[Yamer]

Copied from my review in the video game thread:

NHL 20 might be the best hockey game I've ever played. They have overhauled, revamped, and added quite a bit. If you haven't purchased the game in a few years, or if you have been holding off because it always feels the same, I recommend this be the year to buy. It's the freshest looking and feeling the NHL franchise has been since they introduced the skill stick.

Apart from the same menu styles and familiar gameplay, the rest of the game feels brand new. They have overhauled the in-game presentation very effectively. Out are Doc Emerick and Gino Odjick, in is James Cybulski. That sounds like a bad trade-off, but oh my does it sound fresh. Funny to say, but it feels...alive. Ferraro and Cybulski mesh well, and it feels like they are bantering in real time. They didn't edit out when they are talking over or across each other, so it feels super authentic. Plus the play-by-play is really adaptive and follows along as if the game is happening for the first time for them. And hey, Ferraro has a little spiel about "Big Save Dave" which is pretty cool.

In Franchise they have added coaches and a reformed chemistry system. You have to adapt to coaching styles and line makeup to mesh with the proper chemistry. For instance, you can't set a line of grinders to play with 'skilled' strategies or else it will mess with chemistry and your attributes will be knocked. Also, they have FINALLY started to track teams played for in player stats. You can tell each players stats from their profile, AND the team they played for that year. It's small, but that recognition of depth just adds to the game.

The gameplay is familiar, but just so damned refined. Basically they took the foundations of gameplay over the last handful of years and just tightened it up. I've never felt like I've had more control in a hockey video game. Everything is responsive, and the play finally feels reactive. They nailed the physics this year. Oh, and AI seems far improved. No more worrying about the idiocy of my NPC teammates or unrealistic play of the CPU. It just feels so cohesive.

I've only played a small portion so far, but like I led off...this is probably the best hockey video game I have ever played. Incredibly impressed, EA. Kudos.