Graphics look superb, but I've never really liked the EA NHL series, and here is why: It does not simulate a real hockey game enough to my liking.
If you've ever played it on hard level, it is nearly impossible to score from an actual shot. It has to be a deke or a one timer. And I find that the computer lets you score during the first period, but it gets impossibly harder to score late in the game.
What they need to do is make it so everytime a player shoots it, it takes into account the distance, location, shot speed, and shot accuracy of the player shooting, and measure that against the goalie's save percentage, goals against average, and weaknesses as to where he gets beat, factor in how many players are screening him, and line of sight to the puck and divvy all that up to figure out if that shot beats him. Throw in a confidence meter for good measure.
Also, there are hardly any options for a puck bouncing in off a skate or funny bounces off the boards.
The NHL Hockey game I want is probably at least 10 years away from becoming a reality, unfortunately.
