Very detailed simulation that you can lose hours in. You control the amount of control you have over your team, so you can do basic GM duties all the way up to controlling all scouting and strategy for each game. The great thing is you can multi-task while playing which makes it possible to watch hockey and play hockey all at the same time! This is early access so I expect the UI to get smoother and easier to use, it's not bad but at times it feels clunky and not very easy to figure out.

This game is like a drug and I am addicted. Honestly I can't get enough of Eastsides newest hockey simulator. Their previous games were great and this one is no exception.

(9.6 / 10) Well worth the eight year wait - Author: archibalduk of EHM The Blue Line

More than eight years after the Eastside Hockey Manager series was put on indefinite hold, the undisputed king of ice hockey management is back. A lot has changed since EHM 2007 was released in September 2006; not least the rise of the likes of Steam and social media. These platforms make niche games cheaper to launch and easier to market. Indeed, Eastside Hockey Manager: Early Access (or EHM:EA for short) is being released exclusively on Steam and is likely to be heavily marketed using platforms such as Twitter and hockey forums such as The Blue Line and HFBoards. Against this background maybe, just maybe, the game will become a more viable project than it was before.

This new iteration is being released as an Early Access game. The game will be continuously developed over the coming months with regular updates being pushed to users via Steam. To call it a beta version would be grossly unfair and inaccurate. The game is highly polished. It’s simply that the game will be developed whilst we play. The thinking behind this approach is to test the waters. If the game generates enough sales then it will return as an annual release. If not, then it won’t.

Full Review -> http://gmgames.org/eastside-hockey-manager-early-access-ehm-ea/review/

I had never played EHM prior to yesterday, I had followed the NHL afew years ago but had only recently watched ice hockey during the Olympics. The reason I gave this a go was because of its low price and the fact it seemed on the face of it similar to Football Manager. Whilst daunting at first I quickly got to grips with the interface and the basics of the game, whenever I hit terminology or anything I was unsure of a quick google was more than enough to gain an understanding of what I need to know.

If you're someone who enjoys Football Manager but would like an alternative to play I'd highly recommend it, especially at the price it's at. If you love hockey then this should be a no brainer.

I'd also highly recommend downloading roster updates and graphcis packs should you get the game to give yourself a more complete experience!

The 8 year wait is over! EHM has finally returned to take it's place as best ice hockey/sports sim there is! Giving the title of Early Access is almost an insult. The game is very stable and polished already. If you played any of the Eastside Hockey Manager games before you would be not wise to miss out on this, especially at such a reduced 'Early Access' price!

If you are a hockey fan you should buy this game. If you are a sports sim fan you need this game!

Thank you so much to SI Games for this special day! (Thank you Riz!)

The greatest game of all time is finally back on the market. After 8 years of playing a game which was release in 07, we finally have an update. The game is great and I can't wait for the next step. If you love hockey, this is a must have.

Before I start the review itself, let me start by saying that I'm part of the potentially big group that started liking ice hockey on their youth due to the Mighty Ducks trilogy. Yes, I'm one of those. And yes, you can imagine which team I'm playing with right now, the Mighty Ducks.

That said, here goes the review.

There's not much to say, considering it's a management game. Being from a well known developer, mostly known for the Football Manager (FM) series, you can expect to find some FM similarities. Any ice hockey fan, with an interest for managament games, will enjoy the game and will most certainly spend hundreds of hours playing it.
The gameplay is just you'd expect from a managament game, allowing you to set tactics, practice, and take care of the team's transactions. You'll also be able to lose yourself with all the statistics avaiable, trying to find that change that will allow you to tweak your tactic. But don't think for a second you can just grab all the big guns and ram your way through! You can also scout for prospects and develop them, so you can later use them to win the cup, or just use them as a bargaining chip.
It's your game, your team, your choice. Until you get fired.

• Plenty details;
  
• Good trading and contract system, considering the AI doesn't scam you, or lets you scam them;
  
• Quick booting and load/save system;
  
• Has a nice number of leagues, and hopefully more will be added soon;
  
• The match engine is quite good, and entertaining, with a few minor problems (see cons section);
  
• Good tactical interface, with a lot of options that can make or break your streak.

Considering it's Early Access, and they're open to suggestions, and also considering by the end of its EA state will be most likely be as polished as the FM series appears to be, I'll reduce my cons to what I've found in the actual game so far.

