NHL 11 Review

Great core gameplay changes and enough new content mostly overshadow the lingering issues that still remain

Posted by Alex V on September 15, 2010 - 5:07pm EST

Gameplay changes this year bring NHL11’s play to a new level, with very few details that differentiate it from the real thing. Even with all these great changes though, there are issues. The AI and goalies have been re-worked from last year in order to eliminate cheesy goals and glitches, which they have mostly accomplished. However, this has resulted in an almost aggravating experience when trying to score on AI goalies. Regardless if a goalie is rated 72 or 90, there seems to be very little chance that “clean” shots will hit the back of the net. Shooting from outside the slot or inside, the AI goaltenders stop everything, even if screened, and the only way to score results from rebounds. There are also a few very limited moves that result in a goal, which makes the game feel scripted and individualistic. Granted, these issues can be resolved with the Tuner patches that EA Sports releases occasionally, but as of now (tuner 1.01) the game is unrealistically difficult to score. At least with offline play, users can reverse to tuner 1.00 and have a better time against AI goalies.

Other AI changes were also aimed at shutting down last year’s issues, among them the cross-crease pass that resulted in a goal a majority of the time. This year, the AI defenders do a good job intercepting that pass – almost too good. Barely one out of 15 passes across the crease will even reach your teammate, which seems to be on the other end of realism spectrum that fans surely didn’t want to see. On attack, the AI is still finding it difficult to put a lot of shots on the net, but ends up keeping a close score with the player. While the player scores only once on over 25 shots from all over the zone, the CPU usually puts in one or two goals from just 10 shots or so. It has little to do with poor defense on the player’s part (who also greatly outhits the CPU), but more to the AI rubberbanding.

The new gameplay mode addition this year is Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT). If you’ve played the FIFA or MADDEN series from EA Sports, you should already have a good idea of what this mode is about. While for other franchises from the developer, this mode usually arrives as DLC, it is included on disk with NHL 11 at no extra cost. Players are tasked with creating their ultimate team by building up a roster of players (player cards) and earning Pucks to spend on new packs of cards. This is an online mode of play, to prevent cheaters from altering their player collections. Though you can still play offline matches and tournaments, with each one earning you extra Pucks to spend. The card packs that can be purchased either with Pucks or real money contain a varying amount of cards. Cards range from player cards to training cards and contract cards. Since there is a salary cap involved, the users must build their team carefully, and apply long-term contracts on players with a high potential rating. There is also a chemistry system, which means putting players from the same team or league on a line results in small bonuses during gameplay. Mostly though, chemistry has little impact on the game itself and is only there for those who really want to build a perfect team.

EA Sports has licensed the CHL this year, which means you can finally play as your favorite team from that league. Unfortunately, this league is limited in offline play to Seasons and Be a Pro. And even in Be a Pro, the players can take part in the Memorial Cup and if they get drafted and enter an NHL team, can never go back to CHL. This is realistic as per NHL rules, but is disappointing and makes the new league fairly useless in this mode. Speaking of Be a Pro, that’s about the only addition to this mode, which has been untouched otherwise. This will be very disappointing to fans of the mode, but at least you still get to experience all the core changes in gameplay.