EA Sports’ NHL24 misses the mark

I have not played an NHL (or Chel, if you’re a young bol) game since NHL 20. I jumped at the opportunity to review NHL 24, as I had been looking for an upgrade that actually includes the Seattle Kraken. Sadly, I found that not much had changed since my last installment.

Franchising

I was naively hoping that EA would have made some major strides in the past four years, but alas, they have not. Despite the leap from PS4 to PS5, despite the leap in controller technology, NHL 24 was barely different than NHL 20. The modes are largely the same. Why is it so much to ask for a few advances to franchise mode? I know the focus of the large gaming companies these days is online multiplayer, but can you please throw the offline players a bone?

Franchise mode has so many possibilities for fun. How have we not made trade negotiations into a crazy real-time mini-game by now? It’s so boring just fiddling with the little meter at the bottom until the trade matches up. We need some excitement!

Also, can we just cut out the budget to fix the bathrooms stuff? Whoooooooooooo caaaaaaaaaaaaaareeeeeeessssssss.

Controls

I tried the updated controls for a few games of play before I had to go back to the previous setting. Who decided on the circle button (PS5) instead of the right thumbstick to throw hits? It’s the hit stick, come onnnnn. Part of the appeal of these games is being able to throw bone crushing hits without the bones of real people being crushed. I am stuck with Rasmus Ristolainen on the Flyers’ blueline, at the very least I should be able to destroy people with him like the hockey gods intended.

The increased use of haptics on the PS5 controller are bonkers. They’re extremely distracting while you are trying to buzz through a fulfilling game of ice puck. It feels like EA has leaned too far into realism in a number of areas, like the aforementioned hits, where it takes away from the actual fun of playing a hockey video game. I don’t want this to turn into NHL Hitz with Rasmus Ristolainen on the cover, but maybe they could take a page or two from games of old on how to make this game straight up fun again.

Goal celebrations

I had a lot of fun with the goal celebrations customization in NHL 20. Making Jakub Voracek do “The Worm” after scoring a game winner never got old. NHL 24’s celebrations make the entire procedure an overly elaborate affair. The game makes the insane decision to show an EA logo and then cut to a goal celebration in a darkened arena. It totally takes you out of the moment. If the goal was to make hockey more realistic, this feature totally fails. It stinks! You want a goal celebration to feel organic, and this is the opposite. My colleague at BSH, Jacob Russell, said, “Change the celebration system to literally anything else.” I couldn’t agree more.

Customization (or lack thereof)

Jacob also mentioned the lack of customization as a major issue with the NHL franchise. Compared to games like MLB The Show, the options in the NHL franchise are extremely limited. Imagine, for instance, if you could tweak the Flyers’ jerseys and make your perfect version. You could take the black alternate and make the numbers on the back legible! What a world that would be. Like with many of the other issues, the largest part of the issue is the lack of updates in recent years. There have been some positive elements, namely the addition of diversity in the types of players you can make (it\'s not entirely white men anymore, wow!). However, why can\'t I make a goalie mask out of a completely original design? Can you imagine how much of an impact custom goalie masks would have for the game on social media? Yet again, the NHL is missing out on an easy win.

Graphics and presentation

Considering this is a next generation game, I expected this to look a whole lot better. There have certainly been some improvements, like Joel Farabee here.

The NHL 24 game engine really caught Joel Farabee\'s relaxed gaze.

The game has certainly come a long way from Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny just looking like guys on the street, but the fans in the stand still look awkward as hell. The depth players are fairly generic. Scott Laughton still looks like some guy that you’ve played against in a beer league. Where are those serial killer eyes that we know and love?

Speaking of generic, can we get some NHL coaches in there? I would pay extra just to get a virtual John Tortorella losing his mind on the Flyers’ bench.

As far as the actual presentation goes, EA has done a nice job with the in-game graphics and data. However, I would love for the game to partner up with one of the NHL’s television partners (namely, TNT) so bring some of their flair into the game. Having the television connection makes the experience feel just a little bit more authentic. I’ll never forget one of the greatest sports games of all time, NFL 2K5 , incorporating the actual ESPN broadcast elements into the game. It made it feel extra special. Gary, for the love of the hockey gods, please let 2K Sports make an NHL game again.

Make video game hockey great again

I am loathe to draw upon this slogan, but I truly do want to make video game hockey great again. Hockey is easily one of the best gaming sports. It’s fast-paced, it’s thrilling, and when it’s good, it’s fun as hell. This franchise has been stale ever since the NHL signed their exclusive deal with EA. This game needs to be torn down and built up from scratch.

Summation

Pros

Player models are largely improved. Guys like Joel Farabee and Sean Couturier look great.

Three line options for the penalty kill! My penalty killers have been getting their asses beat for years.

The exhaustion system is okay, but needs fine tuning.

Cons

Feels like the same game it has for years now.

The haptics associated with the exhaustion system are overwhelming.

New controls can be downright clunky at times.

Very little customization.

Not fun enough!

Talking Points