• Sometimes the players flip out a bit on the 2D engine, and either just stop for a couple second, or during penalties and faceoffs they just ram into each other until they find a way to go to their spot, so the play can start;
  
• UI could be a tad bit better, as somethings are harder to find;
  
• To withdraw an offer after all the parties have accepted you've to right click the player's name and manually withdraw it, as there's no "Cancel" option on the news screen, just a confirm option.

I'd give it a 9/10 considering it's EA status and the series long hiatus. Tons of potential.

If I'm not mistaken, they don't have the licenses yet, but you can easily get a "fan made" database to "fix" that.

Be-all end-all for hockey management and for sports management in general.

This is an early access of course, so there are some graphical hiccups and a lot of remnants from the 07 engine. Bring these expectations in mind.

No licensing so go to ehmtheblueline.com to get proper roster and graphics packages to install.

Like many Early access games, people tend to use the word "potential." EHM EA is no different. The difference with using the word here is that this is a reputatble company, with a development team that has a huge passion for hockey.

There are some advancements from EHM 2007 but it still is very close to the same game currently in terms of features. The AI is improved, the regen system has changed and development seems better so far. All the old bugs are fixed, I have yet to come across any new bugs and the stats so far seem more realistic than 07.

Although the more I think about it the more I'm saddened that SI wouldn't commit fully, It's better than nothing. It's finally back (sort of) and hopefully will stay for a long time! Thanks Riz!

EDIT: Expect the game to crash. Again it is WIP, so far the first season in each of my games works just fine but after that it can be hit and miss. I'm sure will be patched rather quickly.

READER BEWARE: Most of us have waited 8 years for this moment.

Playing as the Toronto Maple Leafs, started the year off great! adding St.Lois to bolster my first line. Started the year off 13-2-3 things were looking promising. Continued the year trading one win for a lose untill mid season. Trading for Erik Johnson to help with the playoff push. A couple games later things started to fall apart. Finding myself falling further down the standings. Now at the end of the season im tanking for McDavid.

Also best email ever "Hot Semin on scoring streak" HAHAHHHAHAAAH
10/10 for realistic simulation lol.

After an 8-year hiatus, EHM makes its return via early access and while the game is very similar to its most recent iteration, that does not hinder or ruin the experience in any way. As an early access game, this is a very polished and solid initial effort.

For those who haven't played EHM, the game is a text management sim where you take complete control of a team and attempt to use your skills as a general manager to take your team to glory. As the game is in early access mode, there are no official licenses or real players. However, www.ehmtheblueline.com has a very nice roster set, logos, and real team and competition names that provide that.

Unlike NHL by EA Sports, you are the General Manager and do not control the players during games. You sign free agents, hire coaches, scouts, and of course, trade as you desire. Additionally, you can set your lines, practices, and tactics. You also can promote and demote players between minor leagues and choose how to build your team. As you're unable to control your players directly, tactics are very important in helping you win games. The games themselves can be viewed via 2d mode where the players appear as dots with the puck, similar to the initial offerings of Football Manager 8 years ago, before it went 3D.


The game engine is solid and provides a decent way to watch games and observe your players. The minor gripe I do have with the game engine is that it does look dated especially compared with how SI has evolved its Football Manager franchise. Having said that, the fact that this game was developed as a side project by SI mitigates that gripe somewhat.

The menus are cleaner than EHM 2007 although again, not as intuitive as the newest Football Manager games. The other issue is that the game can only be run in one resolution which means that newer screen owners will not be able to view the game on a full screen. Hopefully, that will be addressed in a future update.

If you love Football Manager, Out of the Park Baseball, and text sims, you owe yourself the privilege in checking this game out. For $14,99, you simply can't go wrong. The more people that purchase this game, the more likely we will see official licenses and future releases. If you're an armchair hockey fan who thinks, sleeps, and drinks hockey, you definitely need to check this out. Disappointed that your team continues to build around a questionable core? Fix it yourself in EHM. You won't regret it!

Dreams sometimes do come true.

It's been such a long time since this title had a major revolution, and it's finally here, a much needed retool of this much loved product. i have only just downloaded it and gave it a whirl, but it has a feel of what should have been done to begin with, or should i say it's what it needed back on 2006 when they released it pre version.

