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Several times, players from a team that was shut out would earn a star over my goalie who shut them out. It was not uncommon for an opposing player with 0 points, 1 shot on goal to get 2nd star in a game where I had multiple 3+ point players. They guy who gave it a one-star rating is on the right path, though he's overblown the situation. It's not that hard to pitch a shut-out, so to speak, and, conversely, it's not impossible to score 10 goals.
Can't do that here.A minor flaw was in the game's ability to choose awards. This game is a very good simulator for hockey. or a player on my team with 2 goals + 2 assists.Finally, everything in the game is from the 2006 season, which is getting pretty dated now.EA should have spent more time refining the goalie system and in-game features and less time populating all of the weird global hockey leagues that most people wouldn't miss. To get 10 goals, you need to approach 50 shots.At the end of the day, regardless of comparative goalie rankings, expect your team to shoot an aggregate of 16-20% and the opposing team to about than double that. My average game was 7-2, and I would approach 40 shots on goal against around 6 for the computer.Still, the most frustrating part to me was in-game adjustments. I never figured out how to do this -- only between games.
To shut out the opposing team, you need to limit them to no more than ~10 shots on goal for the game. Gives you lots of control over players without making the game so complex that it turns you off (baseball game designers: pay attention). I love checking stats during games and after the game ended. The only posted stats are for the 3 stars of the game. No end-of-game stats. The computer could do things like change goalies and lines during the game. My goalie led the league with close to 20 shutouts, but not once earned a star for his effort. Frankly, EA could dump 50% of the features in this game, add better in-game support, and add more variability in the goalies, and the game would be 100% better.
So, it's a real good game to play from game-play and graphics perspective.Where the game falls apart is with the goalie performance and in-game adjustments & stats. Having played an entire season, I could discern no difference among goalies. My forward led the league in +/-, hits, SH goals, and takeaways, but he did NOT get the award for the best defensive forward. I'll start with the goalies. This was the biggest irritation for me. So, yes, this aspect is frustrating. The problem is on how to do both. Ratings meant nothing.
He says it is his favorite game for his PSP. He played it on the airplane all the way to Florida and says he likes it really well and is still playing it alot. I bought NHL 07 as there was no NHL 08. I bought this for my grandson.
My son was very excited to get this, we had been looking for it for too long-- prefect.
Thank you for finding this game for him. I bought this game for my grandson and he plays it all the time. He plays little league hockey so he "knows it all".
I have not been able to put this down sense purchasing it I highly recommend it to those of you who love hockey.
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