Frankly, I don't understand the reviews saying how great this game is, mainly because of the gameplay and the CPU's and AI's effects. They must have a lower standard or perhaps play in different parts of the game that work better than the one I like to play, which is Be a GM.



I like the way Be a GM is setup now. You don't have to earn XPs now, in order to improve your staff anymore. It focuses more on the players. You can call team meetings to, hopefully, improve player morale. Depending on the message you choose, it can cause player morale to go up or down.



And I also like being able to see the players attributes, during a game I'm playing, for when I need to make line changes. The one improvement, would be being able to also see the players chemistry with teammates during a game.



I agree with other reviews about the AI being unbalanced and screwed up. This has been a problem since NHL 13 for the PS3. I complained about it to EA, and they still haven't fixed it in NHL 16. EA is bad about not fixing problems or taking forever and a day to do so. I've been playing this series since NHL 98 for the PC. There was one version back then that had a pretty good AI, at least it acted more sensible. The major problem then, was the game had a tendency to freeze up. I lost so many games because of that. When I bought my PS3 I was hoping that wouldn't be a problem anymore, but NHL 13 still had the problem. NHL 14 was the first version that I didn't have freeze up on me. It only took EA 16 years to fix it. So, I wonder how long it will take to fix the AI now?



I know AI stands for artificial intelligence, but I can't help wondering if it stands for something else, like absent intelligence, absolute idiots or idiocy, absolute ignorance, always interfering, etc. I say this because, to me, the CPU influences play, in favor of itself, too much. Like jnutz said, the CPU team's players play almost like perfect robotic machines, while it has my CPU controlled teammates playing like idiots, or someone who has no idea what the objectives and rules of hockey are, most of the time.



1. CPU players never miss passes, while my guys are missing, or failing to handle the passes, or sending the pass where I didn't aim, either way off the mark from the player I intended to pass to, often causing an icing, and sometimes going in the opposite direction. Often, the puck will go to the player I want, but they make no attempt to receive it, just watching it go by. This happens a lot in my defensive zone, especially passes I send around the boards. I've had this happen 5 or 6 times in a single effort to break out of my zone, and having the puck go right to the CPU's player. There will also be delays in passing the puck, especially with the goalie. I've pressed the pass button for my goalie and it would take a second or so for him to react, which is like an eternity in hockey. And when he does finally pass the puck, a lot times he sends it out into the slot, instead of to the player to the side or in the corner, where I indicated. It's crazy!



2. The CPU players are always on the puck and it has my players sometimes acting like they don't know what the puck is or what to do with it. One of my players would have the puck right next to him, and instead of skating a few feet to play the puck, they turn and skate away from it. What the heck is that about? Do they think it's a grenade? Oh no! I better get out of here!



3. My players, at times, will skate away from the opposing players in front of my net, for some arbitrary reason, and "leaving their post." Did someone call their name in the stands and they wanted to go talk to them?



4. The CPU players hardly ever fail to get their body or stick in the way of one of my passes. Even when I appear to have a descent amount of space to make the pass, the CPU players seem to find a way to get over there and intercept, deflect or block the pass.



5. The CPU players can take the puck from me quite readily with stick lifts and poke checks, while I struggle to get the puck away from them. If I knock the puck away or get possession, the CPU players often get it right back.



6. The CPU players seem to be able to react very quickly, while mine are slow to react to my inputs or on their own.



7. Most of the time the CPU has my player with possession of the puck turning the wrong way, towards the opposing players, instead of away from them to protect the puck. Stupid!



What really aggravates me, is when the CPU will not let me do want I want to, fighting against my inputs, and my players start doing all kinds of stupid stuff like mentioned earlier. It seems to "cheat," when it decides it's time to make its move, instead of competing fairly and intelligently. I will try to make a subtle turn or positional adjustment, but it will not let me move the way I want or where I want and prevents me from getting a good position, until I give more input, and then it moves me way too much. I will try to stop quickly, but I keep going for a relatively long distance before I do stop, and the same with reacting to the opposing players. I will try to skate toward an opposing player at the point to get in the shooting lane and block the shot, but I feel like I'm being pushed away, to the side of the player, like there is a force field around them.



When I switch player control, it frequently transfers to a teammate away from the play, like when I'm forechecking and want to switch to one of my other forwards, closer to the play, but instead the CPU transfers me up to my defenseman, away from the play. I will press the switch player button many times in an attempt to switch to the player I want, but it will keep switching me between the 2 defensemen. If it does finally transfer me like I wanted, it's often too late. I have the same problem in my defensive end. I'll want to transfer to one of my players near the net, where I should be, only to get transferred to one of my guys up at the point, away from the defensive play, and have the same difficulty trying to switch to the right player. It is extremely frustrating and aggravating. It feels like the CPU is always working against me, by preventing or interfering enough with want I'm trying to do, that by the time I'm able to do so, it's too late.



Also, when I switch to another player, the CPU doesn't seem satisfied until it finishes a certain amount of whatever the CPU had the player doing when I switched, not allowing me to really change much of the players actions for a second or so.



This problem with the CPU doing whatever it wants, and controlling, inhibiting and influencing what I try to do, when trying to defend in my own gets so ridiculous, that I will just put the controller down in frustration and just watch, and let it just do its thing, because it seems so pointless to bother trying anymore.



I really hope that EA will pleasantly surprise me and come up with a good update to fix these problems with the CPU's interference, inhibition and control over my attempted control and actions, and also improve the AI to make my teammates play like professional hockey players, instead of clueless drones.



I'm really glad I got this on sale and didn't pay full price. I recommend that you do the same and buy just the original version, and not the deluxe edition, because there isn't any difference in the game itself, from what I can see. From what I understand, the only thing you get with the Deluxe are HUT extras packs.