I will say, it's still kinda sluggish on loading, and very work in progress feel to it, however i do appreciate it's a pre release and much has yet to be done to it. i also would like to see some new features on the staffing side, more participation by the board with trades, such as more pressure to get players, and more negotiations with board with the financial side, such as how much a player is worth in trades. i feel also scouting should be harder, and be far more specific to what your search requires, such as takes longer, and a better stat wise scout will get "much" better results. head coaches should be able to reject trades, and also suggest trades with other teams on the home page. for example "head coach" likes a "certain player" on a particular team, and we should maybe go on an offer for him.

i do feel however it has much potential, and there is alot of excitement on this release and i can see it being very populer with hockey fans.

I'm a huge FM and hockey fan so I'm amazed I've only found out about this series today of all days. I've only played a few hours but so far I'm liking it. It's got a lot of promise and has some really good elements from the FM games. The screens are easy to navigate and the stats are easy to find and read.

If you buy this game make sure to download updated rosters from The Blue Line as this is not a licensed game (yet). You might also want to download graphics and face packs to enhance your experience.

As Early Access games go this is shaping up very nicely so far and I am more than happy to support this franchise. Hopefully development continues and we get some really cool things implemented. There are already buzzing forums containing wishlists for the game so I'm really looking forward to what the future holds.

TLDR: If you are a sports fan/hockey fan and also like Football Manager you will love this game.

Eastside will always get my support and my money, whetever the cost. So many great memories playing this game over the last 8 years. The game currently is a polished version of the one released in 2007, but I hope with time and more community support there will be more features and more great memories!

Keep up the good work Riz and Miles!

I guess I don't HAVE to go outside more.

This.

I've been waiting for this for eight years, as many of you have. I've racked up hundreds of hours getting teams of young guns to reach the mightiest of prizes, the Great Lord Stanley's Grail. Countless nights of sleep were sacrificed when came the real season: so many sodas... so many chips (crisps, for our friends in the UK).

Bathroom breaks were (unwisely) postponed when my Habs played the Bruins (almost systematically) in legendary first-round skirmishes. Meals were skipped. Assignments were botched.

Life, however, uh, found a way.

And now, thanks to the dedication of the people at SI, I can rejoice (at long last) the return of the Prodigal Son.

I've only played a few hours thus far, but I am ecstatic! This is no beta test, this is a very polished, very stable game and it delivers. Plus, with the help of the just-as-dedicated people of TBL, there is a fresh, up-to-date roster pack waiting for you to be savoured. I don't think I could thank them enough for their generosity for the past eight years, nor would my words amount to their work.

I will say that the resolution (fixed 1024x768) is my main irritant, but it is in NO way a major source of irritation; it is merely an attempt at searching for a "con" amidst a very impressive number of "pros".

You're a hockey fan? Get this. Now. 16,99$ (yeah yeah, the Canadian dollar took a drop) is ridiculously low for an early access of this quality.

Love it!

A much more aesthetically pleasing Eastside Hockey Manager, limited but MUCH potential to be had. Lovely community, as well as responsive developers (also hard-working). Product as-is shows the amount of effort delivered considering my positive review.

So down to the nitty-gritty.

We've all been waiting for a sequel to Eastside Hockey Manager 2007 for quite some time, and the prophecy has finally been fulfilled! (With extra features, as well.)

So far there's no means of editing rosters yourself, as well as adjusting individual team salary caps (etc...) but that doesn't mean this isn't great. Considering this is early acces so far I'm very impressed, with EA Sports finally throwing the NHL franchise under the bus for no apparent reason (possibly to incorporate more revenue into their sales) this is a great alternative that you can enjoy while doing other things. Can't really comment on the sounds (since I don't really ever have sounds enabled,) I'm usually watching a Twitch stream and listening to music while playing this. Sometimes multi-tasking is far more enjoyable than just playing a game on it's own.

The game is highly functional, although it has it's share of erorrs and bugs (to be expected in an Early Access.) You'll encounter strange bugs such as fatigue-related bugs, or for some reason you can't hire Physiotherapists as Assistant Coaches? (Can't figure that one out entirely) However the engine is much more optimized, and simming even with all leagues selected is still impressively fast. Would love to see a lot more features such as online play, in-depth editing like we used to have with EHM 2007's mod "Eastside Hockey Manager 2007 Editor" made by "Eastside UK." That being said the amount of potential that this game still has is nearly infinite, and as is still entertaining and quite fun to poke around with.

It'll take some adjustment to get used to, since you can use F-Keys to navigate instead of doing it the old-fashioned click around (still guilty of doing such.) The newer prettier interface is much easier on the eyes, and the dark contrast makes people sensitive to light (like myself) finally have a sigh of relief.

