I appeared as a special guest on the Scott Seidenberg Show on July 8 to talk Overwatch League on NBC Sports Radio.
Tag Archive: new york rangers
I shake off my play-by-play rust by calling a game of NHL 16 between the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks in my Be a GM mode of NHL 16. For some reason, audio doesn’t kick in until 1:40.
Everything old is new again
A lot of focus went into the style and physics of last year’s NHL title, and in some ways it paid off. A hockey video game had never looked or played better than NHL 15, but in order to stay on its yearly schedule, EA Canada had to make sacrifices and cut featues—a lot of features. To the chagrin of its long-time fans, many aspects only came back in patches well after the game’s launch, and some modes never returned at all. With another year to work, however, NHL 16 brings the series back up to the standards set in previous years—and with an extra coat of polish for good measure.
The biggest returning feature is the beloved EA Sports Hockey League online mode and the 6-on-6 gameplay EASHL is known for touts two key additions. The first of these improvements is online couch co-op. Now, you and a friend can play on the same console and drop into a match whenever you both want making communication and practicing together easier than ever.
The other is player classes. The NHL series has long featured a dozen classes for forwards, defensemen, and goalies in their single-player modes, but as a part of online player customization, you can now choose the class you want to play with in NHL 16‘s EASHL. Having a balanced team will be critical to victory, but nothing may be more important than who plays as your net minder.
For too long, goalies have been ineffective in EASHL and it was often due to the clunky controls more so than the players themselves. Therefore, NHL 16 has introduced brand-new goalie mechanics. With a click of a trigger, you can drop into a butterfly and make yourself “look big” in net, or flick the right-stick to dive in front of the open goal mouth for that spectacular blocker save at the last second. I messed around with the goalie controls offline as not to embarrass myself too badly with them in an actual EASHL game, and although I still gave up five goals in a Rangers 6-5 win over the computer-controlled Blackhawks, gameplay in the crease is definitely a step up from what we’ve seen in the past.
I actually got to test out EASHL online with a full complement of 12 players, and besides a little lag at the start of the first period, it was just as exciting as ever. I helped lead my team to a thrilling 7-5 win in a scorefest, during which I picked up both a Gordie Howe hat trick and a regular hat trick from my natural gaming position of left wing, and choosing to play as a power forward.
While the online focus will surely be on the rebirth of EASHL, Hockey Ultimate Team—the NHL series’ other beloved online mode—has undergone some changes, too. The majority of the experience remains relatively similar—including the UI for the mode, which still could use some work when it comes to making your lines and getting your team ready to play. But a totally refreshed single-player mode has been added, providing players a less pressure-filled situation to try those new lines out in, earn pucks (HUT’s online currency that allows you to earn packs featuring additional players), and move up through a whole new set of divisions.
The idea of a HUT single-player mode is a good one, and something fans have wanted for a while, but its implementation could’ve been so much better. Taking on a similar structure to the online version of the mode, single-player HUT has you play through divisions as you try to create a powerhouse fantasy team. By winning, you’ll move up until you reach the top. The problem is that only the Rookie difficulty setting is available at the start of the mode, since you need certain card requirements to unlock higher levels.
Sure, you could just buy new packs with real world currency, trying to get the cards you need, grind away online, or save up the daily puck rewards for playing on consecutive days. But if you want to get right into the mode, Rookie difficulty is just not fun at all for a veteran player of the series—so those unlock requirements were very frustrating to find.
I won my first four games in single-player HUT by a combined score of 97-6. No, that’s not a typo; I averaged well over 20 goals a game on Rookie. After that, I had no desire to play the mode ever again. Either HUT single-player needs to be balanced better so that Rookie offers a challenge, or the difficulty unlocks need to be done away with. After all, it’s a single-player mode in a sports game. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to decide how much of a challenge you want from the start.
Speaking of single-player modes, NHL 16 hasn’t forgotten about its offline suite of gameplay options when it comes to getting the game back up to speed. First off, all the solo modes you expect are there. NHL Moments Live remains exactly the same as last year, allowing you to again replay the previous season’s most impressive moments and either replicate or change history depending on the stipulation, and will feature new content as epic games happen over the course of the new season.
