Excuse me for a second, while I break our rule of writing in the third person. It is with a heavy heart that I start this review. During the off-season between the 2010/11 season and the upcoming 2011/12 season, there has been so much tragedy, it has hit me hard and I need to express my respects to those that have died. So to Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, Wade Belak and the team and staff from Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, our thoughts are with you and you will be missed. R.I.P.
NHL 11 was a fine game, so fine in fact that it was given full marks on this very website. Now after spending a year with the game, there eventually were exploits found and exposed which to some degree ruined the experience as time passed. That said it was the best iteration of the series to date and NHL 12 has some big shoes to fill and whether it does that or not, depends on what a person is looking for from the game.
The improvements in NHL 12 are not immediately obvious, graphically the game is identical to the previous, with some average presentation improvements. EA Canada have tried to give the games much more of a broadcast feel, yet once again these improvements cannot hold a candle to the 2K Sports games. Commentary is generally rehashed from previous games, with the same broadcast team using the same lines from as far back as NHL 09, although they like to mention NHL On The Fly (a daily NHL highlights and news show) a fair amount in this year's version. The best change to the presentation comes in the pause and intermission screens, with a game-tracker visual that shows where on the ice shots happen, where on the net they are hitting, where hits and penalties happen. Having this alone really helps when trying to work out how to play against an opposition, as at a glance it is easy to see how to adjust tactics based on how the other player has taken shots and where.
It is on the ice where most of the changes really matter and for the casual fan, those changes may not notice at all. There is the introduction of live goalies, live glass, hitting helmets off a players head, knocking the net off the moorings and hitting players into the bench. These, as glamorous as they are and as much as they improve the feeling of immersion are secondary to the hidden changes to the game engine. The physics engine is in another stage of its evolution and takes a further step away from canned animations. This time size, strength and momentum take centre stage, should you have a Zdeno Chara battling with a Jeff Skinner, then Chara would win the physical battle and be able to push Skinner away from the crease, however, Skinner could retaliate by using his size and speed to get away from Chara, who would be slower to react, have a smaller turning circle, etc. If there are two players heading towards each other lining up a big hit, then the bigger player with more momentum will come out on top. It adds to the need to think about the players that are being controlled with and how they are used.
This year it feels like the developers have taken player personality to a new level, no longer does a less skilled skater like Tomas Holmstrom skate around entire teams like the magician that is Pavel Datsyuk. Each player feels a lot more like their real life counterparts, Datsyuk can deke like the genius he is, Darren Helm is weaker in this area, but can use his amazing speed and acceleration to get away from defences, but just like in real life, his shooting is also suspect. This really helps online where players are no longer to just dance around the ice, exposing a weakness in the engine where it became impossible to hit them if they pulled a certain move.
Another big change is how board play has been improved. Often in real ice hockey a puck may be put into clear ice in the corner and you will see two players go to the area and often worry about each other rather than the puck. This has been replicated well in NHL 12 and becomes a viable tactic to play the player, rather than the puck all the time. Also, not every hit around the boards is a bit hit that gets a random boarding, or checking from behind penalty. Now players will nudge each other more to unbalance each other to try and regain the puck. The big hits are still there but now feel much more in tune with the actual sport.
There is an outside chance that after this review the updated tuner sets will ruin a lot of these changes, but at the time of writing, even online it feels more and more like a real game of hockey, rather than a game of trying to minimise other players trying to glitch and find exploits to win.
Aside from the game-play improvements, the Be A Pro mode has had a major facelift. The main problem with NHL 11 was that sometimes there was just too much to do and some modes would get neglected, BAP was one of those modes as it could become a grind to play full games to advance. There was also the issue that it never felt like the player had to earn ice time, as they could pick and choose when they were on the ice, even starting every game like a first liner, even if they were stuck on the forth line. In this version though, players have to earn their time on the ice, and to make sure players aren't bored sitting and waiting, they can sim through to each shift and obviously the more ice time they earn the more they will play. If they wish though, a player can watch and play the entire game as live, it is the best addition to the mode so far and makes it a must play part of the game.
The are BAP improvements online too, as players can now be set up for each position on the ice. In previous versions if a player had set up and left wing, but then needed to change to a defender, it meant everyone had to sit around in the dressing room for ten minutes while the changes were made, it was a chore and not one person liked having to do it. Now though, with each position being individual, attributes are set at the start and if a player starts the night as a left wing and then needs to play defence, they can just switch as the player is already set up. It may seem like a trivial improvement, but with games like this being based more and more online, it is one that had to be done, so a big well done to EA for getting it right. It is a shame though that there still only single dressing rooms, that mean only a maximum of 6 can play at any one time from you team. Line changes next year please EA?
Once again the game is brimming with content. There is the new Be A Legend that sees players take on the role of one of the included legends in the game such as Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman, Jeremy Roenick and more. The Ultimate Team has seen the addition of being able to play other players teams offline. Each time a game is selected it gives the option to play against another actual HUT team, including one of the top 100 teams, it is a great inclusion and is a lot more fun than playing only 'real' teams offline. Other modes such as season, shoot-out, practice, etc are all back, as is the franchise mode, which is just as it was last year, with the same incredible depth and the same glaring issues.
The final big inclusion is that of the Winter Classic, players can now play at Heinz Field whenever they feel like it. Either as Washington and Pittsburgh, who were the two involved in the 2011 Winter Classic, or with any two teams in the game. It is a standalone mode at the moment, but if well received it could well make the way into the Franchise and season in later games. The build up presentation is well done and hopefully a taster of what EA can do, unfortunately in game it still lacks. However, the chance to play in the Winter Classic is one that cannot be missed.
Overall NHL 12 is one fine sports game, once again it leads the way (along with the NBA 2K series) on how to makes a sports title, there is absolutely tons to do and the gameplay is getting better and better. However the presentation is feeling really old now and needs to be improved. Also for every improvement to modes like BAP, there is still work to be done in the franchise and online. Casual fans may not need to pick this up over NHL 11, but hockey fans will want to get this, just for the engine improvements alone.
