This debacle really set me off into checking out past EA hockey titles and I really think NHL 15-19 had the best presentation EA has offered to date. The NBC overlays, the arena/city skyline at the beginning, the light show on the ice with the team entering, and a real analysis of the captains and goalies. Doc and Eddie even reference both face off centers for each team before puck drop.
Goals were actually analyzed, and periods were reviewed after each frame. Plus the camera angles were realistic during replays. Behind the glass, as if you’re seeing a real broadcast. The cinematic slow motion 360 stuff is ridiculous in the new titles.
Sadly the level of detail they put into presentation in 15-19 will never come close to being topped. I know this because it’s EA, for one. But also because those titles were pretty maligned and I think EA just collectively throws them in the “garbage bin” of ideas due to this, never to think of them again.
I don’t know who the Presentation Producer is anymore - it was Ben Ross, but I believe he is now a Lead Designer… but I really wish they would get somebody in there who was meticulous with presentation detail. It can be done, and done very well, with voice stitching and situational dialogue. It’s frustrating that we haven’t gotten true next gen play-by-play or broadcast quality presentation.
And now with NHL 23, in the year 2022, it’s literally worse than two decades ago. Imagine that. I mean really try to understand that.