There’s also Be a Pro, where you can create your own prolific hockey superstar and follow him or her over the course of a 20-year career. This mode remains mostly the same, as well, but has improved coach feedback and training between games, and brings back “classic versus simulation” options that were missing from NHL 15. Basically, the difference between the two is whether or not you can simulate between your Pro’s on-ice shifts, creating two very differently paced experiences. Besides this, Be a Pro (along with the other game modes) has added playoff beards. A truly minor detail, but yes, you can now choose how your facial hair will grow if your team makes it into the playoffs.
If you prefer to have a more top-down view of your hockey franchise, there’s the classic Be a GM mode, where you can run the day-to-day operations of your franchise like a super-executive, trying to bring your team a Stanley Cup and maybe even build a dynasty. The big change that’s come here is a new Morale system. Inspired by the Martin St. Louis/Ryan Callahan trade between the Rangers and Lightning a couple years ago, players will now tell you in Be a GM when they are or are not happy, and can even demand a trade. This affects your overall team morale, which boosts your players’ stats when high and decreases them when low. If you start wheeling and dealing players, it could actually put a sense of dread in the locker room, but getting rid of a nuisance could be a game changer. These are things you’ll need to keep an eye on, and knowing the pulse of your dressing room is a fun new way to interact with your franchise.
Even though the modes are mostly about getting back to the old status quo, the overall gameplay has seen some significant changes. Sure, there’s the tweaking of physics and skating mechanics that we see from polishing the game on a year-to-year basis. Arenas are more realistic, too, with authentic goal songs added and the presentation package adjusted to fit in with NBC Sports’ real-life changes. And there are the aforementioned goalie controls.
In terms of how you play and learn the game, however, the new on-ice visual trainer is the biggest revision to NHL gameplay since the league added delayed offsides and the trapezoid behind the goal crease. Turn on this optional feature, and you’ll see a new overlay during gameplay that tells you very clearly where your passes would go, where your shots would hit on the net (if at all), and even tells you what kind of check to use on defense. More experienced players, such as myself, might scoff at this idea, thinking it’s just for newcomers to the franchise. But if you choose the adaptive training option—so NHL 16 picks up on your skillset dynamically—after just a couple games it’ll focus on more advanced aspects, and I found that even I still had a thing or two to learn. Thanks to the visual trainer’s advice, I have a better than 50-percent winning percentage in the faceoff circle for quite possibly the first time ever. My passing percentage is up, and while I’m not scoring so many more goals to make the game no longer entertaining (unless it’s single-player HUT), I’m definitely putting the biscuit in the basket at a better clip.
Without a doubt, NHL 16 is better than its direct predecessor. But when I look at the product as a whole, while there are some welcome new features—and some that need more work—NHL 16’s most significant points come from adding old stuff back in, making the experience come across more like it’s just catching up to what it was before the console generation shift. That said, NHL 16 feels like a welcome return to form for the series, as solid top to bottom as the ice we skate on.
| Developer: EA Canada • Publisher: EA Sports • ESRB: E – Everyone • Release Date: 09.15.15 | |
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8.0
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New aspects in NHL 16 like the on-ice trainer and the Morale system in Be a GM give the game some welcome layers of depth, and the actual gameplay is as good as ever. However, you can’t help but get the sense that the biggest additions to this year’s game just came from putting back features that were cut from last year’s title.
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| The Good | The new morale system in Be a GM. The on-ice visual trainer will teach even longtime players something new. The return of so many features initially lost in the console shift. |
| The Bad | Single player HUT seasons needs balancing. Even with all the new and returning features, it felt like too much of this year was spent playing catch-up. |
| The Ugly | The fact someone might actually want to grow a playoff “beard” like Sidney Crosby’s. |
| NHL 16 is available on Xbox One and PS4. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Online portions were tested at an event at EA Canada. Review code was provided by EA Sports for the benefit of this review. | |
A shorthanded debut
NHL 14 was the pinnacle for EA Sports’ NHL franchise—and that’s saying something, considering its quality and consistency for more than two decades. It seemed like the folks at EA Canada had crammed in every mode and feature they could come up with and pushed the technology to its limits on the last generation of consoles. But this peak seemed to come at a perfect time, since it was just as we began the transition to new consoles. It seemed more than plausible that EA Canada could reach new heights this year with NHL 15 on new-gen hardware.
Unfortunately, this is another case where expectations were greater than reality. It’s not that the on-ice product is bad with NHL 15. In fact, once you decide to start a game in Be a Pro, Be a GM, or any of the other modes, actually playing a game of hockey might be better than ever. The new NBC presentation package makes it feel like every game is Game of the Week, and commentary from the team of Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro is stellar. I’m about 40 games into my Be a GM mode (I play every game of the season), and I’m just now starting to hear some repeat commentary, but I’m still getting surprised here and there.
