Published , by Bill Lavoy
Published , by Bill Lavoy
My first NHL review for Shacknews was NHL 18, where the title was “Building a playoff contender.” I’ve reviewed every NHL video game since then, making this my eighth consecutive year scoring the franchise. Unfortunately, the tone of those reviews has taken a downward turn in recent years, as more and more this franchise becomes known for incremental changes that fail to push the series forward in a meaningful way from one year to the next. While NHL 25 is better than NHL 24, it suffers from the same problems previous entries have in recent years.
My favorite part of booting up an NHL game for the first time is the plethora of screenshots EA gives me to tell me what’s new. It doesn’t get me excited; it literally gives me a list of things I need consider during the review period. Makes my job a little bit easier, and I’m all for that.
While bullet lists aren’t common in reviews, it works in this case. Here’s an easily digestible list of new things EA is advertising for this year:
That’s a lot to go over and I’m not hitting them all, because a bunch of this stuff is like saying to your partner, “Oh, I put the toilet seat down.” Thanks, but that’s expected, not something to brag about as if there’s been some groundbreaking progress made. Some of these also aren’t standalone features, but more improvements on existing systems that weave through the gameplay no matter which mode you’re playing.
The biggest overhaul this year is to Franchise mode, where there are now complex contracts to be negotiated, a new hub with a vastly improved layout and snappy navigation, box scores, and conversations that give you more control on getting the players and coaches in your organization on the same page. Franchise mode is where I spend 95 percent of my time in any NHL game, so this one was made specifically for me. I’m the sicko that sets vendor prices, assigns every single scout, updates my draft board, and spends hours trying to pull off complex trades to make my fourth line better. Everything brought forward this year feels like it gets me closer to that ultimate goal of true franchise immersion, but there’s certainly more to be done. Why are the bathrooms always on fire?
Outside of that, the only other game mode to get any attention is… drumroll please… Hockey Ultimate Team. Congratulations on guessing that one. You win a Shacknews no-prize since that was the easiest prediction of all time. Of course, the mode that asks you to swipe your credit card got attention. It always does! Anyway, HUT now has a streamlined XP progression track that lets you earn XP no matter where you play, and the new Wildcard mode which allows you to draft your team based on unique criteria, such as salary caps or overall ratings. If you’re into HUT, this stuff is for you. It’s certainly not for me.
Almost every other update that was touted on that first blitz of screens is rolled into the overall experience. Next-gen characters do actually look good. Not perfect, but it’s progress and still impressive. The infinite camera system does provide some pretty nifty replay angles, which everyone wanted. Hat tip to EA Vancouver for that. Skill-based one-timers are cool, but I’m not sure that’s something to brag about. Feels more like a patch note than a feature but, again, it’s progress. The ICE-Q system includes new animations that are supposed to be responsive to contextual events. Yeah, I noticed some of those. It also includes the vision control overhaul which is cool. I do enjoy being able to square up to the puck at any time. It creates some great opportunities in both the offensive and defensive zones, although I can’t say that I’ve noticed giant leaps in the overall artificial intelligence (AI) during offline games.
Every year I struggle with the idea of reviewing the next NHL game because, most of the time, I just sound annoyed with it all. Most of the time I am, but that’s not because I enjoy disliking something, or being overly critical, it’s because I adore this franchise as much as any other and I want the best for it. I see the potential, and then I also see that EA (the publisher, not the EA Vancouver developer) doesn’t care about this franchise enough to even bring it up on a quarterly earnings call. I dare you to listen to Andrew Wilson, EA’s CEO, talk about the EA Sports stable of games. You won’t hear him speak of NHL, but you will hear him talk about Madden, College Football, and FC. Those are much bigger franchises with huge install bases, but it’s important that Chel players understand that the trends that they’ve seen for years now are not going to change. This is where we live.
So, what’s missing? Well, about 75 percent of what would be required for this to qualify as a new game. This, like most years, is a patch. You’re paying whatever ungodly amount you’re paying for a patch. That’s the harsh reality. That’s why EA Vancouver has to brag about skill-based one-timers in marketing, because there aren’t enough substantial upgrades to list. It’s like your boss asking what you’ve accomplished at the end of the day and you’re including things like refilling the soap dispensers and dusting your keyboard.
You want to dive deeper? Okay, there are no meaningful updates to Be a Pro. You know that mode that wants dozens of hours of play time to even think about getting useful x-factors? Yup, that’s the same mode. Same conversations. Same bugs. No, your progression from previous years does not carry over. No, you can’t play a year in the CHL to get NHL ready. You’re entering the league at 73 overall and hating every moment of the first 40 games. Pay again this year to play the same stale, busted, exhausting content.
Here’s a prediction, though, Be a Pro will get an update for NHL 26, because that’s how this game is developed. There isn’t enough investment each year to do everything that needs to be done, so the developers work on a rotating system where Franchise gets updated this year, Be a Pro next year, and so on. Our next Franchise mode update is scheduled for 2029. A guess, but how close do you think I am? That’s scary to think about. I’m probably not off by much.
The NHL franchise is a perfect candidate for the live service treatment. Charge players $7 USD each month and give them a couple substantial updates per year, plus updated rosters, events, etc. Something like skill-based one-timers gets added in the middle of November during a routine update, because that’s the kind of shine it’s actually worthy of. Next-gen characters, that’s a bigger deal and gets rolled into one of the more substantial updates each year. See my vision?
At a time when live service games are failing left and right, sports games actually make sense. I don’t think we’ll ever reach a point where any sports game is worth the $100 plus price tag each year simply because fully fleshed out games can’t be made in a year. So, change the way the system works. Get that consistent subscription money that EA loves so much, but at the same time stop abusing people who don’t have a good hockey simulation alternative. Why won’t this work? Well, people keep paying EA so why would they change it?
This review has certainly gone off the rails but, in my defense, it’s my eighth one and I’m shocked every year that I find a new way to say the same thing. Yes, everything that EA Vancouver added is cool or nice or awesome but, no, it’s not enough. I know it’s not the developer’s fault, and I genuinely feel bad for them. They seem like hockey nuts, like the rest of us, but it’s not my job to pat anyone on the back for delivering patch-sized video games at full price just because their boss sucks. It’s actually my job to call that out, but hopefully one of these years I get to gush over a fully updated, feature rich game that doesn’t pick one mode to care about each season.
This review is based on a digital download code provided by the publisher. NHL 25 is available now for PS5 and Xbox Series X.