Review of EHM: Early Access at GM Games

[archibalduk]

I recently wrote a review of Eastside Hockey Manager: Early Access for GMGames and gave the game a 96% rating. The article has been published right now: http://gmgames.org/eastside-hockey-mana ... ea/review/

The review contains numerous additional screenshots which I haven't posted on TBL or social media. So head over to GMGames to take a look.

[cv81]

You did a great job with this.

[archibalduk]

You did a great job with this.

Thanks.

It was a pleasure. Hopefully the beginning of a great partnership between the two sites.

[Mattias.William]

Love how you snuck Sestito in there -- very subtle, masterfully done!

[archibalduk]

Love how you snuck Sestito in there -- very subtle, masterfully done!

Well spotted!

[CJ]

It was a great review Archi!!

[jesterx7769]

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat new EHM talk about surprise

[ForNever]

It looks so beautiful!

[dave1927p]

why the high score for customization? So far there isn't much customizable from what I can see...yet

Great review, Archi. Although giving it a score rubs me the wrong way but that's another story for another place

[archibalduk]

why the high score for customization? So far there isn't much customizable from what I can see...yet

Because it can be customised by editing EHM 2007 databases and then importing them into EHM:EA. Also, for the following reasons:

* There are additional import options in the import_config file - change start date being a big one - also changing preset rules/structures (2006/07 or 2014/15) and renaming competitions
* Names are no longer hardcoded and can be renamed to whatever we want
* At least one additional option in extra_config - (editing contract extensions) - possibly other options but I can't remember whether they made it into the game yet
* Ability to customise graphics

[archibalduk]

It's interesting how the game and my review have been received by some users on HFBoards. One person described it as propaganda which seemed a bit unfair. I hadn't appreciated that some people would take a computer game review to heart. On reflection, maybe I'd have marked it down one or two points, but not by much. Also, I reviewed it on the basis of being a standalone game rather than reviewing the improvements over EHM 2007 (which I wrote separately as a preview on TBL).

[jesterx7769]

I think you did a good job covering the basics while telling us some of the improvements. I am very excited about player roles as "good" players shouldn't automatically be good across the board (something that bothered me) also the size/weight favor of course was huge.

I am hoping young good players progress faster as well. Since EHM 2007 came out young players are playing along more in the league so it would be ncie to get that jump in skills at 18/19 instead of say 23-25

[Mattias.William]

If the score were based on a comparison with all of the other (non-EHM) hockey simulators, you would have had to give it over 100/100 in all sections... Sorry to be so critical of the other products, but my heart has always been here.

[bruins72]

It's interesting how the game and my review have been received by some users on HFBoards. One person described it as propaganda which seemed a bit unfair. I hadn't appreciated that some people would take a computer game review to heart. On reflection, maybe I'd have marked it down one or two points, but not by much. Also, I reviewed it on the basis of being a standalone game rather than reviewing the improvements over EHM 2007 (which I wrote separately as a preview on TBL).

There's a lot of haters on HF Boards. So many angry people.

[B. Stinson]

One person described it as propaganda...

[Elias26]

Thanks for posting this. I feel that quite a few people (even old EHM players) don't even know that this game exists yet. I found out by accident on reddit today. I never received an email from tbl & the one I got from sigames was titled football manager so I ignored it. I'll do my part in spreading the word tomorrow (I'll be too busy playing tonight) & I'm hoping it can get a front page spot on Steam to give it some traction and keep the EHM franchise alive.

P.S. Good to see all you guys alive & well. I haven't checked the site for over a year now

[cv81]

I believe your review to be fair. When you line up EHM next to the other sports management games, I can't think of anything that holds a light to it except Football Manager and OOTP. The user ratings back up your analysis. Second highest user rated game after OOTP 16 which is just about how the contributed reviews have gone. It's meant to be fun and reviews are from the writer's perspective. Some people are so sensitive. haha

The site is based on sports management games, what do people expect lol. The games are not in competition with electronic arts.

[archibalduk]

Thanks for posting this. I feel that quite a few people (even old EHM players) don't even know that this game exists yet. I found out by accident on reddit today. I never received an email from tbl & the one I got from sigames was titled football manager so I ignored it. I'll do my part in spreading the word tomorrow (I'll be too busy playing tonight) & I'm hoping it can get a front page spot on Steam to give it some traction and keep the EHM franchise alive.

P.S. Good to see all you guys alive & well. I haven't checked the site for over a year now

Welcome back! Nice to see another old face reappear.

I sent a PM to every registered user on release date so if you had email notifications on, you ought to have received a message. Unless maybe it went in your spam or your registered email address is out of date.

I believe your review to be fair. When you line up EHM next to the other sports management games, I can't think of anything that holds a light to it except Football Manager and OOTP. The user ratings back up your analysis. Second highest user rated game after OOTP 16 which is just about how the contributed reviews have gone. It's meant to be fun and reviews are from the writers perspective. Some people are so sensitive. haha

The site is based on sports management games, what do people expect lol. The games are not in competition with electronic arts.

Absolutely. In retrospect, maybe 96 is a tad on the generous side, but I'd say 90 - 96 is fair nonetheless. I was thinking of writing a bullet point list as to why I rated each category the way I did, but I can't imagine having the time. Ultimately it is only a review and people can take it or leave it.

[RomaGoth]

It's interesting how the game and my review have been received by some users on HFBoards. One person described it as propaganda which seemed a bit unfair. I hadn't appreciated that some people would take a computer game review to heart. On reflection, maybe I'd have marked it down one or two points, but not by much. Also, I reviewed it on the basis of being a standalone game rather than reviewing the improvements over EHM 2007 (which I wrote separately as a preview on TBL).

Your review was accurate, concise, and very well-done. I wouldn't worry too much about what other forums are saying, TBL is the only one that really matters.

[DUHLCOM]

I'm new to EHM, but it looks fascinating. As a huge fan of hockey, I can't wait to purchase this. But I have questions before I do.
All my questions are probably answered somewhere within these threads but I'm hoping this will garner me some answers quicker.

First off, how customizable is it? In other words, can I import imaginary player and team names/logos, etc...? Or in order to do this would I need to change or manipulate the info already within the program?

Is it possible to run an on-line league using EHM? This would be the root of my previous question, really. If I was to run a league I would want to allow other GMs to choose their own city and team names for example.

These are my two main questions but I may come back with more.

Either way, this game looks fantastic and I plan on making my purchase sometime this weekend.

Thanks for any assistance anybody can throw my way.

[archibalduk]

Customisation - You can add/edit players and teams (and many other things) using the Pre-Game Editor and EHM Updater. Just edit the EHM 2007 database and then import the data using the Import function in EHM:EA.

Online play - Not yet, but it will be enabled at some point during development.

[cv81]

Up to 7,630 reads as of May 10th, 2015. Kudos!