Dan over at AUNOnline.com has posted a detailed article where he says that he has been very impressed by the game and EA Sports have rightfully earned his $60. He compliments the revamped menu system and was happy that the demo was not ruined by long cutscenes, this is great news for hardcore gamers who want to get some serious hours of hands-on time behind them. In the demo you can play a standard game against the computer and the two teams available are the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks – apparently the roster is almost exactly the same as it was in the playoffs, but there is no Mark Recchi as he has now retired. By the looks of things you can also try out the Hockey Ultimate Team game mode and the revamped Be A Pro mode

AUNOnline looked deeply at the game’s statistics and criticized some of the decisions, apparently last year Tim Thomas was an 89 following one of his worst-ever seasons, this year he broke records, however only went up one point. Statistics could change before the final game arrives (September 13) and Dan hopes so as he feels that some stats seem biased.

In terms of gameplay and graphics you will notice great improvements, apparently everything looks crisper and shadows are much better, but it has been noticed that hits don’t seem as powerful, perhaps this is a slight bug as everyone loves big loud hits in NFL, this needs to be in the game! As for the rest of the game’s physics there is said to be more realism, you will notice different skating styles and more life-like puck movement.

You can check out AUNOnline’s article for more details, we must mention a few problems / annoyances such as dekeing, inaffective wrist / snap shots and the boring announcers, read the source for more information.

Have you played the demo? If so, feel free to post your own mini review in the comments section below.

More About: EA Sports, NHL, NHL 12

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Each year EA choose a hockey player who has had a phenominal season, therefore Stamkos wa an obvious choice, he has been a solid rock in Tampa Bay Lightning throughout the year and when the EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page asked its fans who they wanted on the cover Stamkos’ name came up multiple times. One person’s comments summed things up by saying “Steven Stamkos whit the All-star jersey on Becuse he is maybe the best player in the world right now and hes career only going up”.

Stamkos was extremely honored to be the game’s cover star, he had this to say on the matter “I’ve grown up playing NHL videogames so it’s an honor to be chosen for the cover this year”, he has also revealed that his one-knee, one-timer signature shot has been featured in the game (see below).

Apparently soon there will be a feature on the EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page which will allow you to see yourself as the game’s cover star, if you “Like” the Facebook page you will be able to pick your favorite team and upload a picture to make your own personalized NHL 12 cover, neat eh? Note: At the time of this post this feature was not available, hopefully it will be online soon.

Some creative fans of the page have already submitted their own images which show themselves as the cover star, you can see these here, we are impressed, are you?

Last year NHL 11 saw Jonathan Toews become the worldwide cover star, whilst the twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin featured on the front cover of the game in Sweden, also Mark Streit got the honors for the game in Switzerland, currently we have not heard if NHL 12 will have different cover stars in different regions, therefore we will have to keep you posted.

Below we have embedded an image showing the cover art for the game, obviously there will be console branding etc added to it, however the basis of the front cover is there. Do you like the cover art? Are you happy with Steven Stamkos being the cover star? Let us know in the comments section below.

More About: EA Sports, NHL

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