EA SPORTS has been the dominant brand for sports gaming for the last 20+ years. Sure, the argument could be made for certain games rivaling EA SPORTS offerings, but no one company offers a full line-up of games like EA. The NBA 2K series and MLB The Show are better than any basketball and baseball game EA SPORTS has released, but neither SONY or 2K has a current game for any other sport. 2K retired their hockey series and SONY has not tried their hand at anything besides baseball.
While EA SPORTS has taken strides to implement features from one game into all their games, a few great features are still not in the NHL series. NCAA’s Teambuilder is an amazing feature that would be welcomed in the NHL series. The Teambuilder allows gamers to create teams online and use them in NCAA games or seasons. The online editor makes input of player names easy and quick. The ability to upload any logo gives nearly unlimited options when creating teams. Many NCAA Teambuilder fans often create historic teams and teams that are not in the game. If the team at EA SPORTS would implement Teambuilder into the NHL series gamers would be able to add in minor league teams, college teams and even historic teams. The ability to edit EASHL teams online would be a welcomed feature. There is no Teambuilder for any other series, even madden, but hopefully EA will give fans of all their games the ability to use Teambuilder.
Madden offers a great draft mode. No other game gives players the feeling that they are “on the clock” like Madden does. EA SPORTS has made the draft in Madden one of the best features in the game. For players who skip Be-a-Pro and try their hand at GM mode, the draft is one of the key moments to a successful season. The draft in the NHL series is not much more than a list of names with potential numbers. In Madden, research, scouting and position all matter. If the NHL series added even 1/2 the features as Madden, the mode would be vastly improved.
What features from other EA SPORTS games would you like to see added the the NHL series?
I’d love to see an online player editor like NCAA.
1- I would like to see more power in the hand of the player. If I want to play a match in an outside rink with a custom team I should be able to.
2- If I want to change the format of the all star game I should be able to ( the winner will have advange of the ice, world vs North America etc).
3- A legend team will never work, ¨ah they missed my favorite player bla bla bla¨ I want a pool of player and the ability to make myself one.
4- I want to be able to break records. Not relive the history. I want to play a player and have stats that would make Wayne Gretzky blush. And when I get 50/50 or what ever I want to game to pause a little video on the titantron , ovation and trophies.
5- I want to be glad that I bought a new game. Why start back at zero? Imports stats and career and continue with new features.
I know they will never do that because they know 70$ for a game where you have no expectation left and no disapointment will not make you crave the next one that will just have rooster updates and video quality improvement.
Too bad for them, I’m stickin’ to NHL12 untill I see effort.