Reviews, Gameplay, and Interviews
How to Play
Control Schemes
Gamepad
Keyboard & Mouse
Action
Description
Keyboard & Mouse
Move the mouse cursor to the location you want the player to skate towards. Every frame, the player will point towards the mouse cursor and skate in that direction
Gamepad
Point the left control stick in the direction you want the player to skate.
Keyboard & Mouse – hold down the space bar
Gamepad – hold down button west.
Regardless of the control scheme, holding the sprint button will cause the player to skate faster. But be careful, every second you hold down the sprint button, you are burning energy.
(Note: You can see how much energy you have left by looking at the bar above your player’s head. Energy regenerates over time.)
Keyboard & Mouse – hold down ‘E’, or left-click, aim your shot with the mouse.
Gamepad – hold down button north, or right trigger, and aim your shot with the control stick
The longer you hold down the shoot button, the more force the shot will have. However, the wind up will slow your player down to a stand-still, leaving you vulnerable to being hit. The shot will travel in the direction of the yellow paint streak that pops up in front of your player.
Keyboard & Mouse – press ‘Q’, or right-click
Gamepad – press button south, or left trigger
No need to aim your pass, as the computer will handle that for you by passing to the exact position of your team mate. Be careful though, this pass is really only useful when your team mate is standing still or moving slowly. If you want to give a lead pass, you should use the shoot button to have full control of your aim.
Keyboard & Mouse – press ‘W’
Gamepad – press button east
Point your player in the direction of your opponent, and press the hit button to knock them over. This is a great form of defense as it renders them unable to move for a while. Be careful though, if you miss your hit, you’ll go flying past your opponent putting your self out of the play. Hits also burn half of your energy, so use them wisely.
Keyboard & Mouse – press ‘W’
Gamepad – press button east
If you see an opponent coming to hit you while you have the puck, don’t sweat it, use your block. Just use the same button as ‘hit’, to stick out your arm and block the hit. You can’t do this forever though, since blocking burns energy every second you hold the block.
Player Skills
As you progress through career mode, there are six core skills that you can level up. Each skill value ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being the goal value. However, you can level your skills indefinitely (past 100), barring any limitations posed by the game engine.
Strength:
How far you knock your opponent back when hitting.
Skating:
How fast your player moves when you are not sprinting.
Stamina:
How fast you recover energy after you burn it.
Checking:
How long it takes your opponent to get up after you check them.
Sprinting:
How fast your player moves when you are sprinting.
Shot:
How fast the puck moves off your stick when you shoot it.
Local Multiplayer
For local multiplayer matches, follow the prompts on the top of the screen. The messages will have each player connect in a specific order, so make sure only one person is connecting at a time. Connect by pressing any button, and if you’ve messed up, press select on your corresponding controller to start over.
You can connect multiple gamepads via wired and/or bluetooth connection, even if one person is playing on the computer with mouse and keyboard.
Career Mode
In career mode, you take control of your own player and start your own team in the Bronze league, Division 3. You’ll be matched up with a partner and a goalie, but you can always trade your team mates for other players you encounter as you progress through the leagues. Try to work your way up the ranks and see if you can make it to the CHL – elite league, where there is no skill cap on your opponents!
The Leagues
In each league, there are 3 division (D3, D2, and D1), with D1 being the highest. Each season is a 5-game round robin tournament, with 6 teams total. The top 4 teams make it to the playoffs, where the semifinal games are seed-1 vs. seed-4 and seed-2 vs. seed-3. The winners of the semifinal play for the championship. During the 5-game round robin tournament, teams are ranked according to the following formula:
Team Points = 3 x nwins + 1 x nOTL + 0.1 x AGD
By these rankings, a win is worth 3 points, an overtime loss (OTL) is worth 1 point, and every goal in your aggregate goal differential (AGD) is worth 0.1 points. This also means that if your aggregate differential is negative, you can lose points from your team score.
Bronze League – The average player has an overall score between 10.0 (D3) and 30.0 (D1).
Silver League – The average player has an overall score between 40.0 (D3) and 60.0 (D1).
Gold League – The average player has an overall score between 70.0 (D3) and 90.0 (D1).
CHL/CHL elite – The average player has an overall score of 100.0 in CHL, but there is no cap in CHL elite.
Stats Tracking
You can track your team and player statistics throughout your career, and the game will always save all of your data. As a player, you will also earn individual points, which are calculated by the following formula, where goals are worth 3 points, assists are worth 1 point, and hits are worth 0.1 points.
Player Points = 2 x ngoals + 1 x nassists + 0.1 x nhits
Player Stats
Every season will show up as a new entry, and will show the number of games you played that season (GP), the number of goals (G), assists (A), and hits (H) you accrued, which will contribute to your player points (PTS). The table will also remember what rank you ended up with that season.
Team Stats
Every team you play on will show up as a new line, regardless of the number of seasons or games were played with that team. You can move teams by changing the brand of your team between seasons, or by trading yourself to a new team within a season.