Joseph Banash

Depends on what you're looking for really. If you want a frustrating night of yelling at the TV because the CPU-controlled players are absolute garbage? Then 6 stars out of 5. If you actually want to play a game of hockey with actual working plays, then negative stars if possible. Here's my list of things I hate about the game: 1. Terrible matchmaking. If you're looking for even match-ups, you're in the wrong place. I'm not entirely sure why EA decided to have a division system if you frequently play with others way outside of your own league. If you have an average team (by this I mean 89-90 overall) good luck. 9/10 times you will be paired with a 99 overall team who is in Division 3 or higher, 2. Terrible CPU. The plays and positioning you're teammates will perform will surely leave your head-scratching. Defence? Forget about it. Support on the forecheck? No such thing. You'll often find that if the play continues in front of your net, your defence will simply get bored and decide to skate elsewhere leaving it completely open. 3. Terrible passing. So EA introduced a new system towards their passing where it strictly follows where you aim with the joystick. While in principle, this seems alright, it's very flawed in practice. Often the game will decide for you where it's going to pass the puck. If you think you have a lot to juggle with passing already, good luck because it is also now possible to pass the puck too hard. If you pass the puck too hard, the player will often fumble the puck. 4. Poke Checking is wayyyy too overpowered. There is nothing more frustrating than playing against someone who constantly mashes the right bumper (poke check). I don't blame them though. It is probably the most effective way to get the puck because you literally can't defend against it. You can poke check from any direction relative to the puck carrier and they will surely lose the puck. 5. Penalties. If you thought real-life officiating was bad, wait until you try this game. You can no longer body-check people against the boards. You will most likely get a charging. The rate of interference penalties has also gone through the roof. If you skate to body check the puck carrier and another player skates through your lane and you make contact, interference. 6. Offside. Tying back into point 2, your CPU players love going offside. Picture this. You finally break out of your zone. You make a 3 on 1 rush down the ice. And then one of your players forgets what offside is and crosses the blue line. Or picture the puck exits the zone and you regain possession. I hope you have good stick skills because you'll have to kill some time while your players take literally 20 seconds to exit the zone. There are many more complaints but that's all that is coming to mind right now. Overall, it's a terrible game that is making me question buying any future remakes. It's obvious that the game designers at EA have never played a game of hockey. The rules broken during playmaking are the same rules you learn in first-year hockey.