The graphics have also made a spectacular transition to the new console generation, and everything looks sharper and crisper—you can almost feel the chill of the ice itself. What’s more, the player models are amazingly realistic and even borrow a few tricks from EA Sports UFC when it comes to bruising and facial contortions from fights. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the eye of a guy you pummeled in an earlier bout swelled shut by the third period.
The biggest improvement comes from the revamped physics, though: huge player pileups when you crash the net, realistic puck bounces that lead to frustrating turnovers or fortunate close calls, and more dynamic goalie saves make it seem like you’re watching a game in real life. All the goal-scoring glitches of past years have seemingly been erased as well—the AI’s improved all around, and your opponent always tries to anticipate your every move. And even the issues with faceoffs—my one disappointment from last year’s game—are now fixed, since you can use your stick with more pinpoint precision than ever before.
When you get off the ice, however, everything takes a horribly sour turn. Countless modes from previous years have been nixed. Even with patches coming in during the next 60 days to bring back Playoff Mode and Online Team Play, you’re still missing EA Sports Hockey League, Winter Classic, and Be a Legend. NHL Moments Live mode from NHL 13 was brought back to cushion this blow, but you still don’t want modes completely removed from the game. It feels like instead of continuing to build on what they’d created over the previous few years, EA Canada instead hit the reset button with new-gen.
The worst part, though, may be the fact that EA Canada scaled back the modes that did make it into the game. Be a Pro has lost the “Live the Life” feature introduced in last year’s game, which allowed you to interact with teammates, family, fans, and the front office and deal with a balancing metagame as you tried to keep everyone in your life happy while also maintaining a high level of on-ice play.
You’ve also lost the ability to simulate to your next shift in Be a Pro. Now, you have to watch the entire game on the bench when you’re not playing, whereas last year, a button press would move you forward in time. This becomes particularly painful if you take a penalty and then have to watch the minutes tick off on the clock from the sin bin. I don’t want to watch a hockey videogame. I want to play. These subtle omissions have turned one of my favorite modes from last year into an afterthought when I boot up the game now.
Be a GM has its own set of issues now, too. To begin with, your team’s AHL affiliate has been completely done away with—now, minor-league players are just “in the system” instead of accumulating any stats or progress whatsoever. There’s also no GM tracking mechanic anymore to let you know how you’re doing or to give you an idea of what goals you need to aim for. The preseason and fantasy-draft options have also been removed, and the year-end draft for each season is fully automated by the CPU. If I’m running a franchise, I want to run the franchise! Don’t take any aspect of that away from me—and especially don’t assign it to the computer!
To make matters worse, the little control you still have left becomes all the more complicated due to the panel user-interface system that’s now permeated every EA Sports franchise. Yes, being able to jump to my favorite modes as soon as I start the game up is a welcome addition, but making trades, changing my lines, and even just resting my goalie have all become a chore because of this new system. The old list system had its problems, but it was nowhere near as bad as what this universal UI homogenization by EA Sports has done. Changing your lines is so difficult that in Hockey Ultimate Team, one of the patches is solely to help adjust this. I wish this patch were for all game modes, because changing lines and making adjustments in Be a GM right now is a nightmare.
And speaking of HUT, nothing has infuriated me more than not being able to earn pucks (the HUT currency used to buy packs to get new players) in single-player modes outside of HUT. Yes, you earned many more for playing online, but as someone who loved Be a GM and Be a Pro modes and spent more time there than anywhere else, it was nice to still earn a few pucks for playing the modes I wanted to play. This only helped extend NHL 14’s life for me; after a while, I would play a little bit of HUT because I’d accrued so many pucks. Now, it feels like the best way to get pucks is to buy them through microtransactions. EA Sports trying to squeeze more money out of us? Color me surprised.
After playing limited demos of NHL 15 leading up to its release, I could not be more disappointed with the final result. It feels like so much time and focus went into getting the graphics and physics systems up to snuff for new-gen that EA Canada forgot about the rest of the game. At the very least, there’s hope, though. Now that the transition’s been made—however painfully—next year’s title can bring NHL back to its former glory.
| Developer: EA Canada • Publisher: EA Sports • ESRB: E10+ – Everyone 10 and up • Release Date: 09.09.14 | |
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7.0
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The new physics system, presentation elements, and graphics are definitely a step forward for the franchise, but the wholesale removal or scaling back of so many modes leaves you wondering how such a great series could struggle so mightily with the console transition.
