I think it's fairly average. I like the skill stick as usual, and it's hockey so of course its fun! However this game has quite a few problems.
The ui is painfully slow. It's enough that I have to wade through 4 different sub-menus to find information, but when there are 5-15 second load times in between menus that's unacceptable. The menu should be close to instantaneous. This game is menu heavy, it needs to be quick. I don't mind the layout TOO much but it could do with a redesign to make content more manageable. They seem to have gone with this "tile" display that is in vogue right now. I'm not really sure if it's the right fit, it looks nice but it's not very functional. Take a page from Out of the Park Baseball, they do menus/ui right.
The AI isn't very good. Either the AI is constantly getting in the way or too far behind the play. I'm going on a rush, where is everyone? I'm forced to wheel around so everyone can catch up. I'm trying to setup a one timer, the other player may be in position but he's not facing the right way (or the game decides to whiff on a shot that's perfectly open). Also the opposing teams AI seems to decide when it's time for them to score and constructs pin point accuracy goals in the slot on a whim while the dance around my defensive ai players like pylons.
Defense can be improved. Body Checking is a coin toss. Sounds reasonable until you SUCCESSFULLY complete a hit and it somehow benefits the other team by bouncing their player ahead of the play, or, having knocked a player down, leaves you out of the play while they still have ample time to get back up take the puck and have room to skate away with it.
Other Annoyances. Too many times I go to pickup a puck and the player will just skate right past it. Too many times i'll lose the puck for no good reason. Cut scenes in between the play and during instant replay seem to be running at a terrible frame rate. The new skating engine feels more realistic and overall it's improved but in many cases it feels like i'm trying to slog my way through mud rather than darting around and carving turns on the ice. These are professional athletes, they shouldn't feel like i'm trying to turn a freighter when i'm making a turn. I'm not sure if this is due to input lag or what but the overall responsiveness of the game feels sluggish in comparison to say, NHL 3-on-3 arcade.
A lot of these issues are things that have been problems for awhile now. I like the improved physics, I like how we can tie players up in front of the net and cause battles. And like I said the skill stick as always feels great.
