Good fun, great physics, lots of depth, just a few tweaks away from sports game perfection
I hold all hockey games to the gold standard of SEGA NHL (from the mid-90s), which is arguably the greatest arcade-style sports game ever made, with all due respect to Tecmo Bowl. Today's EA Sports NHL titles are obviously way more sophisticated and realistic and certainly not "arcade-ish" in any way. But a gold standard is a gold standard, and NHL 11 is as high as any hockey title has ever reached in the 17 years since the first SEGA masterpiece hit the shelves.
The depth of this year's game is fantastic. The OHL, WHL, the Q, Elitserien and several other Euro leagues are included, with full rosters and detailed rankings. The NHL series is starting to reach the saturation point of the FIFA series. That's saying something.
Be a Pro mode is fun in theory, but it just tears off more than it can chew. Keeping it simpler would probably be best. Being locked into a single camera view and linear platform is overlimiting. The user should be able to create a player, embed him with a team, and continue on as if in season mode. You can sidebar every week or so and update the player's skills and do other housekeeping, all the while keeping the Be a Pro module embedded within the season or franchise (Be a GM) mode. The other problem with Be a Pro is unrealistic mode development. For example, I had a player that was taken first overall in the draft (earned a trophy for that), I simmed the preseason, he was knocked to the fourth line but then I played four games, simmed a few others and after 8 games the player had four goals and three assists with a +4 rating. Those are stellar numbers for a rookie in the NHL. And yet, the GM box lit up to alert me that he was sent to the minors. That would NEVER happen in the NHL, you get an 18 year old who rocks the ice and bags seven points including three game winners in 8 games, he isn't going anywhere but the first line. I lost interest in the mode immediately after that. The gameplay was still fine, but I lost a lot of respect for the AI algorithm that clearly didn't parallel in any way a real world NHL environment.
But back to the good stuff. The physics engine is extremely good. Player movement and interaction is outstanding. The gameplay continues to tweak upward every year, and NHL 11 is certainly the best yet. The NHL series is really challenging because hockey in real life is defined so much by nuances and small flicks and dekes and puck drags and subtle footwork and shoulder feints that can't ever be truly replicated in a video game. The goal of hockey is to put together two or three seconds of order in the midst of sixty minutes of chaos. But this series certainly does the very best in achieving the most realistic gameplay possible.
I don't think the NHL franchise is quite the equal of the FIFA franchise, but there isn't much not to like about NHL 11. It's a great sports game, period. Highly recommended.
8.5/10