Quick Look: NHL 15

"Should've aimed higher."

"You can aim?"

I'm a pick up and play exhibition man myself, so I wasn't all that concerned with Alex's review regarding missing features. Then I heard him say NHL 94 controls were removed...

I'M OUT!

I'd love a deep dish of Caravella. I'd eat it with my fumblefingers.

@hammondoftexas said:

We're so excited that Papa Vinny is back! Just ask these amazing fans!

I'm flashing back to Vampire the Masquerade here...

Go Devils! Jagr will never retire, he will be playing well into his sixties and still be the best scorer on his team.

Feels weird to hear Vinny on Giant Bomb again; he almost seems like a special guest, and not an OG member of the staff, mainly because he's been gone for a while and his absence from both podcasts.

Yay! Welcome back Vinny :D

This game is all the way in the uncanny valley. Call me in 5 years when animations don't look so hitchy and awkward.

@alex@vinny I dunno, I think this goal I got was more garbage than Vinny's. But when you're down 5-0, you'll take anything to break the shutout!

VINNNNNNNNYYYYYYYY!!!! I'm so happy :)

At least hockey season returning gives me an excuse to watch the best-worst hockey movie again: Sudden Death.

I didnt know eb games was still a thing looking at side boards

Hahaha, holy shit... that reaction...

Welcome back, fellas!

Bruins fan here! This year's game is not very great. Already traded in my copy. Planning on going back to NHL '14 when friends come over to play.

@vetterli said:

To Vinny scoring in OT? Yeah, that made me break out in full-blown laughter!

Who the hell is Edward Appleby? Does he own the Xbox? Does he work at TVGuide?

Greatest ending to a quick look in some time.

Man i hope FMV is coming back to games, its pretty great !

So they are doing the same thing again? Every new generation they strip things out so they can add them back in again a few things each year and call them "new" features.

@duecenage: Well, that's the Oilers for ya.

Go Flames. Go, you stupid terrible shitty Flames.

The shirt-tech is terrible. That is NOT even remotely realistic. They really looked at that and thought damn awesome. Let's keep it!

Great QL, that ending!

I know this game is getting a lot of heat for its missing features, but as a pure take the Wings to the Cup simulator this quicklook may have me sold.

Welcome back Vinny! Congratulations on #2!

"Didn't Tim Hortons get bought by Microsoft?"

@alex the biggest problem NHL15 has is that the EASHL online mode was taken out and I don't get why this hasn't really been mentioned in any reviews. There's a MASSIVE community of online leagues that have been playing online NHL for years and it's just gutted this year. It makes no god damned sense, that was a marquee feature (at least up here in Canadia).

10 of my friends aren't buying it this year because of the removal, many of whom were waiting for NHL15 to buy XBones, but no longer!

@Vinny is back with a vengeance! What a way to end this Quick Look!

I have never seen anything Hockey related before. But this thing is just soccer on ice. I had no idea. Over time that ends in shootouts. 1-0 games and off-sides. Why do Americans have such a hard time with soccer, and at the same time be fine with this goofy "shit"?

@maxopower said:

Plenty of Americans like soccer, they just need something to root for.

There should be a feature on the site where Vinny does commentary for sports that he vaguely understands, the "pinch of salt" comment was fucking gold.

*Holds out hand* It's good to have you back, Vinny.

You should probably watch a real hockey game before deciding what hockey is. Few games end in shootouts, and fewer still are 1-0 games. Also, none of them involve players faking gruesome injuries every four minutes before getting up and running away, so there's that.

@junpei said:

At least hockey season returning gives me an excuse to watch the best-worst hockey movie again: Sudden Death.

Man Sudden Death was so good. Luc Robitaille cameo! Van Damme as a goalie!

Go Canucks Go! (Queue the riot and Boston Bruin jokes)

That puck ain't gonna hatch!

Yeah, so I bought the PS3 version and...wow. The old gen versions are just NHL 14 with new commentary, roster updates, and a different soundtrack. I kind of really wish I didn't buy it.

@billyok: Also most Americans would put ice hockey/hockey next to soccer/football in terms of "sports they don't care about". I'm American, I'd know

Also, Americans call it "Ice Hockey," which is adorably quaint.

This is true.

When a hockey player is carried off the ice, his gruesome injury is usually for real.

@eliot_maas: I just feel bad for you

So great to watch a good vinny and alex QL... especially after the disaster that was Dan playing Metro Redux.

Okay, what's the deal with all this NBC shit? I though Americans didn't care about Hockey. Let's get the Canadian broadcasters in there. Tell me with a straight face that the game wouldn't have been bumped up several notches of coolness by having the "Hockey Night in Canada" theme song in it.

Also, Don Cherry, just saying.

I 100% agree with this. For me personally it's the best game on a next gen console that isn't on PC.

@melodiousj: I mean, colloquially, it's hockey. But I was doing some research today and kept getting weird results until I googled for "ice hockey". It's not that weird. People differentiate between regular and water polo, not to mention field and street hockey.

Welcome back, Vinny! I'm a crapface!

Depends on where you are located I guess.Born and raised in Pittsburgh and with the Pens peaking in the early 90's as the Pirates began their two decade slump hockey has become huge in these parts. Now it's the Pens and Pirates playing well with the Steelers playing like garbage. I don't know what to believe anymore.

VIIIIIINNNNYYYYYYY! Congratulations on the procreation!

This comment hurts my brain.

Are you seriously going to judge a sport by watching two video game journalists, who know very little about Hockey, play a VIDEO GAME about Hockey?

If we were going to judge sports by the video games based on them, I would actually think soccer (or football depending on where you are from) was actually fun to watch, which guess what, after watching years of hockey, It Isn't!

Watching grown ass men flop around on the grass after every minor collision trying to draw out some kind of penalty is fucking disgusting and makes me cringe every time. Players in hockey take hits to the boards at 40 mph and hop back up and chase that puck!

I didn't mean to turn this comment into soccer bashing, but since you made the comparison I feel as though it is necessary. Please watch a single game of hockey before shitting on it, because it is an awesome sport filled with incredible athletes.

(also, it is rare for games to end either 1-0 or in a shootout)