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| The Good | The physics and graphics are the best the series has ever seen. |
| The Bad | So many modes and features are missing compared to NHL 14 that it’s hard to believe this is the full game. |
| The Ugly | This will go down with Madden 06 as one of the most disappointing generation transition games for a sports franchise. |
| NHL 15 is available on Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, and PS3. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox One. Review code was provided by EA Sports for the benefit of this review. | |
Ray Carsillo gives his final prediction for the Super Bowl, talks about the possible Ryan Callahan trade between the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues, and discusses the recent events in the WWE. Welcome to Ray’s Man Cave!
On April 18, 2007, the New York Rangers baked three pucks into a giant sponge cake outside Madison Square Garden the day of Game 4 of their first round series against the Atlanta Thrashers. They then got 10 diehard Rangers fans to jump into said cake. If you found one of the three pucks, you got tickets to the game. I was one of those fans, and came up short. BUT my boss at the time, Joe Pardavila, also jumped into the cake, and gave me his puck. I found this tape of the event in my archives (it was given to me by the fine folks at MSG) and thought it might be fun to digitize and put it out there for a good laugh.
An all-time great
After living in SoCal now for a couple of years, I miss that first cool October breeze to signify that summer’s come and gone, and that it’s time to look forward to a deep, wintery chill. Mind you, it’s not the shoveling snow, changing of tires, or layers of clothes that I reminisce about—I miss that it actually starts to feel like hockey season.
The closest harbingers of hockey I get these days? Blasting my AC, complaining about the fair-weather L.A. Kings fans who constantly seem to crawl out of the woodwork, and playing the NHL franchise. Fortunately, NHL 14 does the best job yet of making me forget that longing for North Jersey winters and drowning out the know-nothing Kings fans.
As always, I started off by selecting and using my favorite team, the New York Rangers. Yes, I’m from New Jersey, but I root for the Rangers. The reason? Fans of the New Jersey Devils are as mythical as the Jersey Devil itself. They don’t exist, and if they do, there’s only about 30 of them huddled in a cave down in the Pine Barrens somewhere. South Jersey roots for the Flyers. North Jersey roots for the Rangers. End of story.
The Rangers are actually ideal for a review like this, though, since they’ve got a balanced team: Some guys can shoot, some guys can hit, and some guys can skate. Sure, NHL 14 sees plenty of major additions this year—and I’ll get to them—but when I want to test the nuances of the game, I’m covered with the Broadway Blueshirts.
Take winger Carl Hagelin and his blinding speed, for example. In NHL 14, I could really see how much faster he was than everyone else as he pulled away from the defenders who chased him through the neutral zone. Similarly, it makes sense to use a guy like 6’7” forward Brian Boyle to bowl over a sniper on the penalty kill, whereas 5’7” right wing Mats Zuccarello will just bounce right off. Having every player feel unique when you take control of them is a huge plus in a sports game, and that shines through in NHL 14.
But it’s not just about the physics of a monster like Boyle running over a hapless player on the PK. In previous NHL entries, you’d have to flick the right analog stick—almost like the truck feature in Madden—to deliver a punishing hit. While that option’s still there for fans who can’t break old habits, you can also simply skate as fast as you can, and the new momentum feature will automatically see Boyle stick his hip out and send that sniper spinning to the ice—or maybe rough him up a little harder if some bad blood’s been brewing between the two rivals over the course of the game.
And that leads into the next big feature—and probably the one that’ll be a favorite for casual hockey fans: The fighting system is completely overhauled. Borrowing mechanics from EA’s Fight Night franchise, NHL 14 offers nuances to each throwdown. You can try to push or pull a guy off his skates, bob and weave to avoid incoming haymakers, or drop some bombs of your own—it feels more like a hockey fight should instead of the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots–style fights of years past.
Of course, similarly to how everyone’s helmets started to fly off or they got checked into the bench more often in NHL 12, the fighting’s definitely tuned to happen a bit more often now. If it’s not your thing—and I’ll admit that it can be a bit jarring, since everything else around you stops pretty abruptly—you can at least turn the frequency down in penalty options. If you leave it as is, though, you’ll go from having no fights or one fight per game, like in previous years, to potentially two or three each game. And if it’s a rivalry matchup—say, the Rangers versus the Devils—you’re likely to see it even more than that. I got into five fights the first time I played the Devils!
