Eastside Hockey Manager is back!

Eastside Hockey Manager is back!

Yesterday SI Games and Miles Jacobson announced a return of Eastside Hockey Manager ('EHM'), of sorts. EHM was a game developed by SI Games in the mid noughties and it was ceased in 2007 due to struggling sales making it untenable to continue. Since then the original has continue with fan content to update it but there haven't been any new games. 

EHM is a great thing to have back and it is basically Football Manager but for Ice Hockey. Currently it is on Steam at £9.99 for Early Access but there is a brief 20% discount for those who own a FM copy through Steam. The benefit of having early access is that, as SI have stated, it allows people to play and test the game and to see if there is a market there that would be interested in the full game should it become an annual release again.

In terms of the actual game there is some work to be done for sure. The layout feels a little clunky in places and the text clashes sometimes. But overall the use interface is helpful to those who will be perhaps playing for the first time and also for those who are trying to find certain things. One improvement that I think could be made would be to have a bar across the top, similar to the old Football Manager's to make it easier to navigate. 

The game play is good and smooth. There is an incredible amount of detail in the game that surprised me when I first played it. For instance stats such as the shots taken in a match and what area of the net it was on are there to look at. You can also go in depth with statistical analysis to help you judge your team and manage them more efficiently. With the  NHL recently adopting advanced stats this is a good thing to have.

The level of options in the tactics is incredible and ranges from the option to choose where to shoot on the opposition goalie to what individual play styles you want each line to have. For instance, do you want to have a tough, rough, physical fourth line? Or one that joins in the scoring to take pressure of your top players. The only downside is that it is hard to navigate and I think it could do with tidying up to make it easier to use.

There are currently only a handful of leagues. Those being the NHL, AHL and ECHL in the United States. The Canadian Junior League system along with the Swedish, Finnish and Russian ones. It gives it an international feel and opens the game up to a number of possibilities. There will be more leagues added where there is interest and they're able to get help from the community. The game currently doesn't have licensing but that is something that can be fixed with fan made roster updates.

In all, I believe this is a good start for the franchise to begin again. Having worked with Sports Interactive and SI Games in the past I know that they will do their best to give this game a chance but they won't do so at the risk of affecting the Football Manager series. There are some areas that need to be worked on but for an early access it is promising as there are no game breaking or major bugs as is often the case with these types of releases. I'd give the game a 7/10 with the potential to improve.  I'm looking forward to playing it over the coming months and If It is successful I will return to it on this blog.