NHL 12

By Reardon Jones

Melbourne; the most liveable city and sporting capital has added the Medibank Icehouse to it's pedigree.

So we thought we would follow suit and give NHL12 a go and despite my hatred for cold, wet weather, NHL12 instantly got me fired up.

I will tell you one thing, having shaky knowledge of the sport of Ice Hockey didn’t deter me from whacking the game on and not suprisingly the game came through with some really enjoyable moments.

In terms of a sport simulator NHL 12 comes pretty close to perfect. With improved physics, the hits and the biffo look better then ever.

Every tiny detail is included that fans of the sport will appreciate (For Example, for the first time ever, getting the Goalies involved in Melees with the players).

The gameplay gets pretty intense and at times I found myself frustrated with the level of difficulty. But as with most games, practice makes perfect.

The players have their own physical traits, making the tactics and gamestyle vary from team to team. Certain players have the ability to be crazy accurate every time it counts and others have the hardness and strength of a rhino when defending.

Commentary and replays are nothing new in sporting simulators yet NHL12 provides a great selection process regarding which moment to replay.

The Commentary provided by Gary Thorne and Bill Clement is authentic and entertaining, however like most sport games, can get repetitive depending on the length of match time.

NHL12 offers a variety of game modes to support the quick match option. Be a Pro Mode is back, with the gamer doing the hard yards in the CHL hoping to be selected in NHL draft.

The NHL Winter Classic puts gamers outside in the elements for the annual New Years Day event.  This mode is a visual treat as the snow falls across the outdoors hockey rink situated at Heinz Field Pittsburgh.

The introduction of Be a Legend is another mode in NHL12. This entails the gamer to take up the mantle of one of Hockey’s legends. Like Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Gordie Howe and the Great Wayne Gretzky.

Take the legend on a journey from winning the Stanley Cup to defining "another" awesome career.

Ultimate team mode enables gamers to collect and trade players, deal with injuries and contracts and ultimately lead your team to success. 

If you, like me, spend a lot of time trying to hit people (I have watched The Mighty Ducks) then NHL12 won't disappoint. The bonecrushing, glass shattering hits into the bench give the game a genuine, authentic look. And to put it plainly, it's really fun and it just looks fantastic.

So it's not surprising that the 'non-ice-hockey' guy after every goal kept chanting "Quack" like an idiot. For the more diehard fans of Ice Hockey this game will not disappoint. It’s fast, it's fun and it's pretty cool.

Quack.

Game: NHL 12
System: Playstation 3, XBox 360
Developer/Co-Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: EA Sports

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)