''NHL 15'' is an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

EA Canada EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...

and published by

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

. It is the 24th installment of the ''NHL'' series and was released on September 9, 2014 in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

then three days later in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The game serves as the debut entry in the series for eighth generation consoles, receiving releases on the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

and the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

Development

''NHL 15'' introduced integration of ''

NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...

'' presentation into the game across all modes in an effort to increase the game's realism, including on-air graphic elements on

and

, and as part of separate deals, the lead commentary team of

Mike Emrick Michael "Doc" Emrick (born August 1, 1946) is an American former network television play-by-play sportscaster and commentator noted mostly for his work in ice hockey. He was the lead announcer for National Hockey League national telecasts on bot ...

and

Eddie Olczyk Edward Walter Olczyk Jr. (; born August 16, 1966) is a former center in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He ...

, with TSN analyst

Ray Ferraro Raymond Vincent Ferraro (born August 23, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian former professional ice hockey player and currently sports commentator, broadcaster for NHL on ESPN, ESPN/NHL on ABC, ABC and formerly of TSN Hockey, TSN. He played for 21 se ...

as an ice-level analyst. Full motion video of Emrick and Olczyk was also shot, allowing them to be digitally inserted into pre-game introduction scenes. Lead producer Sean Ramjagsingh explained that Ferraro was chosen in order to appeal to the Canadian audience, and because he lived near Vancouver—meaning that he could easily visit the EA Canada studios to record new dialogue reflecting events occurring during the NHL season. NBC had previously collaborated with EA in ''

NHL 14 ''NHL 14'' is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. It is the 23rd installment of the ''NHL'' series and was released in September 2013. However, the game was released on September 7, 2013 for subscribers of ...

'', which offered a feature that selected teams playing in upcoming telecasts. The ''NHL on NBC''

score bug A score bug is a digital on-screen graphic which is displayed at either the top or lower third bottom of the television screen during a broadcast of a sporting event in order to display the current score and other statistics. History The concep ...

can be switched to a transparent view in order for players to be shown at the top of the screen, if necessary. The PS3, and Xbox 360 versions were based on ''

'', which included ''

NHL 94 ''NHL '94'' is an ice hockey game by EA Sports for the Sega Genesis, Genesis, Super NES, and Sega CD, as well as the first release for the IBM PC compatible, PC (DOS), simply titled "NHL Hockey", without the "94" in the title. The game is official ...

'' Anniversary Mode.

Gameplay

Playoff Mode

Playoff is a single player mode that allows the player to create a custom tournament bracket with up to 16 teams from the 12 leagues available in the game. The player can choose to play each game or simulate the outcome, all the while tracking the stats of their own team. Gameplay settings such as injuries and difficulty level can be customized.

Be a Pro

Be a Pro is similar to Playoff Mode, but puts the player in control of a single player of their own creation, gradually leveling up the skills of their player.

Be a GM

The player is the manager of the team, tasked with organizing the roster and the acquisition and trade of players.

Team Play

An online game mode in which players play teams compete against each other, with team members played by individual players.

Soundtrack

In the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One versions, the in game licensed soundtrack only plays in the in-game arenas, as well as the ''NHL on NBC'' theme during intros, intermissions, and outros, while the menu music was an original orchestral-rock score composed by Sonic Fuel (Joshua R. Mosley).

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews, according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. GameSpot praised the gameplay and improved in-game physics and improved graphics, but expressed concern over the removal of many features compared to its predecessor, with ''IGN'' and other reviewers voicing similar concerns over the removal of gameplay features.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nhl 14 2014 video games Electronic Arts games EA Sports games NHL (video game series) PlayStation 4 games Xbox One games PlayStation 3 games Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games