Few would argue that EA Sports’ NHL franchise has reigned as the king of hockey video gaming for over a quarter of a century. Sure, there have been competitors over the years – most notably Sega’s NHL 2K and Sony’s 989 Sports’ NHL FaceOff each taking their own stab at the league – but none have maintained the consistent level of quality and garnered the repeated degree of critical acclaim as EA Sports’ flagship franchise has. EA Sports continues the legacy of excellence with their latest release, NHL 17.
After two decades of NHL titles, you would expect EA Sports to be reaching perfection in their craft – and for the most part with NHL 17, they have. The innovative gameplay additions and modifications that highlighted the early years are getting fewer and further between. What we once thought was groundbreaking, is now the commonplace. To think that the Skill Stick control scheme is celebrating its 10th birthday this year, and still remains relatively unchanged listed adjacent to the heralded two-button “NHL 94” scheme in the Controls sub-menu, it stands as evidence that EA understands that sometimes it’s best to leave perfection alone.
That being said, I really don’t need to address much in terms of gameplay mechanics because they remain relatively unchanged in their fluidity, speed and overall sense of experience – which as I alluded to before, is a good thing. EA has improved on the Goaltender response, introducing a new fancy-sounding “Reactionary Save Intelligence” mechanic. Frankly, I couldn’t see much of a difference from earlier iterations of the game, but then again, I’m generally more focused on the puck than on the goalie.
The only other gameplay feature EA has added is what they have titled “Net Battles.” In a nutshell, these Net Battles allow gamers to lock up opponents in front of the net with a long button hold. Players lock up in one of a variety of ways, and a pushing match ensues until one player gives up, or a referee blows a whistle.
On offense, the Net Battle will help gamers assist a teammate in shooting, by blocking the sight lane of the goalie while simultaneously taking a defender out of the mix. Obviously, the offensive Net Battle will come into play more in team play (local or online) or in the Be A Pro mode, where the offensive gamer is not always in control of the puck handler.
It is on defense where the Net Battle really makes a difference, allowing gamers to likewise tie-up opposing offensive players, muddying up the shooting lanes and reducing the chances of one-timer goals. Regardless of the case, gamers need to be careful not to lean too heavily on net battles as referees will not hesitate to send players to the box on interference calls, putting the opposing team in a critical power play.
Again, I want to emphasize that the gameplay changes in NHL 17 are minimal simply because EA Sports really does not see the need to mess with a winning formula after twenty-five years. Likewise, the gameplay modes remain relatively unchanged – other than a few name changes and some minor modifications here and there.
Take for instance the Franchise Mode which is little more than the new name for the “Be a GM” mode – which itself was once the new name for the, you guessed it…Franchise Mode. So yes, there is a bit of going back to basics, except for that the Franchise Mode of today lets gamers micro-manage not only every aspect of their own team, but also of their team’s venue – letting gamers manipulate ticket and concession prices, and set up special events, all in an effort to build the most revenue for the team. It’s a little overwhelming for those who simply want to play a good game of hockey, but for those with aspirations of living the high life of a sports team owner.
NHL 17 sees a return of the Be A Pro mode, in which the gamer takes on the role as an up-and-coming rookie, working his way up the ranks from farm team to NHL. After playing extensive sessions of single player, Be A Pro takes a little getting accustomed to as it forces the gamer to be locked on a single player and hold a specific position. When the player’s line is subbed out, gamers can either sit and spectate from the bench or simulate to the next line change. The gamer’s Pro is rated after each shift for their performance offensively, defensively, etc. which sometimes can be a bit disheartening when what seems like a productive shift is graded with C’s and D’s for poor performance.
NHL 17 also features a return of their fantasy-style lead called Hockey Ultimate Team or HUT, which has gamers earning (or buying with real cash) card packets containing players. Gamers can then build a fantasy team using the cards they own and pit the team up against others. Earlier this year it was reported that EA has amassed over $650 million in micro transactions from their Ultimate Team modes in NHL and FIFA, so apparently gamers like this mode – but I find it a bit tedious.
Given that 2016 sees the real-world return (and recent culmination) of the World Cup of Hockey, EA Sports has included it into this year’s roster of gameplay modes. Unlike Soccer, where the world cup comes around every four years, it has been 12 years since the last World Cup of Hockey, so its inclusion really is something special even if it isn’t presented all that ceremoniously. Yes, the announcers reference (constantly) about how much more important a game is when representing your country, but otherwise there is very little to separate it from the standard season play. I wanted to see more energy in the stands, maybe some host country flair – but we get little to nothing aside from sweaters with flags. Finally, NHL 17 once again offers up their own online league – the EASHL – where gamers can meet up and form virtual teams to play across the globe.
For the most part, the game is all-A’s, but there are a few stumbling blocks here and there. For instance, I am finding myself increasingly annoyed with EA Sports menu systems that seem to be modeled after Microsoft’s Xbox/Windows menu panes. Sure, they look interesting, but they are not intuitive and finding specific submenus always seems like more of a chore than it should be.
Likewise, the in-game presentation is lacking – at least in terms of the play-by-play commentary, which is mundane and repetitive, all the while still struggling to keep up with the action on screen. The game does a decent job with the in-game replays and overall, the visuals were pretty amazing, but it just doesn’t present the same degree of presentation quality that FIFA or Madden seem to be able to deliver and improve on year after year.
Also – and this was noted by my children as well as myself – the delineation of difficulty between Semi-Pro and Pro is far too dramatic. Playing a game in Semi-Pro, it is incredibly easy to be up 3-0 by the end of the first period even with a mediocre team. So, we switched to Pro, only to have the opposing team score four unanswered goals. Switch back to Semi-Pro for the third, and we score two and win 5-4. And we repeated this over and over; we couldn’t make ourselves lose on Semi-Pro difficulty, but couldn’t win – much less score- with the same teams on Pro. We tried to mess with the gameplay sliders, but the span really seemed a bit too great for what it should have been.
Still, NHL 17 is great fun – it’s a beautiful game of hockey that has a few hiccups in terms of presentation.
