Review: NHL 17 delivers exhilarating gameplay and adds new depth to old modes

Platforms: PlayStation 4 (reviewed) and Xbox One

Developer: EA Canada

Publisher: EA Sports

MSRP: $59.99

Introduction:

It was the final period of the game, the score was tied 4-4. The two iconic hockey rivals, the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers were faced up against each other. Just minutes were left on the clock. I had to lead my team, the Islanders, to victory or face humiliation and a disappointing defeat. My team had gone through so much to get to this point and we weren’t about to give away a victory that was almost in our grasp. My sweaty hands clench my controller like an NHL veteran would grip their stick. The two rivals meet at the center of the white arena and await the referee to drop the puck on the ice so we can get back into the action.

The puck hits the ice and I swipe my stick and pass the puck to my teammate with just two minutes and thirty seconds on the clock. Our skates glide across the ice at swift speeds, kicking up clouds of white ice behind us. We rush the goal hoping to gain the lead, I pull my stick back hoping to slide the puck in for a goal as one of the members of the opposing team comes up on my side and slams me against the glass surrounding the ice rink. The puck slides away from my control and quickly becomes open for the taking. Members of both sides fly towards the puck at lightning fast speeds as the puck continues to slide briskly across the cold ice. Three people (two members of my team, one from the other) reach the puck at the same time and quickly fight for control, eventually slapping it away in hopes someone else can take control. John Tavares slides in to take control of the situation and grabs hold of the black circle while I take control of Tavares. The clock feels as if it’s ticking faster and the minutes that were projected on the clock become just seconds. Tavares swings around the opposing goal, puck in tow, and looks for an opening as the goalie bunkers down in a defensive position that feels as if he’s covering every single possible gap.

With just mere seconds left and tension rising, Tavares finds that opening that the goalie is failing to cover. A small gap on the lower left side of the goal reveals itself. Without hesitation, I pull my stick back once again and swing for the small crevice and the small black puck flies gracefully through the air. I hold my breath for what felt like an eternity in hopes that the goalie doesn’t react fast enough to catch the projectile. I hear a loud ping sound as the puck bounces off the metal portion of the goal and let out a victory screech and drop my controller as the buzzer alerts the arena of the winning goal for the Islanders. The game ends and Islanders win 5-4.

It’s moments like this that rarely come about in games outside of the sports genre. Those heart racing, sweat inducing, adrenaline pumping moments that happen during those fast paced matches are what make NHL so fun. On top of the fantastic gameplay, NHL also has a lot of excellent modes to offer such as the brand new Franchise mode.

A reimagined mode:

EA has expanded on the “Be a GM” mode with Franchise mode and made it so you don’t just have control over just some fairly simple decisions surrounding your team, you have control over the entire franchise. The power is in your hands when it comes to ticket prices, choosing team merchandise, food being sold at games, to even the parking lots outside the stadium and how much you charge for parking! You have full control! You must also set budgets for yourself and divvy out how money you want for things like upgrades. Some of this can be a bit overwhelming at first, but the game does a fairly competent job of easing you into all of this and guiding you through what you should do. Since you’re not the owner of the team, the owner has a happiness level (similar to the team and fans). He will set aside some goals for you which can go from upgrading seating areas to winning rivalry games, if you achieve these goals he will be happier with you, and the more happy he is, the less chance you have of getting fired even if your contract isn’t up.

Franchise mode is like a really deep business simulator, you can make large choices for the team like trading players, sending out scouts to recruit some players, or even relocate the team entirely. All these things come with consequences of course, both good and bad. Maybe the fans don’t like the fact you relocated or traded a certain player which leads to less fans attending games, maybe the players dislike some of your choice,s which lead to poor performance during matches. Every choice you make has an impact on your team. It’s a rich experience within NHL and adds a big layer onto an already fantastic game!

