Executive Hockey

In my very limited time with the game, it felt very bare bones. If the NHL license is a big deal for you then you may want to skip this. You can edit the names and such, but why bother when there's a much deeper hockey simulation with the NHL license in Franchise Hockey Manager 5. This game may be fine for a casual hockey simulation, but unless they make massive additions to it, it's not in depth enough for me personally.

Mobile game at best. You can tell immediately that Executive Hockey is overly simplistic and doesn't take itself seriously - neither of which are good for a management text sim. Anyone who has done some programming will probably think that they themselves could write something similar. And yes, I could determine all this in 20 minutes (my game time isn't accurate) and you will be able to determine it that fast, too. To give a major example, a players performance in EH is dictated very much by the team he plays for and not how good he actually is. Assuming I've read the modifiers right, if you take over a 'challenging' team and sign a player, he will only perform half as well for you as he would for someone else. I mean, yes, you could certainly say that's challenging but that's not the type of challenge most games of this type give you. Limit the finances, or limit what players will sign for a club with a low rep. Don't make the players perform vastly differently on different teams. That said there aren't any good hockey management sims out there, so I can't blame you if you want to see for yourself. But if that's the case, wait for a big sale.

PROS: - Game is stable - Player evaluation is different from other game and I like the idea CONS: - The UI lacks polish (a scrollbar should be added to lists, some of the lists are small and hard to navigate like the roster screen on the left) - Drafting and prospect development feels incomplete (no scouting, scouting or monthly report, hint on who might develop better) - The hover view on players is inconsistent and disappears after a few seconds - There is no easy way to view another team roster - I suggest adding a small guide to explain at least player tags, skill range and skill effects - Calendar screen doesn't allow to move between months - No option to view detailed past player or team statistics (only player career) - No end of year trophies - No career milestones The game has a lot of potential and could position itself as an alternative to Eastside Hockey Manager and Franchise Hockey Manager as a more arcade and easy to get into game. Kinda like Baseball Mogul is compared to Out Of The Park Baseball. Game is stable and sims quickly, but at the moment, it is a bit incomplete. I'll check back in the future and may pick it again if some of these are addressed.

Good game overall. I do however have a couple of tweaks to look into. I think there should be a better way to view the players skill and how they develop. Giving the option of a skill tree of some sorts would go a long way. Also, I think the game could be better with better control of the team, such as powerplay breakouts, forechecks, etc.

All the fun of managing a hockey team without the uncomfortable suit! Seriously, why do the hockey management folks wear suits? Never understood that. Anyway, the game seems to have quite a bit of depth for a management sim and it's fun to watch the games play out, then make tweaks, and repeat. Probably appeals to the same side of me that likes to rearrange my furniture all the time. Also the newer Early Access releases have solved all of the playability issues I had with the early versions, with the exception of the interface buttons, which are still rather small on my Surface Go (but that computer is also the size of an ant). Overall, promising sim and I'd much rather play this than those big budget hockey games!

This game has come a long way since its initial debut on Steam. It has all of the features you would expect in a hockey management simulation, and the game outcomes seem realistic. It's worth checking out if you're into these kind of games.