I keep returning to EA Sports titles like a relapsed drug addict and each time it makes me feel more and more disgusted in myself. Trying to love a sports video game in the 2020s is like trying to eat soup with a fork, you'll never get a satisfactory bite. I've never really enjoyed the Ultimate Team side of things, so picking up a new copy of the annual release means playing through a completely unchanged franchise mode with gameplay that's only been given minor tweaks. I actually kind of enjoy the new Pressure system that's been added this year, but that could barely justify a $10 purchase, let alone a $60 one (luckily I swooped in while this was at a steep discount yet I still feel ripped off). It's just mind boggling how little care seems to go into some of the most popular games in the world.
The roster update doesn't even remove the players currently on trial for rape.
The roster update doesn't even remove the players currently on trial for rape.
I'm not usually the "man NHL is so bad this year" guy but man NHL is so bad this year
The game is well developed and the menu screens are strong. Gameplay and the authenticity packages, however, have become a bit too arcade-like for my liking. A good balance is always nice, but I have found certain mechanics, like shooting, passing, deking, and poke checking to be very mechanical and not the smooth flowing skill moves that is common in today's NHL. Also, the new celebration cutscenes are really not my cup of tea. I am all for special cutscenes depending on the weight of the goal, but the developers should take a note from the FC/FIFA franchise and make goal celebrations more seamless and diverse. Overall, good new strides were made this year, with a focus on trying new things... both of which I appreciate, but I hope they take the feedback and incorporate it into next year's game. It will make it that much stronger.
Why did I get the platinum
Glitchy, unrealistic money grab. But it’s still fun, I’ll be honest.
Great game to pick every so often
I wish I could travel back in time and stop myself from buying this
As a new player I found this game completely impenetrable despite knowing ice hockey well. Perhaps I’m just stupid, or far too British.
The Sabres are good on here but not in real life
I will never find true happiness
I will never find true happiness
Grab your favorite team's tuque and sharpen up your skates, hockey season is almost back, and with that comes EA Sport's NHL 24. Despite EA's tumultuous reputation with their sports games, the NHL series is still the only remaining AAA hockey title on the market, bringing fans back year after year. Unfortunately, /because/ of EA's tumultuous reputation with their sports games, the hockey series has once again stagnated.
The game is your classic EA Sports professional hockey game, which is fun to play and mirrors the actual sport pretty well. This has been the case in NHL 23, NHL 22, NHL 21, and so on. Beyond the offseason changes to team's rosters, the quality of these yearly sports titles lies in what they bring to the table to shake up the series. Some years, the games will advance on to a new engine, changing the graphics and presentation of your experience. Sometimes, they'll completely remake a game mode, adding in all new features, and changing how you play that mode for the better. And sometimes, that game will have only a bare minimum of changes from the previous year, enough to justify you to spend full price on the same game again. NHL 24 is unfortunately the latter.
The largest addition to the series comes with the "Exhaust Engine," which grants bonuses to a team who keeps up an offensive edge. A pressure gauge with appear on the ice when you're attacking your opponent's net, or when they're attacking yours, and will slowly fill up as you keep the puck in your possession or by taking high quality shots on goal. When it fills, it turns into a 30 second countdown, and you'll find your players to be a little quicker, with better passes, and a deadlier shot. The system feels good, rewarding smart offensive plays with a higher chance of scoring a goal. Its location directly in the center of the ice where you're playing is not ideal, but it's manageable to deal with. It's a well appreciated addition, however, it is not something that you can headline a new game in a yearly series with.
The game feels a bit more "hockey-like" with a few changes to the physics system, which gives a bit of a refreshing break from the abundance of animation based actions in the game. Checking has been split into three different prompts: your traditional shoulder check, the much more powerful, but harder to control hip check, and then physics based contact. Where as a push, or through use of the body, you can now nudge and manhandle the opposing puckhandler to break them free from the puck. Goalies also get a little reactionary love, now having the ability to flop around and kick out to make last ditch save attempts while down on the ice. They're a welcome addition to the small amount of goalie animations which left them looking like robots in past games.
