If you make a comparison of games over the years, starting with 23. Back then. The game had more poke checking. Hits or body checks were more abundant, and counted when needed in an objective. Goalies, although weak in certain areas, didnt flop on the ice like fish. 24 saw a start to the change. They introduced the shoulder check, which reduced the wide open hitting of the previous years. It also, hindered the objectives that called for hits, due to the lack of definition as to what a hit constituted. The interference penalty became more prevalent, and was mostly do to the AI commiting the infraction. Goalies still maintained their inabilities to actually perform like an NHL goalie. I will skip 25 as i would be almost duplicating my comment on 26. In this years version. The poke check has been handicapped. No longer can you freely use this tactic effectively. Checking. Where once you were able to line up on the AI opponent. Now there seems to be an algorithym that allows the AI player to dodge open ice hits. And again. No difinitive meaning as to what a hit constitutes in regards to objectives. The body checking now resembles more a pin ball game, where players you attempt to hit, just bounce off. Just look at the game stats at the end of a game. The AI in the majority of cases out hits your team. The AI can effectively poke check your player, without a problem. But the same cant be said about you against the AI player. Penalties have now been severely reduced. The interference call is still a problem, do to it mostly being the AI that warrants the penalty against you. But! How many times have you seen the AI team be called for that same infraction. Even though interference is a constant by the AI. EA i believe, needs to stay with that which works, and stop introducing venues that dont. Or if they do, make sure they are open to fixing when broken. In retrospect. The game overall is still a decent game. But it can be much more than just decent. Listening more to the community, might be a good place to start.
