Owners of the current-gen consoles are definitely unhappy about this. As one of them aptly put it, “charging full price ($70) for what amounts to a roster update, a new background menu, and new commentary is something I would never be able to do with a straight face.” Despite this dearth of difference, however, NHL 15 for the current-gen consoles might actually be your best bet; though EA could have saved some face by charging less than the full price for a carbon copy of last year’s game. But let’s give credit where credit is due.
The excellent life-like Action Tracker simulation engine that was introduced only a few years ago is missing, and probably the reason why you're not able to sim your shifts in Be a Pro. In GM mode of NHL 15, you similarly suffer, as there is no longer any kind of live ticker, nor the ability to intervene during the simulation. You simply skip through to the next calendar date, and observe the final score. It's back to early 2000s design, and a huge setback for the franchise that seemed to be moving in the right direction.
I performed slightly better during my time in Hockey Ultimate Team Mode, the fantasy sports/level up/online multiplayer mode that is a little bit Farmville and a little bit Call of Duty. You rank up, it rewards you for daily play, and there are minimal actions that you can do outside of playing the game to increase your ability. In my short time with this game mode, the Boston Gandalfs played a riveting online game rife with lag that ended in fifteen consecutive shootout runs. It was a brutal experience for everyone involved, but I won after cursing at the screen for a solid thirty minutes.
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These failings are nothing compared to the colossal step backwards that has been taken off the ice. A few weeks before release, people were wondering why EA hadn’t made any mention of which game modes would be included in the final version. It’s quite easy to see why they were keeping quiet. Upon loading the game, you can play a quick match, play as a general manager for 25 seasons, play a career as a player, or play NHL 15 Ultimate Team. Oh, and you can only play against the AI in single matches in Ultimate Team, since there’s no offline season. Be a Pro Mode, which puts you in the shoes of an NHLer from the very beginnings. Starting either in the CHL, the Entry Draft or on whichever team you choose.
As you play your career there are challenges set by your coach depending on your play style (Grinder, Sniper, Power Forward, etc), your overall, and previous stats. This mode has so much potential but is such a letdown. It’s bare bones, when you play a game you cannot simulate to your next shift (fixed this with a patch, a common theme with this game), so you’re sitting there for 20 minute periods, just to play maybe 6 minutes of game depending on which line you are on, it could even be less. Coach feedback was also patched into the game. Be a Pro mode is such a letdown, in NHL 14 it was actually kind of fun, and had a lot of potential to be great. They really went back 2 steps here, and it’s disappointing to say the least.
You can easily change whether the small quirks happen or not and how often via the settings menu, where you can also change just how simulated or arcade-like you want your hockey experience to be, along with the complexity of the buttons. Not only has a lot of thought and effort gone into the action that’s being played on the ice, but off the ice too. The crowd animations has been given an AI update, which makes them look a lot more realistic than previous versions of the game and now you’ll see fans smashing on the glass as their favourite (or least favourite) player skates by, while others will jeer the away team players who have been sent to the penalty box.
The Winter Classic has become such a tremendous part of the game’s presentation since NHL 15. It has been dropped this season following what was arguably the most impressive real world edition of the New Year’s Day game, at least from a visual perspective: the Detroit/Toronto clash at Michigan Stadium. It’s a huge disappointment not to have that setting, or any of the settings from the other Stadium Series games, available for use. Last year, the game featured an NHL ’94 anniversary mode that replicated the look and feel of the 20-year-old Sega/SNES game. That’s also gone in NHL 15.
