Once again, the season we call fall is upon us. With it comes pumpkin spiced foods and drinks, colder days and nights, and horror movies. That’s not all, though, as this particular time of year always also ushers in a brand new hockey season. At least, that’s the case with leagues like the OHL, AHL and, of course, the National Hockey League itself.
To coincide with the start of another ice-based set of 82 games per team, EA Sports has just released NHL 24 — a game that compliments the sport it replicates. It’s close to the thirtieth entry for a series that dates back to the early to mid-nineties, and is touted as being the best yet by bullet points and the marketing personnel who wrote them. Is that the case, though?
Like its predecessors, NHL 24 promises improvements in both presentation and the controller-driven product, itself. It does so in a year where change is afoot, and where Colorado Avalanche star defenceman, Cale Makar, dons the cover for the first time. That said, amidst the upgrades lies a questionable design decision which makes the game less fun to play than it was last year and the years prior. We’ll get to that soon.
Upon booting this thing up, hockey fans will notice that the menus are different. Gone is last year’s theme, and it’s been replaced by a dark blue background with light and dark spots on it. The menus, themselves, are mostly the same and really require no talking about. If you’ve played a recent NHL title you’ll know what to expect, and the same is likely true if you’ve also played another EA Sports game. If not, nothing will be confusing. You’ll just have to get used to the wealth of modes, and the control system, which once again allows you to stickhandle, deke and shoot using the right thumbstick as if it’s your stick. This time around, however, they’ve added special moves and passes to the face buttons, though that new control method is optional. You can choose to go with the old one, and avoid having to press A, B, X or Y to do special things when highlighted.
The list of modes is the same as before, and it’s got a lot of different options. As such, every hockey fan will find something they like. For starters, there are play now games, shootouts and free skating options. Then, there are separate lists of online and offline modes, including Be a Pro, which allows you to play as one created player from the start until the end of their career, all while handling their responses to questions from reporters, fans, coaches and more. It’s joined by the likes of online versus, World of CHEL (in which you take your created player online, and can compete in challenges, Ones tournaments and games of Threes, which is an arcadey take on the game), the option to control a team and make all of the moves from a management position, and Hockey Ultimate Team. HUT, as they call it, is the one with the hockey cards, wherein players must build a team out of cards they open, collect and/or buy. This is one of the more popular modes, it seems, but Be a Pro is my favourite.
Of course, some of these modes can be played both online and offline, including Threes. It just depends on whether you feel like playing with or against another human, or simply sticking with the computer.
On the ice, this game is both a step forward and a step backward, which is unfortunate to say. While NHL 23 was very solid, felt good and played well outside of some unfortunate glitches, NHL 24 has implemented changes that factor against what worked before.
NHL 24 utilizes a new engine called the Exhaust Engine, which is said to be a complete redesign of the ‘CHEL’ experience. I can definitely say that things feel different, for better and worse, but the new engine definitely makes things look and feel more realistic. The players animate better than ever before, the goalies are more agile and almost everything feels better. My only real complaint is that they’ve nerfed hitting, thanks to the introduction of a new, physics-based contact system. Perhaps it was too easy to hit in previous games, and maybe I did abuse it too much, but now it’s hard to actually make a good hit. Players will run into one another, and a bump can be considered a hit. Meanwhile, it’s a lot more difficult to actually line said hits up, and to execute them. Yes, some of the physics are better as a result, but it’s now harder to hit someone and take the puck, or make a big hit when needed. If poke checking and stick lifting didn’t result in so many penalties that wouldn’t be as big of an issue. Then again, I guess I could technically lower the penalty frequency in the settings panel, but it’s not something I really want to do.
While I know that hitting isn’t as prominent in today’s game as it was when I was growing up, or before that, but it’s still an integral part of the game. Nerfing one’s ability to hit makes this game feel weird, and leads to rushes by the opposition when hits are missed. I even went into settings and upped the sliders, so that my hits would be bigger, stronger and more offensive, but it didn’t seem to make too much of a difference. That is, for the most part. I did see some nice hits and replays, but one was on one of my players and the others were too hard to replicate. I miss being able to hit at will. The ragdoll animations they’ve added are nice, though.
As mentioned above, there’s a new system where you can press a face button to pull of a special move or pass the puck to someone specific. This is part of their new, vision-based passing mechanic, which brings face button icons up above each of your shift mates. You can then press A, B, Y or X to pass to them, and may pull off a neat saucer pass or something to that extent.