To compliment the new system of hitting, and to make some of the more advanced dekes accessible, NHL 24 introduces the Total Control controller scheme at the cost of the Hybrid and 94 schemes from the past. With the puck, Total Control takes some of the stickwork away from the Right Stick and moves them to A, B, X, Y, or X, Circle, Square, Triangle. For example, instead of moving your Right Stick to the right and swings it down and to the left for a toe drag, you'll just have to hold on to Square or X. As someone who never attempted a few of these moves simply out of laziness or refusal to learn, I like having the opportunity to even out the playing field with the Skill Stick masters of the Right Stick. Unfortunately, with those buttons now controlling dekes, or checking on defense, the Line Change buttons have been moved over to the Directional Buttons, which makes on-the-fly line changes more difficult since you're using your left thumb to control your player's movement.
Other than that, you see a few changes to quality of life, as well as a returning fan favorite feature. Player customization has gotten a complete overhaul, consolidating the menus, and allowing you get a preview at faces, hair, and clothing options before you put them on. They've also added "Vision Passing," allowing you to choose the recipient of your pass through a press of a button. Vision Passing can be helpful in certain situations, but ultimately, having the same sort of system for selecting your player would be far more beneficial, as I still struggle with selecting the correct player in a defensive play. A fun little return is the shattering of glass through shots and hits, as well as being able to flip a player into the bench with a heavy hit. While fun, this is a feature that has been brought back after being removed from the series for no particular reason a few years ago. Hockey analyst Cheryl Pounder replaces long-time in-game announcer Ray Ferraro, which benefits the newer commentary from James Cybulski not having to match up with old voice work from the past decade of NHL games.
That's about the extent of tangible additions coming in your $70 yearly release this year. There are no changes to either Franchise Mode or to Be A Pro, save for the UI revamp of player customization. While Be A Pro received a makeover in NHL 21, the new system is still fairly barebones and does not grant any special content past your rookie season. Franchise has seen even less love, and continues to do so. Many fans are awaiting the return of the GM Connected mode from past games, allowing a multiplayer franchise experience, and it seems that per developer comments, it may be coming in a few years. Until then, fans of the Franchise mode will have to make do with the rest of the gameplay changes.
With nowhere else to go, it feels like a slapshot to the face to have to pay full price for what feels like a repackage of NHL 23 (which is reinforced every time that you play, considering the UI is NHL 23's, but with dark mode turned on). The hockey gameplay is exciting, it has been for years, but with not a whole lot new content, it's hard to justify this year's serving of hockey. Like most of EA Sports' games, the NHL series is another that might just benefit from taking a year off and sliding into a two-year release schedule. If you're not hooked into the Hockey Ultimate Team machine or a fan of World of Chel, you're probably better off staying with whatever hockey game you've got already. If you're a hockey fan looking to get into the series, you will enjoy NHL 24 and its offerings as your first step into the digital hockey world.
The game is your classic EA Sports professional hockey game, which is fun to play and mirrors the actual sport pretty well. This has been the case in NHL 23, NHL 22, NHL 21, and so on. Beyond the offseason changes to team's rosters, the quality of these yearly sports titles lies in what they bring to the table to shake up the series. Some years, the games will advance on to a new engine, changing the graphics and presentation of your experience. Sometimes, they'll completely remake a game mode, adding in all new features, and changing how you play that mode for the better. And sometimes, that game will have only a bare minimum of changes from the previous year, enough to justify you to spend full price on the same game again. NHL 24 is unfortunately the latter.
