The time of year has come around where most major sporting franchises release their annual videogames and in this case it’s NHL. If you are an ice hockey fan then there’s no doubt you would be waiting to see what improvements could be made this year in EA Sports offering “NHL 14”. As a completely inexperienced guy on the ice I will try to see how easy this is to get to grips for anyone looking to get into the series but also focus on the aspects in which they have apparently tried to improve on.
Tutorial mode is a must as it takes you through multiple hands on scenarios to learn the fundamentals of playing a game. These include an improved deking system to confuse opposition with your sleight of hand when controlling the puck, this technique gives you a number of ways to manoeuvre and you can be the ultimate show off. Fighting, yes I said fighting, it’s almost a mini game during every hockey match and it allows you to dodge punches whilst throwing a few of your own on the counter. This training got me up to speed with shooting, passing, using your stick to pluck the puck from the opponent or the more primitive way slamming them with brute force against the sides, to the point where I felt comfortable in trying my luck on the ice.
After that I felt there’s only one place to start, “Hockey Ultimate Team” (HUT) where the dream is to earn EA Pucks to buy packs of players and hope superstars pop out then you can build a team full of brilliance. Players come in Bronze, Silver or Gold variations depending how good they are and early on you will have to slum it with some poor ones. You can earn coins in many ways though and it’s quite clever that one of these is by playing other games modes which adds to your total of Pucks to redeem back in HUT.
I’ve played Ultimate Team on other EA titles and even an early form of it before it became a major part of their top franchises. They excel on this one in a few ways and that’s the above way to earn Pucks (encouraging gamers to try other less popular modes), by earning even more just by playing consecutive days and most importantly for me being able to collect full teams where the game rewards you for this. It means even players you don’t want to use has a part to play because if he is the final one needed for Boston Bruins team then it will give you 45,000 Pucks in return. Reminds me of the old sticker book days and I wish they would add this into their other series.
Unfortunately there are drawbacks, mainly the lack of HUT tournaments both online and offline, I had won my first on my initial playthrough and knew I’d soon be out of things to do except for Online Seasons mode. Could have done with having an offline Seasons in all honesty but I guess as long as you build a decent team then there’s no better way to test it than to take on the world one team at a time.
Another mode in which EA have taken particular care to enhance is the Be A Pro mode now repackaged as “Live The Life”. You can decide between starting in a higher tier team (NHL) or as a junior in a more amateur team (OHL). The idea is to choose a position and become accomplished in that role to help your teams win matches, leagues and ultimately trophies.
What separates this from its former self is that now you have to be wary of what you do off the rink as well as on it. You have to keep management, fans, team mates and your own family happy, one wrong post or pre-match comment can have an effect on this. I like the fact they’ve added even more realism to being a hockey player to the point of getting endorsements if you’re lucky enough. My favourite offline mode by far as many hours can be put into making your career a massive success. This does come in a “Be A Legend” mode where you take control of a real legend like Wayne Gretzky (who even I have heard of!)
Something for the old school fans now with “NHL 94 Anniversary Mode” using the retro presentation style but with a smoother look in a single match of your choice. That isn’t all though as the buttons have been simplified to just three buttons on the attack and three when defending. Of course you can still instigate fights; however it is very basic and is certainly something those who played NHL 94 will appreciate more than the average fan or a newcomer like me.
If you don’t have much time then the above is only one part of the pick up and play modes, they also have two Winter Classics to take part in which is a rare outdoor game. That isn’t all, do you remember that time when Sergei Bobrovsky earned his 1st career NHL shutout last season? Well I don’t but those who do can recreate this and many more “NHL MOMENTS” from the 2012-13 season and is regularly updated with current season moments to download.
“Be A GM” mode covers all the regular woes of being a General Manager, once you have chosen your team to use its down to you to control the team to help you meet the seasonal targets. This was rather complicated for me personally as you need to manage the salary caps, snap up free agents and tie players down to contracts. Amazingly this in depth career can be taken online with up to 30 friends in “GM Connected”, a real gem of a mode for anyone who feels they can handle the responsibility. For those who want things a little simpler there is “Season” where there’s more focus on winning matches with the team than all the extras a GM has to handle.
The final major online feature is”EA Sports Hockey League”. Get together with friends to use a single pro character each together in a team to take on other teams of 6 to climb the divisions. As a little extra you can jump into to practice matches together against CPU to work on tactics and maybe even find an attack movement that the Mighty Ducks would be proud of.
Boasting a selection of over 100 teams from 10 leagues and 21 national teams plus all the above I am not sure what else a hockey fan could ask for. Each game was fun to play whilst being tight affairs even on the lower difficulties. Despite being a hockey novice it still pulled me in as a highly paced sports game packed with a hell of a lot to do. This is one series I will be keeping an eye on for many years.
