PRE-ORDER BONUS for NHL 15 ULTIMATE EDITIONS:
Pre-Ordering the Standard Editions will grant you $15 worth of Ultimate Team Content (only available through online orders). Pre-Ordering the Ultimate Editions will grant you $40 worth of Ultimate Team Content (available online & in-store).
This year, EA’s long running NHL franchise takes a step out onto next gen ice using the new IGNITE engine and brings with it a few other changes. Stepping into the broadcast booth are Mike “Doc” Emrick and former Toronto Maple Leaf and Winnipeg Jet Ed Olczyk. Next gen editions will also feature former 400 goal scorer turned astute hockey analyst Ray Ferraro, who all package together with the game providing an NHL on NBC-like presentation.
This year’s game will also feature a heavy emphasis on physics and visuals. On the ice, you’re going to see much cleaner player body-to-body physics, and more realistic puck physics. The puck will react better to what happens off your stick, or as it bounces off the boards or players. How important was this to EA? During a May interview with IGN, one of the game’s producers divulged that they brought in an engineer that worked on the Large Hadron Collider to help compose what was necessary for this to work. That’s next level dedication, no?
Visual emphasis is something you’ll see much better on the next gens than the Xbox 360/PS3 versions. This comes in the form of revamped and re-rendered NHL arenas for the next gens and a huge smattering of crowd models. I still remember back to NHL 11 (the first game I ever reviewed) and the fact that I was completely turned off by the crowd. The game had taken such a huge step forward, but there was basically one crowd model waving flags with wrists that basically rotated 360 degrees. I don’t know if robot wrist man is in this game, but if he is, he’ll probably hide behind the approximately NINE THOUSAND crowd models that were created for this game. To put that into perspective – There are so many individual crowd models in this game that you could put all them into the average sized NHL arena, and you’d only come across an individual model twice.
In terms of sheer selection, NHL and FIFA take roster sizes to the next level. While the league selection in NHL 15 will be around the same size as NHL 14, that still means you get access to numerous European leagues, the CHL and even international countries (though a lack of IIHF licensing in previous years prevented EA from using actual World Championship or Olympic jersey kits.)
There’s no great curse or stigma attached to the NHL cover athlete like there is with the Madden games. NHL cover athletes have been immune for the most part to falling into obscurity or injury after their cover appearance, which will probably be refreshing news for Patrice Bergeron or PK Subban to hear, since one of them will have their name called as the new cover athlete at the NHL Awards this week.
You can get a head start on the action by preordering NHL 15 online at BestBuy.ca. By doing so, you’ll get $15 worth of bonus Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) content free of charge. This is your ticket to immediately building up a worthy team of allstars in the Hockey Ultimate Team mode. Like its counterparts in the other EA games, the Ultimate Team mode is a trading card-esque team building game in which you open packs of cards and/or acquire players from all over the NHL game landscape to build the best team possible. This mode has been going strong now for the last half decade since it was introduced as one of the crowning achievements of NHL 11.
Pre-Order NHL 15 for the following consoles and get in the game on September 9th!
Pre-Order NHL 15 Standard Edition for the Xbox One
Pre-Order NHL 15 Standard Edition for the PlayStation 4
Pre-Order NHL 15 Standard Edition for the Xbox 360
Pre-Order NHL 15 Standard Edition for the PlayStation 3
As always, there is an Ultimate Edition coming out for all consoles as well. Pre-Ordering the Ultimate Editions will grant you $40 worth of Ultimate Team Content. This content is available through pre-orders both online and in-store.
Pre-Order NHL 15 Ultimate Edition for the Xbox One
Pre-Order NHL 15 Ultimate Edition for the PlayStation 4
Pre-Order NHL 15 Ultimate Edition for the Xbox 360
Pre-Order NHL 15 Ultimate Edition for the Playstation 3
Supplies are limited on the Ultimate Editions, and in some cases sold out already.
Closing Trivia Question: Which former cover athlete is now a current NHL Play by Play Announcer?
Answer: Randy Moller, the voice of the Florida Panthers. He’s shown shoving Rod Brind’Amour on the cover of NHLPA ‘93
