Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

Speaking for the single player modes, they are decent and have some very fun options. Creating your own player and playing through their career can be very rewarding as you level up their abilities and unlock the boosts. The Winter Classic mode is also an awesome addition to the game that allows you to play out in the elements in Pittsburgh, although I wish they would've added the previous venues, such as Fenway Park. Finally, the legends team is pretty cool with the ability to play as Gretzky and other greats. I found, though, that the single player modes get repetitive and grow boring.

As far as the online playing is concerned, if you have played last year's game, you've basically played this year's game. There are just a few new additions and slight changes to the physics but it's not much. The thing that makes me the most upset about buying this game and playing online is how it seems as though every single player online plays the same annoying style. On defense they will just position themselves in front of the net and just stand there along with two other teammates.....lame. Not realistic at all. And when they are on the breakout, all of a sudden they have 3 guys that are able to be instantaneously on the opposite side of the ice, ready for the inevitable one timer. This game can be very fun and exciting online if you find the right person, but most of the time it is just frustrating. I believe this is mainly what you get when you buy this game, since most buy it for the online portion. Make sure you find an actual friend to play against or else you will be be playing the seemingly exact same people over and over with the same bull$&!% style of play. Not to mention the obvious mistakes/bugs with the game. I don't remember the last time I watched a real hockey game where a player just stood in place and didn't skate to get position, or just sat and watched the puck go by without reacting, or a goalie playing a puck so badly it would blow your mind. Maybe I expected too much. Because of these bugs and lack of fun competition online, I will be selling this game to get one of the new releases.