NHL 15 Reviews

NHL 15 is ranked in the 17th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Sep 16, 2014

NHL 15 offers stepped up physics and superb visuals, but it's a regression for the series due to a significant number of missing features.

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4 / 10.0
Sep 14, 2014

As someone who plays every NHL yearly release all year long, it is unfortunate to see just how badly this has gone. I can somewhat understand taking out 6v6 online play if it wasn't ready, but taking out features in Be a GM or making Be a Pro completely unplayable is just ridiculous. If you are not a hockey fan at all but you want to slap around a few pucks, this might be the game for you. However, with all the lost features and left out modes, NHL fans might want to wait until everything is patched in to jump on this ship. EA Sports:  it's in the game… eventually.

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4 / 10
Sep 16, 2014

Considering that EA Sports took an extra year to craft NHL 15, the wealth of missing features here is inexcusable. The solid, exhilarating gameplay is still present, and feels better than it has in a couple of years, but the astounding absence of features and game modes overshadows everything that the game does right. . . . Put simply, this is not a complete game.

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Sep 10, 2014

Whatever steps forward NHL 15 has taken in visual presentation hardly make up for the alarming gutting of many of the series' best features.

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Ken Barnes
Top Critic
5 / 10
Sep 9, 2014

NHL 15 plays a great – if somewhat atmosphere-free – game of hockey, but the sheer amount of modes missing from the package as a whole mean that unless you become obsessed with Ultimate Team or enjoy playing severely limited career modes, there's very little to actually do.

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50 / 100
Oct 7, 2014

NHL 15 is not very good. It's not whole. But I keep playing, because it's enough.

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5 / 10.0
Oct 5, 2014

NHL 15 may be a step forward in terms of gameplay and presentation, but it's a step back in nearly every other way. New players and those dedicated to the franchise will probably find something to like here, but everyone else will be left with a huge sense of missed opportunity.

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2.5 / 5.0
Sep 9, 2014

NHL 15 is one of the most frustrating sports releases to date. The core experience has been markedly improved.

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5 / 10
Sep 14, 2014

NHL 15 proves how little EA Sports respects the intelligence of gamers, charging full retail price for a game that can't compare to last years offering. Even if this is the only hockey game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it is not worth your time or money.

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USgamer
Top Critic
Sep 8, 2014

NHL 15 is right to focus on improvements to the gameplay and the presentation, but they aren't nearly good enough to justify the cuts made elsewhere. It dazzles out of the box, but it doesn't take long for the upgrades to feel shallow in comparison to what's missing. Ultimately, NHL 15 feels like a major misstep for a franchise that doesn't necessarily have a lot of room for error.

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GameSpot
Top Critic
5 / 10
Sep 8, 2014

New generation graphics and marginal gameplay improvements clash with a lot of missing features in NHL 15.

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Sep 9, 2014

Devoid of many important modes and features, NHL 15 feels incomplete, and will not appeal to long-time fans.

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NZGamer
Top Critic
5.5 / 10.0
Oct 2, 2014

I have always enjoyed EA's NHL games, and what there is of NHL '15 works. But, it's not what's there that's the issue, it's what's missing. And, for what's missing EA Sports needs to spend a lot of time in the penalty box.

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5.5 / 10.0
Sep 12, 2014

NHL 15 is missing too much to recommend to anyone but the most ardent diehards.

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Polygon
Top Critic
5.5 / 10.0
Sep 16, 2014

NHL 15 missteps badly in its introduction to the current console generation

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5.5 / 10.0
Sep 9, 2014

Hockey fans are better served playing the old-gen versions of the game

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57%
Sep 15, 2014

Compared to previous efforts, NHL 15 falls incredibly short on new-gen platforms. Missing a swathe of modes, you can't help but feel that the franchise's debut on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is something of a puck up. Disappointing.

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6 / 10.0
Sep 25, 2014

In the end, NHL 15 feels like the skeleton of a better hockey game. Even with the missteps, the core game mechanics are solid and provide players with some fun hockey experiences. Those who don't care much for anything beyond this will be pleased with what's on tap. For those looking for the more involved modes the series has traditionally offered, they are either missing or watered down to the point that they feel like inaugural attempts rather than classic modes that have been tweaked for the better. The game will be patched to address some of these issues, but as far as what's on the disc or initial digital download, it seems like a step backward. With the groundwork already laid out, the hope is that NHL 16 will be a more complete hockey package. For the time being, NHL 15 just isn't what fans are looking for.

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Digitally Downloaded
Nick H.
Top Critic
Sep 24, 2014

I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing with the Red Wings or getting drafted in my Be A Player mode, but I could not help but be be disappointed with the lack of depth that I have come to expect from an EA Sports title. I love that more updates are planned, but a full-priced game should not be incomplete in the first place. Taken from within a vacuum, NHL 15 is a perfectly solid hockey title, however longtime fans of the series are bound to be disappointed by the things that they have grown used to over the years that are missing.

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6 / 10.0
Sep 23, 2014

I would not say that the game-play is drastically different when compared to NHL 14 from last year, but the game-play somehow feels much more lifelike.

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