NHL 22 Review – IGN

The NHL 22 pieces feel like a callback to NHL 95, which introduced the spin-o-branch. That innovation was a flashy piece of flashy stick play that made it easy to dodge a defender, at the expense of realism. Decades later, such abilities now evolved into X-Factors, giving certain star players special moves. Now universal in NHL, Madden NFL, and FIFA, these elements break down the simulation aspects that these respective sports brands were previously known for. And so NHL 22 finds itself in conflict. It’s reminiscent of the series’ growing pains in the early 2000s, where arcade-style gaming reigned before giving way to loyalty to royal sports. Given the almost total lack of penalties, except for the most severe infractions (even with the penalty slider on high), NHL 22 takes steps towards this fantastic style and yet does not fully embrace it.

It should be noted that this is the first NHL game to run on the Frostbite engine, which is important to say because you probably wouldn’t know otherwise. The change is almost invisible, which is something of a triumph when you consider that Madden NFL still hasn’t fully recovered technically after they made the change four years ago. On the other hand, it doesn’t look dramatically better than NHL 21, as you’d expect from the first game designed to impress on a new generation of consoles. So in that sense, not having news is good news.

NHL 22 Screenshot Gallery

Instead, the changes are primarily those X factors, which make rational sense in context. Some star players get speed bumps, others improve shooting accuracy after a deke or shooting power while skating. The idea is that these video game skill boosts represent a player’s specific skill set. The impact of those abilities is kept in check by the fact that each team only has a handful of such stars, so it’s not like every player on the ice has a special ability. Those X-Factors blend seamlessly with the modern NHL style of play and the NHL 22’s still exquisite right analog stick puck control scheme; the precision of the latter improves with each annual game. Yet despite all the integration, its effectiveness feels terribly insignificant in execution and, in some cases, entirely invisible. Being able to deke without a speed penalty is a nice perk to have here and there, but it doesn’t come close to the superpower that NHL 22 makes it to be.

The biggest problem with NHL 22 is mainly superficial. Supposedly a runway side reporter, Carrlyn Bathe is relegated to exaggerating X-Factor’s abilities as if speaking on a promo reel that runs incessantly on GameStop. During a showdown between the Blackhawks and the Penguins, she states: “Patrick Kane’s ability in a rope zone is the way he builds the offense. Crosby’s beautiful backhand skill is that wicked shot he uses to score. ”That’s jarring next to the comment from James Cybulski and Ray Ferraro as they are defining the game directly (albeit stiffly).

Combine that with hyperactive pre-match screen overlays, icon identifiers, and other visual noise (which, thankfully, can be customized to some degree), and NHL 22 looks less like a broadcast than an arcade game trying to call its own. attention. EA is selling this as augmented reality, and nothing here is completely off limits when you consider how networks are now using ever-increasing computing power to mark hockey rinks with lines and graphical displays of statistics that don’t really exist. However, NHL 22’s focus is not on real-world stats, but on these playing skills.

It’s weird too – the NHL 22 looks wildly uneven visually, as if it struggles with its style. A quirk like a fan’s hair that sprouts loud polygons during an intermission is a minor glitch. The icy surface that looks like a treacherous, war-torn highway, full of potholes full of scratches instead of scrapes, is not that attractive. The strangest and brightest T-shirts seem almost shadowed from a distance, a luminous oddity that goes unnoticed when you’re around.

Entering the Be A Pro solo career mode, the strangeness continues. Maybe it’s the perspective, but the agents and team managers seen between in-game events seem to have oddly oversized hands. If this reads like a picky eater, so be it; A new generation of consoles brings improved expectations, and NHL 22 makes some glaring mistakes despite gains in player likeness and texture fidelity.

Once on the ice, Be A Pro is fine, if stunted. Other sports games mimic movies with characters and spoken dialogue, but here everything is silent, except for Cybulski’s fictional podcast that narrates the events, while the text boxes determine the personality of the created star and the synergy of the team. That certainly feels like a step down in quality compared to what other sports games have done. And yes, the progression is designed to propel them to get their X Factor for what it’s worth, although the experience points earned have a greater impact.

Franchise mode hides X-Factor players in the scouting / free agent pool, so their quest is secondary to winning the Stanley Cup. Having a successful scouting career means earning those skills for your team, though it’s more important when those players are rated higher overall. This season also brings the expansion, the Seattle Kraken, into the mix, and the resulting expansion draft, which is nice because it’s the only addition to a mode that is effectively identical to last year.

Of course, the eSports-focused CHEL league also includes X-Factor skills. In Ones, Threes, or in general team play, HUT elements make their way to allow individualized avatars in the game to use unlockable gear for a visual kick, and yes, X-Factors when found. For hypercompetitive types it’s fine, but general online play against others in one-off matches doesn’t have the bloat of CHEL.

Promotional talk aside, it’s worth noting that the biggest payoffs in NHL 22 are in leveling the playing field between pros and newcomers. NHL 22’s sublime puck and skating physics retain true simulation qualities as the puck bounces off the boards or leaks into the net unseen, but unlike the growing separation between casual and hardcore players in, say , NBA 2K, there is now a reasonable middle ground in the NHL. It’s easier to find a realistic play style that results in authentic scores and stats without having to understand the intricacies of hockey or play with the difficulty sliders. If anything, that seems more worth celebrating than the skills that are adjusted to suit a handful of players.

If there’s a fair comparison to EA’s recent NHL struggles, it’s MLB: The Show. They both found a practical and almost perfect formula to replicate their main game on the field / on ice about five or six years ago; now the challenge comes from finding the “new” in what was difficult to improve. In the case of the NHL, that led to the cheeky Tres, filled with fireworks, ridiculous stadiums, and open three-on-three play. There’s also the free-for-all three-way Ones mode, which pits trios of players against each other and a single goalkeeper in a half-court contest. At this point, it feels like getting there even if those modes offer competitive charm for small groups online.

It’s also worth noting that there is a repeated pop-up on community inclusion when you first navigate the menu, and while on the surface it feels like a corporation trying to please activists for brownie points, we should also keep in mind. account that hockey in general suffers a racial division. For example, HC Donbass player Jalen Smereck was hit with a racist taunt last month, so NHL 22 propping up tolerance in a timely manner.