EA Sports (PlayStation 2, Xbox, 360, PlayStation Portable, PC)
Rated Everyone
Unlike some sports sims, video hockey is fun for anyone with even a passing knowledge of the game. In NHL '07, stick-handling and stick-faking are all easy to do. The shooting system is highly accessible too.
In most hockey games, the skills of the players you control don't actually match up to those athletes' real-life stats. In NHL '07, however, the shooting stats finally make a significant difference.
On the downside for newbies, the game's documentation is terrible and barely tells you what the controls do, let alone the rules for the sport itself. At least EA's rugby title had an onscreen tutorial. Not so here. And thus the NHL loses a chance to make any new fans.
One more word of warning: The game isn't remarkably better than last year's version. In fact, if you have NHL '06 and you're not looking to play hockey on your 360, just stick with the old version and save the $30.