The fighting’s so detailed now, in fact, that players will walk away with black eyes and face bruising that’ll last for a couple of games. Of course, even before the fights, these are some of the ugliest character models I’ve ever seen. EA Canada can’t even get something as simple as a player’s hair color right. I look at Rangers center Derek Stepan when he scores a goal, and I see a real-life picture of him with dark brown hair—and then I see his character model with albino-white hair. It’s a little thing, but at this point, I’d like to think that the developers have figured out the differences between brown and blond.
I’ll take little snafus like that, though, when NHL 14 sees significant additions—such as the ability to change the opposing general managers’ AI in Be a GM mode. For years, opposing teams were either so stupid that you could easily fleece them and put together a virtual team of all-stars, or they were so smart that you’d have to sell the farm to even get a mid-tier prospect. While Be a GM’s default AI seems pretty good in this incarnation, it’s nice to be able to make adjustments if you don’t think it’s acting as realistically as it should. And adding money options—such as taking on part of a player’s contract instead of the whole thing—makes the negotiating room even more heated if you like wheelin’ and dealin’ like myself.
But if stylin’ and profilin’ on the ice is more your bag, the new Live the Life mode—a revamped version of Be a Pro—is the way to go. I don’t normally create players, but I tried this option out and worked my way up through the CHL to get drafted 7th overall by the Edmonton Oilers (I’m still working on getting traded to the Rangers!). Pre- and post-game press conferences with your player, interactions off the ice with teammates, and talking to your agent about what endorsements you should sign gets you closer to living the dream of being a pro hockey player than the franchise has ever offered. And for me, personally, it was even more special. See, every NHL player has a soundbite associated with his surname, and thanks to Chicago Blackhawks left wing Daniel Carcillo, it always sounded like Gary Thorne was saying my name during play-by-play—it freaked my girlfriend out when she heard it the first time!
Part of why I was drafted so high? The new, simplified deking system. I’ll freely admit that this aspect of NHL was way too difficult for me in the past. Some people swear by it—and more power to ’em—but I’d rather just make crisp passes that work the goalie out of position instead of worrying about spin-o-ramas and the like. This year, instead of working both analog sticks while holding a bunch of buttons, you simply need to tap a shoulder button—if your player’s skilled enough, of course. I’d never done so many dekes in a single version of an NHL game before, but it’s so simple here that I couldn’t stop.
One new feature, however, hasn’t been simplified. If anything, it’s gotten more complicated, and it comes when you skate into the face-off circle. Now, I’ve never been good at face-offs. I’m lucky to average a 30-to-40-percent success rate. Face-offs require a lot more finesse this year, and you’ll need to use both analog sticks to really work for the puck. This may feel more realistic, but it’s also a lot more frustrating—I only won around 5 percent of my face-offs against the computer. I could hold my own against human opponents, but it’s damn near impossible to win against the computer—especially when the friendly AI, for all the strides it’s made, still isn’t smart enough to skate over and take the puck if I tie up the opposing center.
Let’s be honest: I could probably be here all day talking about hockey. My love for the Rangers. My hatred of the Islanders. And the Devils. And the Flyers. And the Penguins. My love and hatred aside, this is easily the best hockey experience EA Canada has delivered yet. They’ve listened to just about everything the fans have said over the years, and they’ve done their best to incorporate it here.
They’ve even heard the fans in a particularly special way: NHL 14 features a full-blown NHL ’94 mode that not only celebrates 20 years of what many consider one of the greatest hockey games of all time, but that also expertly blends the arcade style of the past with the simulation style of today. That shows true dedication and passion from the development team, and NHL 14 is as close to that hallowed Super NES/Genesis classic as any entry we’ve seen since then.
| Developer: EA Canada • Publisher: EA Sports • ESRB: E10+ – Everyone 10 and up • Release Date: 09.10.13 | |
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9.5
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One of the best hockey sims to date. A couple of minor adjustments are always needed, but this is as close as its going to get for you short of lacing up skates and donning pads yourself.
