When people look back at their youth it's often through rose tinted spectacles and everything seems like it was much better back then. The food you ate had more taste and the days never seems to end. These days there is not much that you can put your finger on and say that it is definitely better now. That is apart from NHL games for Xbox & Playstation game consoles.
You no longer have to push a white dot which is supposed to be your puck around the screen. You also no longer have to control featureless white matchstick men around a rink either. You do on the other hand still have to play the game for enjoyment.
Not all progression in presentation means that you will end up with a better game. Lots of the time all you need to enjoy yourself is the basic shapes but you need something. Something like speed and or accuracy to test your reflexes and skill.
The greatest games ever played were not great because they were visually stunning even if they really were. They were played over and over because people enjoyed playing them. Having a really great and playable game is much more fun than looking at something that is just pretty and can hardly move. OK so there have been games that have been very successful without the great looks of today's big titles. These have been successful due to the intelligence of the games's inventor. They have known what a player wants and it might not always be a complete NHL league line up with all the stats to go with it. But I bet all that up to date information helped a lot when the players were choosing their best line up to compete against a friend. So with all the information, the game play and the good presentation in today's NHL titles, it's no surprise that they are as popular as a child with sweets in a playground. Like all games consoles and the sports titles that go with them, the hockey titles have progressed a great deal. Really that has been key to making hockey games that can be played on a games console. They have had to make something that a true hockey professional has put their name to in many cases. So it's not just about making something that looks pretty but is awful or slow to move. On the other hand it is not been a good idea to make something that has been easy to move but looks terrible.
People and especially the younger generation of today are extremely luck to be able to play NHL games for Xbox & Playstation game consoles the way that they do. So much has been done over years of development that it's hard to comprehend what early games were like. Suffice to say they were cumbersome at best.