NHL 17 Review

This is the 15th straight year I’ve purchased the latest NHL game on release date. I’m a die-hard hockey fan, and I’ve been playing these games since NHLPA ’93. I’ve seen everything this game has gone through over the years, from the letdowns of NHL 15 and NHL 06 to the great games like NHL ’94 and NHL 2004. I’ve always admired the series for its striving to make a more realistic product while keeping the fun factor. This trend continues with NHL 17, even though some minor tweaks still need to be made.

Gameplay

AI

Let’s dive right into the gameplay. The bread and butter of this series has always been how it plays, and NHL 17 improves on many areas that weren’t so great in NHL 16. The AI-controlled players are much more aggressive in this year’s game. These players are on you anytime you have the puck. There is very little time for decision-making. This creates a much more competitive and true-to-life game. There are occasional miscues, but the AI has been vastly improved overall.

Defense

The game’s mechanics have also been improved and tweaked in NHL 17. No longer are stick lifts a magical tool that gets the puck every time. They’re far less effective in this game. Poke checks work better because you can easily knock the puck off a player’s stick. However, they still get the puck back far too easily. Hitting seems more realistic this year with more effective shoving and small pushes. The crushing hits are still there, but they’re only when you truly line someone up.

Net Battles

The introduction of “Net battles” this year has provided the defensemen with a much-needed tool to stop passes to the slot. Quick button-hold ties up the player out front, rendering them useless offensively. The NHL series had this feature years ago, but, for whatever reason, it was taken out for quite a long time. This is especially essential for those who play defense in EASHL. It makes it a lot easier to take away easy goals.

Goaltending

If that wasn’t enough, EA tweaked the goalie animations to play more like an NHL goaltender. Goalies are smarter and will shrug their shoulders at pucks, cover the net in the butterfly stance, and make the odd spectacular save. The goalies aren’t unbeatable, but they do provide a nice challenge. I still feel that breakaways are too easy, but I can live with that.

Game Modes

Franchise Mode

Now that we have covered what’s new under the hood, we get to the new modes. I first want to look at the brand new Franchise Mode. I’ve been jealous of Madden players over Franchise Mode for a while now. I’ve always wanted to tinker with every aspect of my team, and now I can. Franchise Mode replaces Be a GM Mode and makes you the owner, GM, and coach of a franchise of your choosing. You don’t have to turn owner mode on, but I can’t see why you wouldn’t want to.

Franchise Mode takes you in-depth, allowing you to change things like ticket prices, concession prices, upgrade facilities, launch promotional nights, and even relocate your franchise to different cities. The amount of control you have over a team is staggering. I turned the Arizona Coyotes from a rebuilding team to a championship team in one season and promptly relocated them to Oklahoma City. Franchise Mode will satisfy the player who wants more out of a season mode while allowing room to expand in NHL 18. Player Morale returns from NHL 16 and all of the other features you’ve come to expect. This is my favourite season mode offering from any of the NHL games.

Draft Champions

Draft Champions is the next new mode in NHL 17. This is another mode that has been borrowed from Madden. It’s a quick mode where you build a team of players through a 12-round draft. Each draft has a theme like Young Stars, All-Stars, World Cup, etc. Once you complete your draft, you can take your team online or play the AI. The rewards from winning Draft Champions Mode go directly into Hockey Ultimate Team Mode.

Hockey Ultimate Team

Hockey Ultimate Team hasn’t received much of an upgrade this year because it didn’t require one. They added synergy so players of similar skill types get a bonus when they’re on the ice together. You can also trade in your unused cards for complete sets. No more 50 different jersey cards sitting in your collection for no reason. These sets unlock some pretty cool stuff, like legends for specific teams. Sometimes all you need is to tinker with a mode to make it even better than last year.

World Cup of Hockey

This year’s game includes the World Cup of Hockey. All the teams are represented with authentic jerseys and rosters, and the Air Canada Centre is even decked out in WCH 2016 signage. This mode probably won’t get much playtime beyond the next few weeks, but it’s nice to have it included, and certainly didn’t take much to add.

EA Sports Hockey League

The last mode we’ll look at is EA Sports Hockey League. What an improvement this mode has gone through! I’ve played this mode since it began, and I have always wanted more customization. Now we have that with this year’s version of EASHL. Virtually everything can be upgraded. Everything from the Jumbotron at center ice to the logo on your helmet can be altered entirely. The colours of your home arena, the size of that arena, and the stanchions between the glass. There’s no shortage of cool things to unlock for your team and player. As your club and player levels go up, your team looks more like a legitimate NHL team than a rec team.

There are even some new player classes in EASHL, like the jumbo playmaker, hitting sniper, and puck-moving defenseman. These new types add different dynamics to an already meticulous team-building process. EASHL is 1000 times better than last year and offers many more reasons to keep playing beyond just winning games. Online Team-Play even adds the option to group up before entering a game, this year, making those quick games a lot easier to join with buddies. The EASHL/OTP games I played were always very smooth, and I have never dropped out of any of the 35 games I have played.

Conclusion

NHL 17 brings the NHL series forward with some big leaps. This series is heading in the right direction after the debacle of NHL 15. I’m annoyed that I can’t choose captains in EASHL (seriously, how is that not in this game?) and the stick lifts aren’t quite as effective as I’d like them to be, but this game has been a solid entry in the NHL series and one that I’ll be spending a lot of time with. I’d recommend this one to everyone.