Quote:
Originally Posted by topfiverecords
93 to 94?
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Well, keep in mind that the platform that saw the most innovation across its lifecycle was the PC.
Every game had a different front-end experience until after 2005 or so when it started to become just a re-skin. Every game generally brought significant improvements to gameplay physics, AI, graphics, sound, and game-modes.
- NHL 95 for PC was basically a better version of NHL 95 for SNES, so a sort-of top-down approach using 3D sprites
- NHL 96 for PC was the first year of the Virtual Stadium tech, using 2D player sprites in a 3D arena. There was now an arena announcer that used the real player names.
- NHL 97 built on the Virtual Stadium tech and added 3D player models with real player faces, scoreboards with score, shot, time, and penalty values that reflected what was actually happening in the game. It was also the first year of play-by-play by Jim Hughson. (And you could
fight the ref.)
- NHL 98 brought hardware 3D acceleration using Glide (3dfx cards), while the 3D implementation continued to improve. Arenas now had more accurate ice logos and scoreboards. Color commentary was added.
- NHL 99 expanded the hardware 3D accelerator support to Direct 3D cards like Nvidia's Riva TNT and the ATI Rage.
- NHL 2000 polished the 3D implementation and upped the framerate, plus brought a new fantasy draft mode.
- NHL 2001 allowed you to import a picture of your face into the Create a Player mode and map the eyes, nose, mouth, and head shape to the photo so you could have your face in the game.
- NHL 2002 was the first year that the graphical changes were not as noticeable, but a few new features were added and the AI was dramatically improved.
Game modes were added and enhanced year to year. I feel like once EA became a juggernaut and started buying up studios all over the place, their focus really shifted away from innovating.