[Yamer]

I think the NHL series has run into a wall, and it's clear the developers do not have a clear vision of what the games should be. It's been a long time coming, but this is the year they have clearly demonstrated that their thinking is about 5 steps ahead of their feet.

Everything just feels so...unpolished. From the front end, to the features, to the gameplay. It just feels like a beta game.

On the one hand it's clear they want to strive for realism, but given their investment into the base physics of the game and their roadblock with AI it feels like 2 games mashed into one. This is about the 5th or 6th year in a row where it is clear they have invested absolutely nothing into the artificial intelligence.

Handling the puck is an adventure because they don't know what they want to do with the physics. At one time a tap in the left direction makes the player step left, yet in another under pretty much the same circumstances the player just holds his stick to the left and it's an easy knock-away for the CPU. The loose puck thing is so frustrating. If I am within 2-3 feet of any player it is an automatic block, poke-away, or turnover. I need at least 5 feet of clearance around my player to make a play. And if the puck is knocked loose near a CPU player there is no way I'm coming away with it. Puck detection and pick-up is atrocious.

And what the hell is vision control? I thought it was to reorient your player towards the puck/play, but it's clearly just the "skate backwards" button.

And yet again the challenge of single player comes in the form of "what you can do vs. what the CPU decides it wants to at any given time". The physics aren't consistent, and the CPU never pays for its mistakes. You're reduced to nutting the CPU through sliders to level the playing field and make it realistic for both sides, at which point the poor AI for the CPU can't be compensated by disparate programming and the "challenge" is gone.

The additions to Franchise mode are neat for about 5 minutes, until you realize they have done nothing to improve the core of the mode. It's the exact same game as last year, only with ticket prices and relocation. And relocation is only interesting if you give us a robust customization experience. NHL 17 is bare bones at best.

Just like last year, I'll play this game when I'm bored, but I'm not aching to get home and invest in the EA NHL experience. The best thing they can do, and something they should have done after the NHL 15 debacle, was shut it down for a year or two, wipe the team clean, and rebuild.

It's too bad EA has taken the Oiler approach to building a franchise.