NHL 15 is supposed to be a sequel to last year’s entry in EA’s long-running hockey series, but it takes some serious steps backward. Dedicated fans aren’t happy.
People have gained access to the game of graceful ice dancing (and also HITTING EVERYTHING) via EA’s new, er, EA Access program, which lets people try full games slightly ahead of release. According to Operation Sports (among many others), the following features from previous instalments of the series are stuck on the bench this season:
Modes/Features
- No GM Connected
- No Online Team Play (when this is patched into the game later this year, it will use real NHL players and teams)
- No EA Sports Hockey League
- No EA Sports Arena
- No Online Shootouts
- No Live the Life
- No Be A Legend
- No Winter Classic
- No tournaments or Battle for the Cup
- No season mode (you can only play seasons in Be A GM, which is limited to NHL teams)
- No NHL 94 Anniversary mode
- No custom music support
- No create-a-play designer
- Cannot customise each team’s AI
- No create-a-team
- No way to edit individual players
- Practice mode is now limited to one skater vs. an AI goalie
Gameplay
- No custom camera option
- No Action Tracker replay highlights
- No Top 3 Stars at the end of games.
Be A GM
- Yearly draft is fully automated by the CPU
- Cannot play the AHL games for your chosen franchise
- Players sent down to the minors do not accumulate any season stats
- No fantasy draft option
- No preseason games
Be A Pro
- No option to sim ahead to the next shift
- You only play in the NHL; you cannot play for minor league teams
- The Memorial Cup tryout period is gone. You now begin by picking an NHL team, or by letting a random CPU team draft you.
- No All-Star game
Ultimate Team
- Cannot play against your friends
- No tournaments
- No mobile app
So yeah. There’s kind of a lot missing.
It’s important to note that NHL 15 was primarily made with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in mind, whereas NHL 14 was an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game first and foremost. The new consoles allow for all sorts of snazzy new physics tricks and Dynamic Cloth “Spanielization” (or something), but the foundation built on those older platforms appears to have been lost.
Longtime fans are pissed, despite the fact that the trade-off is — in some ways — understandable and the new physics/engine upgrades are apparently pretty cool. Though EA never explicitly promised any of these features, it’s kinda hard to justify buying a skin-and-bones sequel in an annual series when previous entries threw in everything except zamboni-mounted kitchen sinks.
On the upside, producer Sean Ramjagsingh has promised on Twitter that some features will be coming in future content updates. Basic things like online team play and a new draft in Be a GM mode are a lock, though EA has yet to set any release dates in stone.
EA’s being significantly less communicative on its own forums, where many threads raising concerns about these issues are being locked down rather than addressed.
The long and short of it? NHL 15 on Xbox One/PS4 might not be quite as complete as you were hoping when it speeds into the rink next week. Buyer beware. If features you really care about are out for now, you might want to consider waiting for a price drop or a (hopefully free) update that includes them.
I’ve reached out to EA for comment on the whole issue. As soon as I hear back, I’ll update this post.
Comments
7 responses to “EA’s New Hockey Game Missing Crucial Features, Fans Upset”
Ah, the sound of incoming rants from game reviewers about ea’s practices
There really isn’t an excuse for the lack of these features. God forbid EA actually release a proper, complete game with all previous established features available. So sick of it, EA need to get a grip; just chuck another 6 months on the dev cycle for christsakes, why should the consumer be forced to have bloody superficial shit instead of a crap tonne of features that are expected of it. This has become increasingly common in a lot of EA’s franchises and I am over it.
Because they’re dumb enough to buy it.
Also, dumb enough to think they’re ‘forced’ to buy it.
God I can’t believe people would buy it. They really are the biggest part of the problem.
Not including some of these features is just downright pathetic. NHL 15 is the ‘sims 4’ of the ea sports range. Guess I’ll be sticking with NHL 14
Wow! Seems like the team making the cancelled Generals game is now making a mess with Hockey titles too. I’m guessing the plan for NHL 15 was:
1. Gut the game of it’s enjoyable characteristics
2. Vow to add them at a later date
3. Announce the return of some of these features later on and pretend to be heroes for a while.
4. Sell the remaining features back to the consumer as DLC.
( Followed by “5: Something.” and “6. Profit.” for good measure)
At this stage, this iteration is going to find it hard, nay, impossible to complete with other hockey games already on the market. Like the 17 year old NHL 98, or even the 13 year old NHL 2001– both clearly superior titles in comparison with the mess that’s calling itself ‘NHL 15’.
Ah, like the New Coke debacle. Only, EA does this with almost all their games
EA access, an early access into how you’ll be disappointed in the next EA game. Then a 10% discount on the money you’ll pay to get some of the functionality back.
Madden 15 is also lacking in many features like online co-op franchise. Super disappointed.