Keep in mind that the above system does allow for one-touch passing, which makes it helpful. By being able to select exactly who you want to pass it to at any given time, you’re able to hit a button and send the puck to them. Well, you can try to at the very least. It’s still very possible that your pass will be blocked or picked off, as is the case with hockey.
Last year, the folks behind these games were talking about how goalies would make more realistic last-ditch effort saves. I definitely noticed that while playing the game, but perhaps noticed it more this time around. During my sessions with NHL 24, I saw some pretty impressive saves, including ones where goalies made second efforts while down on the ice and out of position. This definitely feels more lifelike. Add to it that the goalies are better this time around, and you have a positive. That is, unless you want to repeatedly score on the cross-crease one-timers that plagued previous games.
Simply put, it’s also harder to score. My Be a Pro may have six points in three games, but only one of those is a goal. I used to be able to dominate quite well on pro difficulty, but am struggling to actually score this time around. The goalies are making top corner glove saves look easy, and the cross-ice one-timer glitch goal has been hard to pull off too. I’ve tried more than a couple of times. Thus, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the community finds in terms of this game’s glitch goal. Like all of the previous NHL titles, it likely has one. Then again, maybe not.
You may not have heard, but NHL 24 is also the first game in this series to introduce cross-play. As such, folks can play with their friends, no matter whether one has a PlayStation and the other has an Xbox. It just has to be the same generation of console, which makes sense given that there are two different versions of this game: current-gen and last-gen. Keep in mind that this feature is not currently available, and will be added in sometime in November.
Lastly, the other big change comes by the way of presentation. Ray Ferraro — the best in the business, if you ask me — is no longer a part of this, outside of appearing in some Be A Pro clips that were left in from previous years. In his place is defensive minded, former Canadian women’s hockey player, Cheryl Pounder. She takes over as the colour commentator and does a good job, although I must admit that it’s not as good as Ray’s. Then again, I really do have a soft spot for Mr. Ferraro’s commentary, and don’t think anything could really measure up. Cheryl does a good job, though, and is especially good for being a first timer.
Thankfully, X-Factors aren’t talked about much, and you won’t hear a lot of the young woman who discusses them during breaks in the game. This is a good thing, because it got kind of annoying after a while.
Moving on, there’s a fine but forgettable soundtrack to listen to as you scroll through menus, and an on-ice product that looks better than it ever has before. I already mentioned this above, but it’s worth talking about again: NHL 24 is surely the best looking game in the series, and it’s aided by some presentation tweaks.
For starters, you’ll now see more in the way of pregame festivities, with the occasional anthem, pregame light show and fans with glowsticks making appearances even during the preseason. This adds to the presentation and makes it feel likewise, but just feels amped up from NHL 23 as opposed to different. Then, you have the boards, which are now digital like they are in real life. You’ll see ads, but you’ll also see stats and events from games stated on the boards. As someone who actually likes the digital boards, I liked this quite a bit. Then, lastly, there’s a pressure gauge which shows in the middle of the zone when you’re on offence and defence, and the red icon that hovered near the boards when you were expected to change in Be a Pro has been removed. Now you just have to skate along the bench and hope he’ll hop in the door.
I should also mention that the camera isolates goal scorers after they’ve scored. The lights dim, the camera goes close up and you see their celebration as they’re coming at the camera. It makes choosing your own celebration harder or perhaps even impossible (I never seemed to be able to do so), but that’s not something I will miss. It was time for a change. This ISO camera reminds me of the breakaway camera effect from NHL 2002, but much better looking and related to goal scoring instead of going in one-on-one against the goalie.
So far, my time with this game has been predominantly glitch free. However, while I haven’t seen any of the glitches from last year, at least as of yet, there was one that I noticed more than once. It’s minor, though, and involves the players’ circular icons (that show underneath them when highlighted, or carrying the puck) migrate from underneath them to out of the ice surface during some stoppages in play. It’s hard to really, accurately, describe though.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the nerfed hitting mechanics, NHL 24 would be a contender for the best hockey game ever made. Unfortunately, I don’t find it as fun as its predecessor because it’s hard to hit and score, and it just doesn’t feel as tight because of that. It’s still quite a good game, though, and is definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the best sport on earth. That said, if you already own NHL 23 you may not feel the need to upgrade this time around, which would be understandable. Maybe give them a year to refine these new physics systems.
This review is based on the Xbox Series version of the game, which we were provided with.