By Nick Tricome
Follow @itssnick215
Almost seven years have
passed since EA Sports first brought its hockey franchise to the Xbox 360 with
NHL 07. The series has only improved in the years since.
So with all the
advancements EA has made following its first attempt at hockey for the HD
generation, does NHL 07 still hold up? It's tough not to say yes.
The bread and butter of
each game released in the NHL franchise during this generation of consoles has
been the gameplay mechanic that was first introduced in NHL 07; the skill
stick.
With the skill stick the
controller's left-analog stick acts as a player's skates, while the right acts
as a hockey stick.
Shooting and deking can
only be done with the right stick, and even though later installments in the franchise
have made the gameplay feel more fluid and natural, NHL 07 still plays great.
Skating and player
animations appear limited compared to later games in the franchise, especially
with NHL 13 and its True Performance Skating engine, but there are still plenty
of great looking goals in the game.
NHL 07's shootout mode
is usually the best place to find those goals and serves as the perfect introduction
to the skill stick, so much so that EA drops you right into a shootout between
the 2006 Stanley Cup Finalists (Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes) the
first time you ever play the game.
There are plenty of
great looking goals within regular games as well, but they also come with their
fair share of garbage goals.
There are times where
you are going to wonder how the puck possibly found the back of the net. In
most of these cases, the goalie will be able to cover up the puck, just for it
to somehow slip between his pads.
These goals are frustrating,
but they don't happen often enough for them to become a problem. Plus, like in
real hockey, there are a few garbage goals every now and then.
Along with the shootout
mode, there is also EA Sports World Tournament, which pits national teams
against each other, and Dynasty mode, which is really just another way of
saying franchise mode.
With only three game
modes to accompany the standard quick game, NHL 07 is lacking compared to the
most recent installment, NHL 13, which offers far more game modes and allows
most of them to be played online.
While NHL 07 does have
online play, the game released at a time when online gaming was just starting
to become the norm, so the most you get out of the experience are ranked and unranked
matches.
Unfortunately, the
game's servers have been shut down, so you won't be able to experience NHL 07's
online games anymore.
NHL 07 may not be as
well refined or have as much to offer as later installments in EA's hockey
franchise, but the skill stick mechanic that it introduced is in the core
gameplay of every NHL game that followed, allowing the game to age gracefully.
However, another aspect
of the game that makes it fun to revisit is just seeing how far EA's franchise,
as well as the NHL itself, have come along.
Going from NHL 13 back
to NHL 07 made me realize and better appreciate all the changes and
improvements hockey games have made over the current generation of consoles,
which is something that is harder to see on a year-to-year basis.
It is also amazing to
see how much the roster and overall look of your favorite team has changed in
what feels like such a short amount of time.
You will be marveling
over how bad your team used to be compared to how good they are now, or, sadly,
the other way around. Unless you're a Thrashers fan, then you would be looking back on the team you used to follow before they moved to Winnipeg.
While going back and
seeing the players your favorite team used to have could be reason enough for
you to go back and play, the fact that NHL 07 still looks and plays great at the
end of this console generation is also reason enough to pick up EA's first stab
at hockey on the Xbox 360 again.
So does NHL 07 still hold
up years later? Definitely.
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