What’s the event that marks the start of the NHL season? The start of training camp, preseason, or even the World Cup this year? I would actually say it’s the release of the annual EA Sports NHL game, and this year, EA delivers on the newest instalment of the series.
All sports video games have two fundamental aspects: gameplay and modes. NHL 17 shows improvements in both.
As an aspiring NHL GM—aren’t we all?—the mode I play the most has always been “Be a GM.” This year’s revamped version has been branded as “Franchise” mode, and is one of the major highlights of NHL 17. On top of the customary trading, free agency, and drafting, there are new owner responsibilities. Budgeting, arena upgrades and repairs, and concessions are just a few—yes, you can now adjust hot dog prices.
There is also a new relocation feature where you can pick up and move to one of the game’s preset cities. Using the new “Create a Team” options, you can build the arena, jerseys, and brand. This long-due overhaul to “Franchise” mode definitely makes it to the highlight reel.
Another improved mode is “EA Sports Hockey League (EASHL)” mode, where you create a team and are pitted against other player teams. Most of the player customizations are now accessible through unlocks. This includes equipment, celebrations, and even hairstyles. As a team, you start in a basic community centre rink and work your way up to an NHL-calibre arena. All in all, unlike NHL 16’s EASHL, you now have a lot to work for.
A new mode is “Draft Champions,” where you draft a team based on a theme (Canadians, young stars, etc.) and attempt to win four consecutive games to be named champion. This mode is a welcome addition, but drafting a team is overly easy. All of my picks were choosing superstars to replace lesser players, and I ended up with a lineup that included Phil Kessel on the third line.
Returning are the usual “Play Now,” “Playoff,” “Offline Shootout,” and “Hockey Ultimate Team” modes. A great new addition is that you can play the World Cup of Hockey, which includes all of the branded jerseys.
Now for the other aspect of any sports game, the gameplay. NHL 17 delivers here, improving on the already-strong gameplay in the NHL series. The biggest difference is in the goalies, who have new reaction animations and stances. In NHL 16, the goalies were pretty much identical, and seemingly robotic. Also, there were certain ways you could always score, and some that would never work. In NHL 17 they are much more realistic, and more akin to their real-life counterparts. The major distinction from NHL 16 is that you cannot score the same way every time. Instead, there are many unique ways to score, which increases the realism of the game drastically.
Of course, no video game is perfect. It took me approximately 10 minutes to get into an EASHL drop-in game, and it was not completely lag-free. Also, in one online game there was a strange glitch where it was as if there were no lights in the arena and the whole ice was black.
In “Create a Team,” it would be nice to have an option to upload images to use as a logo, as you can in the NBA 2K series. Despite NHL 17 being great, I feel that it would benefit from not being the only hockey game being continuously released and having some competition. Most of the problems in NHL 17 are issues that have persisted in the series over the years, and should be addressed next year.
NHL 17 is a great game that shows improvement in many areas over last year’s instalment, but there are issues that have not been fixed from NHL 16, which is disappointing to see. Overall NHL 17 is a very strong addition to the series and delivers enough realism to make my mother question whether I am watching hockey, or playing the newest EA Sports NHL video game.
