[Max Cow Disease]

The game does feel quite decent this year. Moment to moment play is generally quite fluid and organic-feeling in contrast to some previous years. The exception continues to be offline play vs. the AI on higher difficulties, particularly Superstar. On Superstar (with default sliders), the game takes on this claustrophobic, grindy, almost "synthetic" sort of feel where CPU players win puck battles at will, laser shots in to your net from anywhere in the O-zone, suddenly start skating and passing at warp speed, etc. In franchise mode I've instead been playing on All-Star with the CPU difficulty slider cranked to 3 out of 6, which feels a bit more forgiving and natural.

The game looks good, too. I like that HDR's finally a thing in the series, and they've done a do-over on a lot of faces in the game as well (Monahan!). The X-factor skills aren't a game changer but are a cool edition and something that helps make individual players seem a bit more unique on the ice.

It's more or less impossible to trade for Eichel as the Flames in franchise mode...