'NHL 24' is definitely a step back in the right direction...While there are still some negative spots for the game, this is still worth the price of a ticket to play in the NHL and makes me feel excited for the future.
There’s been a crispness to hit the air recently where I live. Leaves are changing colors and falling, sweaters are getting pulled out from the back parts of the closets, and officially, hockey season is back. Preseason hockey has been on in the house for a bit. The return to me yelling at my TV for real-life hockey is the return of…me yelling at my TV for virtual hockey and the release of ‘NHL 24’ from EA Sports and EA Vancouver. The yearly series returns to our consoles just in time for us fans to take our bad teams and try to win the Stanley Cup (because it won’t be happening this year). This year’s installment takes a lot of the features and manages to build upon a solid foundation, but is it a step in the right direction…well, there’s only one way to find out.
Right off the bat (or stick…hockey puns), the gameplay has some retooling. The change that caught me off guard was the physics and throwing hits on ice. You now can control what style of hits you want to throw on opponents. Before, you would throw the right stick around and make massive hits up left and right. The new control scheme makes it more ‘finessed’ to lay out massive hockey players. Using gamepad buttons players can control and time out huge hip and shoulder checks. Or if you just want to get in and clear out the crease on the penalty kill, just go back to the right stick, and you can throw hands and shoves at players. It takes some time to get used to for veteran players. I had to put in about five to seven hours to get somewhat comfortable with the system, but it adds a lot to the in-game play that was lacking before.
The other gameplay enhancement you’ll notice is the ‘Sustained Pressure System’ that allows you to exploit your offensive strengths. Keep a team pinned in their defensive zone for a short, sustained amount of play, and then the timer starts. The new system shows breakdowns and exhaustion in the AI opponents. Keep applying the heat, and they’ll break down. Lose control or have the puck bounce to center ice, and you’ve just lost all you built and have to restart. It’s a genius system to help reward you for great offensive play. However, if you tend to play a more conservative style of hockey, then be ready to suffer because the table can tilt against you just as fast.
Passing and puck handling have made some great improvements as well. The gamepad buttons now feature select passing roots and plays making it a lot clearer compared to years past when passing felt like flinging the put into a general direction and hoping you somehow make it work and get the puck up ice.
Something that caught me off guard was the arena atmosphere for play. While there have been some upgrades in years past, ‘NHL 24’ really added some stuff that I didn’t expect. Most of us have been to a public event where ‘Everybody Clap Your Hands’ from the ‘Cha Cha Slide’. It’s honestly a common and shared experience at this point for live event fans. Well, when I first heard it in-game during a break in play, it surprised me. That and several other little additions like light shows, and actual crowd noise correlated to the arena scene helps to make it feel like a more genuine experience for players.
Jumping on the ice for the World of CHEL is where things start to lose me. CHEL this year brings a new format of in-game transactions of earned coins for new jerseys, hats, and any other forms of drip you want on your avatar. This is a good move, but at times, the grinding part of the game can be a bit. The quickplay modes are the biggest highlight for me once again. Especially the PROAM games where you hop on an NHL team for threes. While I’ve never been the biggest fan of CHEL, there is more here now to keep me interested. The same can be said for the HUT teams. Once again, there are still a lot of moving parts and grinding. However, added features like objects and specific scenarios are a great addition for a good entry into the systems.
Unfortunately, Offline Modes like the ‘Be A Pro’ don’t seem to have been touched much, if at all, this time around. It’s still the same overall, with your pond hockey on Carter Lake and your entry. Don’t get me wrong this is still a solid start and a good way to push the narrative, but it’s starting to feel like it’s left behind at the bus stop with its gear and now will miss the game tonight at 7:30 P.M.
It also feels like the continued loading problems from last year’s version have transferred to 24. Some menus and transitions just feel dragged out and take a noticeable time to get through. It has gotten better in comparison to last year, but there are still some points where you sit for just a touch longer than you would be expecting.
‘NHL 24’ is definitely a step back in the right direction. The advances in on-ice play make it worth your time no matter what happens. HUT and CHEL continue to evolve for the better and are a good way to grow online play. While there are still some negative spots for the game, this is still worth the price of a ticket to play in the NHL and makes me feel excited for the future.