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| The Good | New fighting mechanics, better physics, and Online Seasons for Hockey Ultimate Team. |
| The Bad | It’s impossible to win a face-off sometimes. |
| The Ugly | The character models get worse-looking every year. |
| NHL 14 is available on Xbox 360 and PS3. Primary version reviewed was for Xbox 360. | |
All it’s missing is the Zamboni
With another NHL lockout looming over the 2012-2013 season, folks who prefer frozen ponds to pitches and gridiron are itching to get their fix. That means that there may be added pressure this year for EA Canada’s NHL franchise to step up and deliver a lifelike experience, since this game might have to tide hockey fans over for the entire winter. Fortunately, in most regards, NHL 13 does indeed rise to this challenge.
The most notable addition to this year’s game is the True Performance Skating physics system. More so than ever before, momentum and contact with other players will affect your skaters in the most realistic ways ever seen in a hockey videogame. As soon as you start a game—whether in Exhibition, Be a GM, Be a Pro, or any other of the classic returning game modes—tactics that you’ve used in the past need to be thrown out the window. In fact, you’ll have to think more like an actual NHL player now if you hope to succeed in this game.
Once you get used to accidentally slamming yourself into the boards over and over again, you’ll probably notice the improved positioning and difficultly in getting around your opponents—and that’s because of an overhauled AI system. Opposing skaters, more than ever before, move exactly as they would in real life; you’ll feel like you need to pull out a dry-erase board before too long and start drawing up plays to get around it.
But even if you should find a way by the AI players, there’s always the goaltender waiting at the end. He’s the most important part of any team—and the best teams are always built from the netminder outward. And since a lot of flaws from last year’s version are now fixed—the wraparound glitch foremost among them—goalies now have dozens of new animations that allow them to react and play the puck better than ever before. If you’re not smart, you could end up making some scrubs like look brick walls, but no matter what, you’re going to have to work for your goals.
So, the gameplay’s seen a facelift for the better, but as far forward as NHL 13 may go in terms of the on-ice action, in other areas, it seems like EA Canada’s taken a step back. The new, broader rating system is one of these areas. I personally liked having players rated by their roles in a system, and I liked knowing if my winger was a tough guy or a sniper—it helped me lay out my four lines accordingly. Instead, players are simply broken down into forwards, defensemen, and goalies, and I have to look more closely than before at everyone’s individual stats to decide if this is the guy I want on the ice to send a physical message, or if he’s going to be taking faceoffs for me on the power play.
Another knock against NHL 13 is that even though the opposing GM AI is touted as “improved,” I think it looks more like it’s been lobotomized. I appreciate that the game highlights players who are more likely to be traded than others by an organization. But if you try to acquire a player who isn’t highlighted, the computer seems adamant on preventing you from getting him. Even when I tried to do the real-life trade the Rangers did with the Blue Jackets for Rick Nash, the computer refused! (Obviously, I played before roster patches went live, so I was trying to make the league as accurate as possible). I even tried sweetening the deal so it was better than the real-life one with extra first-round draft picks. And still, the computer refused me!
Despite a handful of infuriating moments like these, NHL 13 is still probably the best hockey experience yet once you actually take the ice. Plus, a lot of the other modes have a few new goodies sprinkled in to liven up those experiences. Be a Legend has all-new faces, including a pair of female Olympians, and the game also offers a new playoff format for Hockey Ultimate Team. Finally, the Be a Pro mode features the ability to demand a trade once you become a big enough star. All in all, this is a step in the right direction for the NHL franchise, and it gives me a lot of hope for future iterations.
SUMMARY: The actual gameplay is leaps and bounds ahead of NHL 13’s predecessors, but the GM AI has taken a couple steps backward in noticeable—and discouraging—ways.
- THE GOOD: New physics system adds previously unseen levels of gameplay nuances.
- THE BAD: Presentation and GM AI is worse than in prior years.
- THE UGLY: Having my New York Rangers stand by and watch as the Los Angeles Kings raise their Stanley Cup banner to start the season! Argh!
SCORE: 8.0
NHL 13 is available on Xbox 360 and PS3. Primary version reviewed was on the Xbox 360.
Originally Published: March 15, 2011, on youtube.com/Rcars4885
I come to you once again with your weekly geek fix from my mother’s basement! This week’s episode sees me review two comics since I’m still working on Dragon Age II. Ghostbusters: Infestation #1 (of 2) and Venom #1 are reviewed. My hot chick pick of the week is Francine Dee and this week’s theme is the main theme from Separation Anxiety starring Venom and Spider-Man back for the SNES and Sega Genesis.
RayCarsilloWrites.com 