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There are calamities of epic proportions. Then there’s the ignominious NHLPA Hockey ’93 match I had with my younger brother one evening in 1992.
When you look up “drubbing” in the dictionary, one of the entries will likely say, “that time when Jason Hidalgo lost 30-2 to his brother in NHLPA Hockey ’93.” OK, I’m exaggerating a little bit. I think I might have scored one point. Actually, I might have even laid a big fat goose egg on the ice. Your memory kinda goes squirrelly when you’re punch drunk — or puck drunk in this case.
More than two decades later, I still enter every new hockey video game I play with super low confidence and a ton of post-traumatic trepidation. It doesn’t help that my brother cracks this big goofy smile everytime he sees me playing a hockey game.
“Hey, at least you haven’t lost to me in 24 years,” he said to me as I got ready to review NHL 17.
By the way, that’s because I haven’t played a hockey video game against him since then. It is also the reason we haven’t played Madden football against each other for nearly the same amount of time. Why? Because I won our last match and refused to play him after that, just so I can bring it up every time he mentions that freaking hockey match. Yes, I’m mentally 12.
On the plus side, things started on the right foot with NHL 17 as I saw my beloved San Jose Sharks featured in the initial match of the game.
“That’s right, the Sharks finally made the Stanley Cup Finals,” I happily thought to myself.
Then I saw the Pittsburgh Penguins featured on the opposite side and I remembered that they beat the Sharks 4-2. ‘Cause it’s not like the freaking Penguins haven’t won enough championships already. Needless to say, I started the introductory game saltier than a Philadelphia pretzel. After two tense scoreless periods where I found myself desperately trying to figure out the controls, the game finally ended 1-0 on a last-minute power play.
Spoiler alert, I lost. I reaaaally shouldn’t have slashed at that one player out of desperation, so that shorthanded situation my team found itself is was all on me.
Despite the loss, however, I was still upbeat. For starters, the gameplay felt quite good, and that’s before I got familiar with the controls. Last year'sNHL 16represented a much welcome return to mechanical form for the series overall despite the omission of certain features. For its part, NHL 17 also looks great and does a solid job of capturing the look and feel of a hockey game. The question now, of course, is whether this latest iteration manages to break away from its solid predecessor or simply preserves the status quo.
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To further polish the gameplay, NHL 17 fine tunes a few features. These include improving the action around the net via tweaks to the game’s physics and goalie AI. If you’re the type who values the little details for things like puck mechanics, positioning, tie ups, and reactionary saves, then the changes are meant for you. I also had a smirk across my face the first time I performed a body check on a foe against the boards. I felt like a powerful Viking on skates. For folks who like some extra flair on the ice, the game adds more celebrations, which isn’t really that big a deal for me but I guess it'spretty nifty if you’re the type of person who enjoys that.
Speaking of foes, I don’t know if it’s just me but they feel a lot stickier this time. This could be frustrating for some folks who might think of it as being cheap. At the same time, it also makes you feel really good when you manage to shake off defenders and thwart opponents via good positioning or passing. Once you get used to the controls, it is arguably one of the best things about NHL 17. Thanks to the amount of control it places on your hands, particularly with the more technical control schemes, it really makes you feel like you’re in charge of the action. Granted, they can be complicated, especially for new players or rusty veterans who are returning to the series. The return of the on-ice coaching feature helps with getting you up to speed but it can still be quite a lot to absorb for some folks. Don't be surprised to find yourself doing the wrong thing at first as you try to remember all the control options you have before you.
NHL 17 also further fleshes out its game modes with some new additions. There's the new World Cup of Hockey, which adds an international flair to the game and lets fans play as their favorite national team. For fans of sports games’ more sim-like offerings, the popular Be a GM Mode also gets a franchise feature that lets you act as a proverbial mad hockey scientist behind the scenes as you put together your ideal team, all while dealing with the challenges of the business. There’s a fantasy draft element via the new Draft Champions mode as well, which challenges you to build the best team through several draft rounds. If you’re someone who dabbles in the EA SPORTS Hockey League and like your hockey game to have a bit of an RPG element to it, player classes also make a notable return, allowing you pick various player types to round out your roster and fit your playing style. All in all, these new modes give players more things to do on top of the base game. Like playing online? NHL 17 also tries to streamline the experience by reducing pauses and grace periods while also adding some new measures to help curtail griefing or quitting.
Issues include menu clutter, which can block your view and even interfere with your play on the field. Loading times also can be on the long side, which can add up after a while. Even though the addition of new things and the return of certain features and modes is nice, you don’t really see a big leap over NHL 16 as far as actual gameplay mechanics are concerned. All that being said, if you missed last year’s gameand are itching to play a new NHL-series game, NHL 17 is a game you’ll definitely want to check out.
FINAL THOUGHTS
NHL 17 builds on the solid mechanics of its predecessor while adding several new features such as World Cup of Hockey, a more beefed up GM mode, lots of customization options and the return of player classesto name a few. Some might feel the actual gameplay on the ice does not represent a huge improvement over NHL 16. If you missed out on last year’s game or are interested in a more polished version, however, then NHL 17 merits a trip down the virtual ice.
- Rating: 4 out of 5
- Cost: $59.99; PS4 (reviewed), XB1
- Official site: www.easports.com/nhl
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