West or North America/World teams. Also included are 21 International teams, which add some fun (and slightly different rules) to the mix. Unfortunately there are no classic teams, which really takes some of the fun from the experience.

Player controls have been overhauled for EA’s hockey debut on the 360. They added an innovative new control scheme. Basically the left thumbstick controls your skates and the right controls your stick. It takes a few games to really get the hang of it, but after that, I was wondering why nobody thought of this scheme before. The only drawback is on occasion you will mistakenly shoot the puck when you intended to do something else. The scheme also doesn’t include a speed burst (which is usually the right trigger in other games). If you have an adverse reaction to change, you can always use the classic settings.

Another annoyance comes in the form of signature moves. Once you learn the control scheme you can quickly learn how to do fancy moves with the right thumbstick. Unfortunately when the AI on the opposing team starts doing these moves, you can’t do anything to stop them. It’s almost a guaranteed score. It’s frustrating to say the least.

The biggest blunder of the new control system is a bug. When going into a face-off, if you repeatedly press the B button your player will freeze. You can switch to other players, but your face-off person will stay stuck there while play goes on around him. The only way to reset the player is to get an offside or some other stoppage in play. This really distracts from an otherwise good game. I’ll just assume all these little annoyances will be fixed in the next version.

Game modes are presented in 4 options: a quick game, dynasty mode, EA world tournament, and Dodge shootout. There is no practice mode or any form of drill aside from the quick games.

Dynasty mode is very basic, but still very fun. You can choose to just management the team or you can also play the games. It is limited to 10 seasons, but that’s plenty of time to get your team to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The EA World Tournament is similar to the Olympics or World Cup of Hockey (aka Canada Cup). You set the rules and basically get to play with international all-star teams. It can be fun, but again, there are no classic teams. It would have been nice to play with the 1987 Canada Cup teams or various Olympic teams.

The Dodge Shootout puts you in the high pressure 1 on 1 shootout. It’s pretty easy to win – especially using the new control system, but it’s still fun and provides a bit of practice with the skill stick.

Occasionally you will get into “the odd tussle” as Don Cherry says. 2K7 and EA don’t do much for this side of hockey, probably at the insistence of the NHL. Basically you can choose to get into a fight and it’s time to yawn. In 2K7 you actually do some button mashing to control the players, but EA just has the guys do a little dance with a rare punch thrown. But nothing seems to factor into who wins aside from who hits the best combo of buttons at the right time. Hopefully Midway will bring back NHL Hitz to satisfy my needs.

XBOX Live brings another basic set of options. You can choose quick or custom games. It was fun playing against an unpredictable opponent, but when I could get a game I frequently ran into lag problems. Some games are playable even with slight lag issues, but a fast game like hockey isn’t one of them.

An XBOX Live connection also allows you to update the rosters in the game. At time of review there had only been one update and that was as of October 21, 2006. It’s great to have updates, but keep it maintained. 2K7 has had 3 updates to EA’s 1 in the same timeframe. I guess that’s further evidence for which publisher really supports hockey.

NHL 07 has 26 achievements worth 1000 points. Most of the achievements are fairly easy and you should be able to complete most of them with 6 hours of play. The more difficult ones are in the higher skill levels such as getting a shutout in superstar mode or one player scoring 5 goals in superstar mode (50 points each).

Everything from the stitching in the numbers on players’ jerseys to the animated stadium light screens is here. Even the fans are something to see. Stadiums from all NHL teams and a few generic stadiums are amazing in detail.

EA has a handful of available playing views, but the higher up you go, the more problems you get. In any of the overhead views there is a problem with face-offs in the upper end of the ice. The face-off takes place near the top of the screen and when the puck moves toward the boards off-screen, the camera doesn’t move with it. So basically you have to guess where the puck is and throw one of your guys off-screen to check someone in hopes of digging the puck out. It really puts you at a brief disadvantage.

The ESPN sports ticker keeps improving with each new game EA releases. This time you can pick which sports you want to have on your sports ticker. Options include everything from NFL, MLB, NCAA, Golf and NASCAR to various soccer leagues throughout the world.

The crowd and other stadium noise really add to the tension. Crowds have specific chants for teams and even cheer certain players like Curtis “Cujo” Joseph. It’s really awesome in surround sound during a big home game. The crowd just goes nuts.

If you win the EA World Tournament there is a medal ceremony in which the winning teams’ national anthem is played. This is a classy touch and adds a little reward for winning.

Custom options are pretty basic with EA. On 2K7’s hockey game you can pick which song is played in specific arenas when specific events happen. Not so with EA’s NHL 07. They just have the usual custom soundtrack option.

I’m a nut for historical teams. I’m also big on the gameplay feeling like the real thing. 2K7 has it, EA NHL 07 does not. 2K7 has tons of customization options while EA is very basic. The big difference is in graphics and presentation. If all you want is a basic hockey game that looks nice, EA is it. But if you are (or used to be) a hockey fan, 2K7 is the better choice. It just has a lot more to offer than EA, and that is what will keep me coming back.

The bigger question is: will I be playing this a month from now? Probably not. It’s great to show off the 360’s capabilities, but gameplay is more important, and 2K7 has the edge there.

If EA ever decides to offer classic teams in their hockey game, 2K7 might be dethroned as my hockey game of choice. The combination of great graphics and ESPN sound is as good as it gets. But I want to play with the legendary teams and players; not the walking wounded that is the current NHL.

Maybe it’s time for me to dig out my hockey cards and watch a few classic games on DVD. I might give the NHL another chance. If I could only find them on TV or afford a Blackhawks ticket…