Build your character from the ground up:

One other mode in NHL 17 is Be a Pro mode, fans of any EA Sports game know this is a series trademark. The mode allows you to start anywhere in your career you’d like, whether that’s in the minor leagues or you want to jump right into the NHL. From there you’re allowed to create a character with tons of different hairstyles (literally over hundreds), beards, types of gear, and more. Once you’ve created the character, you’re given a fairly average character build in terms of skills, he (or she) isn’t a superstar but they aren’t super weak either. You’ll play game to game with your team, getting feedback from the coach telling you how great you are or how god awful you are. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t, for instance, my teammate was very bad at passing the puck and he would often pass way too far ahead of me or behind me and I would get penalized for it and the coach got so upset at me he told my team to not pass to me anymore. When the system does work, it’s fantastic! It allows you to change your playstyle on the fly and focus on what you need to do to help the team succeed, the game reacts accordingly (most of the time) based on your playstyle and it’s great. I was performing really well one match, so the coach gave me more time on the ice, similarly to Franchise mode, every action has some sort of effect on the rest of the game.

The better you perform out on the ice, the more XP you earn which helps you strengthen your character. You can do some off-ice training (which is really you just assigning points to a skill tree in a menu) which allows you to work on things you want to improve such as sprinting, defensive positioning, shooting, and more. You can still improve yourself in those categories as well, though, if you want to build up your wrist shot accuracy, take more wrist shots in a match, it’s as simple as that. You’ll gradually see your character go from a somewhat middling NHL player to a legendary player that the announcers are always commentating on as you progress through the mode. It’s a fantastic experience, but it’s not perfect.

It's not 100% perfect:

Be a Pro mode does have some faults, for one, there didn’t appear to be any autosave at all, and if there was it just wasn’t working as it should have been for me. I had to restart TWICE because I closed without saving once and my game crashed at another point and I lost all progress. It’s 2016, almost every game should have autosave at this point! On top of that, the game would often not let me skate back to the bench when I was on a long shift. On several occasions, I would attempt to skate over to the bench and the game wouldn’t allow me to go inside and I would get penalized for long shifts. I had to wait until the ref blew his whistle and stopped the play so the game would force me onto the bench. It was absolutely frustrating and made me incredibly annoyed due to the fact I was being penalized for something I couldn’t control.

Brilliant, fast paced gameplay:

The gameplay in the hockey title feels extraordinary! As I previously described, it’s exciting and delivers some of the most intense moments you’ll ever have in a video game through pure gameplay.

The AI feel incredibly smart, I always felt as if my team was on the same wavelength as me. Even though I obviously can’t communicate with them, it felt as if they were adapting to how I was playing to predict where to go in order to defend me or get into a position where we could score a goal. There were several plays where I could not believe that there I had no assistance from  of another player, the AI are incredibly smart both on your team and on the opposing side. I had several times where the AI would start to move on me offensively and I could feel a ton of pressure building and I would typically panic (presumably like they want you to).

The movement and fluidity of the game is super smooth as well, I never felt like my player was super weighed down or too floaty. It was just the right balance to give you a realistic feel of gliding across the ice below your feet. The game also does a great job of making you feel hits through vibration in the controller, which added to the feeling of brutality as you watched someone fly back into a wall or on the ice after getting hit by a human train on ice skates.

NHL 17 also brought back net battles which allow teams to battle for control at the goal and get an upper hand, either defensively or offensively. I have no clue why it was removed but it’s great to see it back since it allows for more strategy on the ice for both sides.

Verdict:

NHL 17 is my favorite NHL game in many years. It adds new depth to modes, immersive and riveting gameplay, and makes the player feel like they are actually progressing towards something through things like goals in Franchise mode or skill building in Be a Pro mode. The game isn’t without flaws, though, it’s missing things that are in almost every game such as an autosave feature, which will definitely frustrate those who quit games without saving thinking that autosave would have done it for them.

The gameplay, while great, isn’t perfect and can be a bit clunky at times when it comes to things like getting coach feedback in Be a Pro mode but it’s not bad enough to make me not want to recommend the game to hockey lovers everywhere. NHL 17 is one of the most refreshing hockey games in a long time, you won’t want to skip this one!