I mean you have it in Madden, but there you can hardly see the faces, at least in the NHL they don’t wear face blocking masks (except the goalie of course). This includes the create a player mode that hasn’t changed in many years and makes gamers wonder why they haven’t included the company’s touted Game Face feature. These upgraded touches to the hits, checks, and collisions with the boards are impressive indeed, but the rest of the game just seems to look very familiar. Graphically, little has surfaced in this year’s version that really separates it from last year, with the exception of some new hitting animations. Visually, NHL 14 is virtually untouched, which may not be a bad thing if you are new to the series. NHL 14 still plays an amazing, if not a better game of hockey than previous installments and it is still stunning, even if the series is starting to show some cracks in the ice.

NHL 14 is still great, don’t get me wrong, but the new and innovative features seem to be missing and have been replaced with a nice tribute to NHL 94 and improved fighting, but little else. NHL 14, while a step above EA Sports’ previous attempts, doesn’t seem to bring its ‘A’ game when it comes to offering loyal players new features to enjoy or experiences that they haven’t had in the past. That is of course as long as fans still ask for more and the developers refuse to take it easy and each year create the greatest versions possible of their beloved franchises. Every year we seem to come ever so closer to meshing the real and virtual sports worlds so that one day we might not be able to tell the difference. While they may have had or still have rivals, no one company has been really able to stand up to the attention to detail, authenticity, or realism these series bring to gamers. When you hear the words “EA Sports, it’s in the game”, there are those franchises that stick out in your mind like Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, and NHL.

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