Initial Thoughts on NHL 25

Alright as promised my intial thoughts. Its early so I have not played around with creation or Franchise yet, will post thoughts on that at a later date. 

I like the look of the new main menu, as well as in the in-game menu. They look clean. I can say the same for the in-game scoreclock, looks good, we had talked about team logos looking good on there, but this is a big improvement from previous years. I like that after a goal the goal-scorers headshot appears on the score clock, nice addition. The soundtrack, once again, leaves a lot to be desired, but that is easy enough to turn off. A bug that was super annoying from 24 has carried over into 25, and that is that you save settings, but before every single game you have to move off of the saved setting, then back onto it in order for it to use your settings that you saved. Super annoying, especially if you forget to change it. EA_Aljo can we get this fixed please?

Alright in-game focus now. Already discovered 2 easy goals, but will let you all find those, and going to find those in every edition of the game. AI seems a bit better, but are still fairly slow to adjust and figure out proper positioning. Goalies are also a bit better, but still could use a bit of work to make them better, I might just up their game in the settings though. Hitting is definitely way better than last year, so huge W there, thanks for that. I also feel that the graphics improved. Still no extended pre-game intro, which we knew about, but its still a disappointment worth mentioning, as it impacts the overall immersive experience, so Big L there. After goal celebrations are still the same terrible ones from last year. Love the goal replays though, a lot more angles it covers and looks really good, big W there. Announcers, oh announcers how we love to hate upon you. Okay so Pounder still sucks and should be removed as an announcer, no question, she is extremely annoying. The other announcers use the same lines as the past several years, which is lazy, on a positive note though, the announcers do sound a lot more excited and engaged in the game, with the exception of Pounder of course, nuff said on that front. I actual like the One-Timer set up system, won't take me long to master that and utilize the heck out of that. The pressure meter bothers some people I know, but I have never really cared about it, I zone it out. For those who hate it though, would have been nice to see some changes in that regard. I also notice dthe skating did seem a bit smoother, still room for improvement, but will look for more on that front with updates.