- Publisher: EA Sports
- Developer: EA Canada
- ESRB Rating: “E" for Everyone
- Genre: Hockey
- Pros: Great gameplay; Hockey Ultimate Team; Be a Pro; excellent presentation; tons of options to suit any play style
- Cons: Soundtrack; options to buy in-game items with MS Points
Gameplay
The star attraction of NHL 11 is, of course, the action out on the ice. The core gameplay introduced a couple of years ago is still in place - passing with the right trigger and shooting and dekeing and checking with the right stick - and everything is surprisingly intuitive. The controls in general are very sharp and precise and feel great. The game overall is very, very close to what you see on TV. Pinning a player to the boards and fighting for the puck is just plain cool. Realistic physics make the game unpredictable as the puck will bounce and deflect off surfaces in unique ways. The A.I. has been improved as now your CPU teammates actually play good defense and make smart offensive runs, which didn't always happen in years past. New this year is that sticks can break, which brings with it new strategies and animations as players have to either play without or find another.
Something else worth mentioning is that NHL 11 seems more casual friendly than years past. It can still be a super hardcore simulation if you want (great for hockey die-hards), but you can also set it to casual difficulty or change one of the dozens of gameplay / A.I. sliders to make it more approachable. These options were available in the last couple of games, but it seems like they work better this year.
Features
EA
A second dynasty mode is also available in the form of Hockey Ultimate Team. Similar to the Ultimate Team modes in FIFA and Madden, you build a hockey team from packs of cards you earn by playing the game. Each player card represents a player you can put on the ice, and you play hockey with the team you have created. Other cards represent coaches and arenas and training boosts as well as contracts for your players. The idea is to build a powerful "deck" to use against other players online.
One feature we aren't fond of is that there are hooks all over the game to try to get you to spend real money (MS Points) on in-game items. Want to be competitive online in Ultimate Team? Not really feasible with the normal cards you get. You need to spend real money for the good cards. Want player stat boosts in Be a Pro but don't want to unlock them normally? Spend real money to get them early. We've seen these sort of options in EA games for most of this generation, but they seem particularly invasive in NHL 11.
Graphics & Sound
The sound is also very good. Gary Thorne and Bill Clement are a great commentary team, but some of their on-ice-specific quips and comments tend to repeat a bit too often. There are only so many ways to describe stuff, I guess. Better are their team and player-specific comments and back and forth banter between the two. One other aspect of the sound I really liked was the crowd interaction. They were spot on with cheers and boos and reactions to everything that was happening. I also really liked hearing chants of "MVP, MVP, MVP" whenever my Be a Pro character had the puck during the playoffs. I'm not crazy about most of the soundtrack that plays during the menus, which is a lot of boring hard rock / metal that sort of seems out of place.
Bottom Line
EA
