Developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports, NHL 14 is the 23rd installment from the NHL ice hockey videogame series.
Released in September 10, 2013 (North America) and September 13, 2013 (Europe, Australia and New Zealand), NHL 14 has a few new features added to the game. Some of them are: the new Live The Life mode, the NHL 94 Anniversary Mode, the new Enforcer Engine and some gameplay improvements (new deking system, the True Skating Performance engine has improved and the collision physics are powered by the same core technology behind FIFA Player Impact engine).
Gameplay:
The game has everything that NHL 13 had but with some little tweaks. Still, the game didn't impressed me a lot. The only things I noticed were the new Enforcer Engine and also the new deking system (which makes deking a lot easier).
Something that I found interesting, and also annoying, is something that the NHL community calls Ice Tilt. What's Ice Tilt? Is when you're winning and the opponent scores on you so easily that, sometimes, you can turn a game from 0-5 to 6-5. Which makes the game unfair because, since you play better than the opponent, you deserve the win.
In addition to Ice Tilt, the game also has many bugs/glitches. For example, one time I was playing with a friend of mine, the game was 2-1 on the 2nd Period (I was the one winning). Suddently, my friend shots, the puck was in the net, the horn goes on but the game went right to the center ice for a face-off, without counting the goal "scored" by him, which made him mad, of course, since I won the game 2-1 and we could go to OT and he could be the one winning the game.
That's just one the many glitches that the game has. It also has one when, sometimes, you can get your player stuck just by shooting at the net of the opponent.
About the penalties, I think they're horrible in this game. I mean, if you try to poke check and you don't touch on the opponent, why would you get a Tripping penalty? The penalties in this game...
The replay camera angles are pretty cool and much better than the camera angles of the old games, but sometimes you can't even see a player or the puck at all...
If play HUT (Hockey Ultimate Team) you'll that every player has his own stats, but while you're playing, you don't notice any diference. The goalies can make only 1 desperation save and then play awful, there's not a fast player in this game. If you try to dump the puck and skate towards it, you'll see that a skater with 80 Skating can be much faster than a 90 Skating skater. That's just absurd.
I have to say that the PS2 and the PC version of NHL 07/08 & 09 have a lot less of glitches and are much better than the recent NHL videogames.
Controls:
NHL 14 has 4 control schemes: NHL 94, Skill Stick, Hybrid and Alternative. I use the Skill Stick since it's very useful and you can do much more things with your player.
If you're a Rookie, I recommend playing with the Hybrid control scheme, because it's pretty easy to use and you have everything you need to play a good game of hockey.
Game Modes:
NHL 14 has several game modes:
Offline:
- Play Now;
- NHL 94 Anniversary Mode (NEW);
- NHL Moments Live;
- Winter Classic;
- Playoff Mode;
- Tournament Mode;
- Battle For The Cup;
- Live the Life (NEW);
- Be a GM:
- Be a Legend;
- Season Mode;
- Training.
Online:
- GM Connected;
- Online Versus Play:
- EA Sports Hockey League (EASHL);
- EA Sports Arena;
- Online Team Play;
- Online Shootout.
Menu:
The menu it's easy to navigate through. It's very organized and you can learn it a couple of minutes.
Customization:
You can customize the equipment of every player of every League available on the game.
In the Live The Life mode, you can choose which position you want to play and you can change everything about your player. From your birthday to your hair. You can also choose the equipment that you want to use with your created player.
When you're choosing your stick you will be able to choose the curve of the stick, which can make the shots you make more accurate or powerful. Same with the skates, you can also choose the curve of your skates to make your player faster or more agile while you're in the rink.
Rating:
What I think about NHL 14?
I think that NHL 14 could be much better than it is. It's definately a shame that EA doesn't care about the people that buy and play their games. It's all about the money now. EA lost passion about making videogames. This does not only apply to NHL 14 but to every EA game in general.
My rating: 5/10 - I'm tired of playing the same game with a different title. That's just wrong.
Save your money and buy something that is worth your money.