There's also issues with potential, and entry-level contracts where they won't have the same conditions as they should but it's being fixed as I typed this.

The devs are quick to respond; patch, and otherwise bugfix any issues incoming.

There's not much to really say about a Hockey simulator, you can play multiple leagues such as OHL, NHL, KHL, AHL, Sweden's Leagues, etc... Trading is a bit awkward at times since for some reason the value conditionals tend to act strangely at this point.

My ratings will be a little bit askew since I feel there's no point in judging the audio for this game, since I don't really use the audio generally.

Graphics: 9/10
The new graphcis are stunning, definitely innovative in comparison although fairly basic. Team logo's however are NOT currently in the GM Selection screen, and that's fairly disappointing considering how nice of an aesthetic that is. There could be minor improvements such as better color selection on the save screen, to be honest it's really hard to look at (thankfully it's just a save screen.)

Engine: 8/10
The speeds are much better this time around, however it will randomly drag here and there but that's to be expected. Injuries are FAR too common, and a full offensive tactical is basically overpowered at this point. Defensive teams are offered no reward. There's a lot of improvements needed but this by far is not dissappointing in the least, setbacks are only temporary for Early Access games.

Customizability: 6/10
The game is fairly basic in it's initial stages, as I mentioned earlier no real way to edit the leagues completely. I'd love to be able to add, edit, and delete teams from leagues just to experiment around with them. Usually simulators like this will have a sandbox-ish feel, but I feel fairly limited to original concepts which doesn't really have a "refreshing" effect if you think about it. It'd be nice to at least edit rosters, and staff however - you can import EHM 2007 databases which you can edit at your own will but to be frank that's quite a bit of a hassle. Some more open modding support would be awesome as well, or at least - more settings to tweak.

Interface: 9/10
Takes a lot of getting used to, but the new F-Key navigation system is lovely once you remember it. The resolution however could use some tweaking, as having 1024x768 is so early 90's. I'm much in favor of being conservative, but with the times we should consider moving on to newer widely-accepted standards. Having at least 720p in Windowed would be nice, plus with higher resolutions you could add more to the menu-bar! Such as AHL and ECHL teams! However other than that the interface is very easy to look at with it's dark-contrasted feel. It's well designed, and guaranteed to not strain your eyes like previous releases would.

Functionality: 10/10
The game works great, minimal errors and crashing (haven't experienced any crashing or errors as of yet, although there's a few bugs lying around in the code.) So far I'm highly impressed with how much faster this game is compared to it's predecessors.

Sound: ?/?
Not counting this one because I don't really use the sound provided (if any,) as I said this is more of a leisure relaxed game for me when I just don't feel like doing anything else.

Overall: 8.4
Game meets overall expectations but has a lot more to be desired, this is by NO means of discouragement. The game is quite amazing as is, and works greatly as a simulator regardless of bugs. Early access is what it is, I can only promise the game functions quite well on it's own. If you were a long time fan of the EHM series, or are a disappointed FHM user then consider buying this. There's a great amount of potential to be had with this game, and for me to even give an Early Access game a score over 7 is impressive even to me.

tl;dr: This was totally worth the $15 I spent on it, in short.

Лучшая игра в жанре хоккейных менеджеров за последние 10 лет! Познакомился с серией в 2005, и уже тогда игра сразу зацепила своей детальной проработкой каждого момента хоккейной жизни. Если вы любите хоккей во всех мелочах: проработка своей базы перспективных игроков, отслеживание статистики игроков, подбор лучшего персонала вашей команды от скаута до главного тренера и многое другое, то эта игра однозначно для вас! Релиз игры в Steam (в будущем мультиплеер через steam) и обновления каждые 2 недели! Итог: шикарное возрождение серии, разработчики заслужили нашей поддержки!

The best game in the genre of hockey manager for the past 10 years! Play series EHM since 2005, and even then the game immediately caught his detailed study of every moment of the hockey life. If you like hockey in every detail: study its base promising players, tracking statistics of players, selection of the best people on your team to scout to head coach, and much more, this game is definitely for you! Release of the game in Steam (in the future multiplayer via steam) and update every 2 weeks! Result: royal revival of the series, the developers deserve our support! Great!!!

If you like the Be a Gm mode in the NHL games, you will be sucked into this. very addicting and in-depth game. I normally don't support early access games due to the fact majority never get completed, this is a developer I trust will make this great game even better if they see the support for it is there. For hockey fans I highly reccomend it, reccomend to anyone but very much so for hockey fans.