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NHL 15 is supposed to be a sequel to last year's entry in EA's long-running hockey series, but it takes some serious steps backward. Dedicated fans aren't happy.
People have gained access to the game of graceful ice dancing (and also HITTING EVERYTHING) via EA's new, er, EA Access program, which lets people try full games slightly ahead of release. According to Operation Sports (among many others), the following features from previous installments of the series are stuck on the bench this season:
Modes/Features
No GM Connected
No Online Team Play (when this is patched into the game later this year, it will use real NHL players and teams)
No EA Sports Hockey League
No EA Sports Arena
No Online Shootouts
No Live the Life
No Be A Legend
No Winter Classic
No tournaments or Battle for the Cup
No season mode (you can only play seasons in Be A GM, which is limited to NHL teams)
No NHL 94 Anniversary mode
No custom music support
No create-a-play designer
Cannot customize each team's AI
No create-a-team
No way to edit individual players
Practice mode is now limited to one skater vs. an AI goalie
Gameplay
No custom camera option
No Action Tracker replay highlights
No Top 3 Stars at the end of games.
Be A GM
Yearly draft is fully automated by the CPU
Cannot play the AHL games for your chosen franchise
Players sent down to the minors do not accumulate any season stats
No fantasy draft option
No preseason games
Be A Pro
No option to sim ahead to the next shift
You only play in the NHL; you cannot play for minor league teams
The Memorial Cup tryout period is gone. You now begin by picking an NHL team, or by letting a random CPU team draft you.
No All-Star game
Ultimate Team
Cannot play against your friends
No tournaments
No mobile app
So yeah. There's kind of a lot missing.
It's important to note that NHL 15 was primarily made with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in mind, whereas NHL 14 was an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game first and foremost. The new consoles allow for all sorts of snazzy new physics tricks and Dynamic Cloth Spanielization (or something), but the foundation built on those older platforms appears to have been lost.
Longtime fans are pissed, despite the fact that the trade-off is—in some ways—understandable and the new physics/engine upgrades are apparently pretty cool. Though EA never explicitly promised any of these features, it's kinda hard to justify buying a skin-and-bones sequel in an annual series when previous entries threw in everything except zamboni-mounted kitchen sinks.
