Amazon.com: NHL 07: Playstation 2: Video Games

27 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
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3.1 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)

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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Takes a step back from previous years...., October 8, 2006

By	David Roth - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

As an avid hockey fan who wanted to finally get a chance to play with Sidney Crosby, I had been awaiting this game for a while now. While you will see a lot of the reviews harp on the negative, I'll try to keep it as even as possible with pros and cons, because lets face it, everything is going to have negatives regardless.

For starters, as is usual with the NHL games from EA, the rosters are updated.....with last years draft class. So for those of you who want to play with a Crosby/Malkin line, sorry, you're gonna have to wait til next year. It's a little frustrating that it works this way, but this is how the rosters have been for years with the release of the games.

The gameplay is virtually identical to its predecessors with a few major tweaks. Mostly this being the control scheme. Essentially what EA was going for was to set the controls so that you use both sticks to play (left stick move, right stick pass/poke check) and that leaves shoulder buttons for shooting, speed boosts and so on so forth. While I do know a lot of people who like this scheme, I found it to be too awkward and clumsy. Maybe it was just because I have become so accustomed to the classic controls from years past. Either way, I switched it back to an identical scheme as NHL 06. The other major control change from 06, there is no more special shots with star players. I was a little disappointed by this. Even though they never gave you a higher chance of scoring, those shots were just fun to try. Other than those two things though, nothing has changed here.

For the people complaining about the audio and the commentary, it's no different than it has been in years past. Very little has changed with the commentary. There are a few new statements here and there and even some conditional ones during the intro to a game (one guy said some things about the '92 Stanley Cup between the Penguins and Blackhawks). As for the music, I've never been a fan of EA's music choice, but that's me. It's primaraly made up of bands that are just under the radar of mainstream and are usually rock/emo in genre. A few songs are decent but thankfully the ability to turn them off is still in the options menu.

The AI in this game is a bit better than previous years. All characters fit into one of six different player types that will ideally make them react in ways more realistic to their real selves. For anyone who is a big fan of hockey, you're bound to find a few players that seem to be catagorized wrong, but hey, EA is trying something new and I at least give them credit for that. Goaltending is still a mixed bag. It really doesn't matter what the goalies ratings are as it seems any shot has a chance to go in. For fun, I created a 99 rating goalie and played against a 85 rating goalie. No sooner than I'd score they would tie it up on higher difficulties. Unless you play really strong defense, there will always be a goal scored against you regardless.

For the game modes, back is the Season, Dynasty, Playoff, Shootout, Free-for-All and online set ups. Pretty much all the same except for a few things in Season and Dynasty mode. This year you have the option of not just playing a season in the NHL, but also the minors and some foreign leagues as well. Certaintly not as exciting, but it is new none the less. Also when managing salaries and rosters, you now have the ability to send players to the minors in order to clear some cap room for signing a new star player. While you can really spend a lot of time doing this and getting really in depth, it can take a long time to get a real idea of what exactly is going on and how it will affect your cap in the end.

Overall, it is a decent game. If you have an issue with the controls, you can change them. If you have a problem with the audio, music or commentary, you can turn the off. From what I've noticed most of the complaints are only about the base settings of the game and people haven't bothered to tweak the settings so they can enjoy the game more. That's why options menues are there. So if the base setup doesn't work for you, change it. Once you find a comfortable mix of options, the game is still fun, just as it has been in years past. While I wish they would have left some things in from NHL 06, the game still remains entertaining. While it may be a step back, if you are a hockey fan at least give it a try. Rent it first if the changes made make you kind of weary, but just make sure to change the options if they do and not just lash out about how bad the game is, because when it all boils down, it's still a good game.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible, November 28, 2006

By	M. Chodaczek - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars

One of the worst made hockey games I have ever seen. Anyone who watches hockey knows that the Sabres have incredible speed, but I find that even with Afinogenov I cannot win a race to any lose puck. Forget about chances at breakaways because the A.I. defense is incredibly fast. On the other hand, your defense is slow and cant check anyone. It is almost impossible to hit anyone or pokecheck the puck, so the most you can accomplish on defense is to let them take tons of shots and pray the goalie doesn't let in more than 5.

The new offensive controls are very nice, but winning every game 10-8 is not what a hockey game should deliver to a person looking for some shread of defense. A.I. system is lousy; your team is very slow no matter what while players like Chara can skate circles around those like Afinogenov or Kariya. Do not spend $50 on this game.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK... Just Ok., June 15, 2007

By	Derrick Hoffman (Le Sueur, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

Well, the controller set up is just plain awful. Three games played and I just wasn't feeling that new layout so I went back to the old set-up and then this game really becomes fun. One simple fact is that there is too much scoring in this game, even if almost every goal that you score is really cool.