By: Jake Boeding
After a lack luster year for NHL 11, EA sports Canada hopes to correct their mistakes with NHL 12 and take home the Stanley Cup. With new graphical improvements and game play mechanics, NHL 12 comes close, but with a few mistakes here and there, it falls short in the conference finals.
After starting the game, it drops you straight into the Winter Classic’s first face off between hockey greats, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. This really is very nicely done by EA and truly felt like a fun experience and was worth the super long load times. The Winter Classic is just one of many examples of the top notch presentation this game has. The menus are impressively done and make it easy enough to navigate the large content that NHL 12 provides. But presentation doesn’t stop there. After starting a quick game it is very cool to see all the traditions the home team does before the game. It brought a smile to my face to see my San Jose team skate out of the giant shark head before taking the ice, and on the ice is where this game shines.
The huge key change in game play of NHL 12 is the overhaul of the Goalie, which cause great successes, but also major problems. The goalie is now just like every player on the ice. They can get knocked down, confused by juke moves and screens, and yes, even get into fights. All these additions are welcome and are just plain awesome. But, these new additions are sometimes hid behind the difficulty setting. For the easier levels difficulty, the goalie shouldn’t even be in the net, it’s that easy to score. But, once you get into the harder levels, the goalie becomes an unstoppable wall that you can almost never get through. This can give people frustrating times, which is never good for a game.
Besides the downside of the goalies’ difficulty setting, every other game play element is phenomenal and truly makes it a fun game to just pick up and play. The players’ maneuverability feels natural and puck control is simple. Passes are a button press and shots are just a flick of the analog stick which makes it easy for someone new to the series to play. All of the great games play shows through all of the modes that NHL 12 has to offer. There is playoff mode, season mode, the winter classic, be a pro mode, and much more. All these options give NHL 12 a ton of replay ability and will sure keep you coming back for more.
All in all, NHL 12 is a very good game, but falls short from being a great game and earns four out of five logs. The presentation and game play mechanics are the core focus of the game and most of them really improve the experience. But, with the goalie still being a sensitive issue, even with the overhaul, NHL 12 isn’t perfect even though it comes close. Guess we will just have to wait until next year.