The largest addition to the series comes with the "Exhaust Engine," which grants bonuses to a team who keeps up an offensive edge. A pressure gauge with appear on the ice when you're attacking your opponent's net, or when they're attacking yours, and will slowly fill up as you keep the puck in your possession or by taking high quality shots on goal. When it fills, it turns into a 30 second countdown, and you'll find your players to be a little quicker, with better passes, and a deadlier shot. The system feels good, rewarding smart offensive plays with a higher chance of scoring a goal. Its location directly in the center of the ice where you're playing is not ideal, but it's manageable to deal with. It's a well appreciated addition, however, it is not something that you can headline a new game in a yearly series with.
The game feels a bit more "hockey-like" with a few changes to the physics system, which gives a bit of a refreshing break from the abundance of animation based actions in the game. Checking has been split into three different prompts: your traditional shoulder check, the much more powerful, but harder to control hip check, and then physics based contact. Where as a push, or through use of the body, you can now nudge and manhandle the opposing puckhandler to break them free from the puck. Goalies also get a little reactionary love, now having the ability to flop around and kick out to make last ditch save attempts while down on the ice. They're a welcome addition to the small amount of goalie animations which left them looking like robots in past games.
To compliment the new system of hitting, and to make some of the more advanced dekes accessible, NHL 24 introduces the Total Control controller scheme at the cost of the Hybrid and 94 schemes from the past. With the puck, Total Control takes some of the stickwork away from the Right Stick and moves them to A, B, X, Y, or X, Circle, Square, Triangle. For example, instead of moving your Right Stick to the right and swings it down and to the left for a toe drag, you'll just have to hold on to Square or X. As someone who never attempted a few of these moves simply out of laziness or refusal to learn, I like having the opportunity to even out the playing field with the Skill Stick masters of the Right Stick. Unfortunately, with those buttons now controlling dekes, or checking on defense, the Line Change buttons have been moved over to the Directional Buttons, which makes on-the-fly line changes more difficult since you're using your left thumb to control your player's movement.
Other than that, you see a few changes to quality of life, as well as a returning fan favorite feature. Player customization has gotten a complete overhaul, consolidating the menus, and allowing you get a preview at faces, hair, and clothing options before you put them on. They've also added "Vision Passing," allowing you to choose the recipient of your pass through a press of a button. Vision Passing can be helpful in certain situations, but ultimately, having the same sort of system for selecting your player would be far more beneficial, as I still struggle with selecting the correct player in a defensive play. A fun little return is the shattering of glass through shots and hits, as well as being able to flip a player into the bench with a heavy hit. While fun, this is a feature that has been brought back after being removed from the series for no particular reason a few years ago. Hockey analyst Cheryl Pounder replaces long-time in-game announcer Ray Ferraro, which benefits the newer commentary from James Cybulski not having to match up with old voice work from the past decade of NHL games.
That's about the extent of tangible additions coming in your $70 yearly release this year. There are no changes to either Franchise Mode or to Be A Pro, save for the UI revamp of player customization. While Be A Pro received a makeover in NHL 21, the new system is still fairly barebones and does not grant any special content past your rookie season. Franchise has seen even less love, and continues to do so. Many fans are awaiting the return of the GM Connected mode from past games, allowing a multiplayer franchise experience, and it seems that per developer comments, it may be coming in a few years. Until then, fans of the Franchise mode will have to make do with the rest of the gameplay changes.
With nowhere else to go, it feels like a slapshot to the face to have to pay full price for what feels like a repackage of NHL 23 (which is reinforced every time that you play, considering the UI is NHL 23's, but with dark mode turned on). The hockey gameplay is exciting, it has been for years, but with not a whole lot new content, it's hard to justify this year's serving of hockey. Like most of EA Sports' games, the NHL series is another that might just benefit from taking a year off and sliding into a two-year release schedule. If you're not hooked into the Hockey Ultimate Team machine or a fan of World of Chel, you're probably better off staying with whatever hockey game you've got already. If you're a hockey fan looking to get into the series, you will enjoy NHL 24 and its offerings as your first step into the digital hockey world.