NHL 07

THE BAD:
No turbo
No bonuses and extras (Mini-games, jersies, classic teams)
Team Management
Frame Rate
Playing defense
Menus
Soundtrack
Commentary
Fights

SUMMARY:
EA Sports is known for making the best sports games. They've been trying to step up the realism of the franchise with all kinds of controls to make the game seem more realistic.

The new feature is known as the skill stick. This has you use the right control stick to deke, do a slap shot, poke check, and do a wrister. This has some getting used to and deking would feel very uneasy. At first your shots would be very weak but eventually you'll learn how to make the right shot at the right time. If you're playing Pro mode or higher without any advantages set, getting a shot is difficult, though.

The graphics are obviously made well. Since it's hockey it has to be in an overhead view. With an HDTV the game looks very nice but not as nice as Madden and NBA Live because there's not much to see.

The shootout was a new rule added to the NHL two seasons as a tiebreaker. This really brings out the skill stick because in shootouts you must be creative. You must deke and trick the goalie to score. Very fun to play with a friend.

The players move way slow so when you're on a breakaway you can easily be caught before you pass the blue line. When on any kind of chance it's just difficult to get something going without giving the CPU's defense a chance.

There are no bonuses or mini-games which isn't a big of deal but I remember in past games in the franchise you were able to collect cards and cool stuff like that.

Team Management is annoying. Managing upgrades is no problem but changing lines is a pain and say a player that you think is made for the third line instead of the default setting of being on the second line. They'll send you a message being unhappy and would ask you to trade them. Even after the first game of the season. Making roster moves and scratching players have to be done in different menus. More on that later.

The frame rate is bad. Not much can be said. There are occasional slow downs which doesn't help.

Playing defense is impossible unless you make a risk/dumb move of going for the big hit or poke check which can easily backfire. Also, your goalie sometimes makes boneheaded moves. Did they do this on purpose?

The menus have very small text and are hard to navigate at first. They're just very complicated especially in the franchise mode.

The soundtrack is just punk rock kind of music. I'm not sure if you can turn it off or not but it's distracting and always repeats.

The commentary is repetitive with "Off the blocker save made!" etc. You can turn the commentary off but it's also dull without anything else in the background.

The fights are terrible. Instead of any "health bar" it's just two guys who grab eachother by the shoulder. You rotate the analog sticks to throw punches but the fights are slow and unrealistic.

All in all, this game is just average. It can be good to play with a friend but it's too slow paced. As the game goes on there are things that get you frustrated.