NHL 23 Review: Shots on the ice to win the Stanley Cup

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EA finally brings the planet’s most beloved ice hockey series to next-gen: how’s the new National Hockey League game doing?

 

With the transition to the next-gen, the sports series signed by Electronic Arts have not shone that much: Madden NFL (here the review of Madden NFL 23) and FIFA live in ups and downs, while what was considered the flagship of the North American company (the NHL series) has been in a deep coma for several years. For heaven’s sake, ice hockey simulations don’t have the numbers to compete on sales level with soccer, basketball and football but from an annual title one can expect more than a simple update.

The absurd thing is that NHL 23 on ice is arguably the best title made by EA Vancouver since the days of NHL 14but the absence of new game modes or major changes will leave fans of Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid and company with a bitter taste in their mouth.

Ice in 4K

From a simulation and playful point of view, NHL 23 is a really great game. New animations of players on ice have been added (about 500 including those dedicated to female players), the physics of the puck and above all the defensive phase has been improved: using the stick to counter an opponent leads to an inevitable slowdown while skating at insane speed to chase the Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon of the situation. The player is forced to stall before sinking the shot and it becomes essential to have a good positioning e a very good sense of anticipation: the risk is to leave the various Auston Matthews or Kasperi Kapanen “one on one” against your goalkeeper and it is never recommended …

In NHL 23 it is important to know when to tackle an opponent with a poke check (stick to stick), place a charge against the balustrade with a devastating body check or when to kick an opponent to stop a dangerous action by taking a penalty. This “awareness” also seems to have infected the AI ​​that guides defenders and goalkeepers with greater intelligence, requiring the player to be careful not to be intercepted as he approaches the opponent’s area.

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In front of the goalkeeper, then, we must not panic in front of the newfound reactivity of the monstrous Andrei Vasilevskiy or Igor Shesterkin or the aspiring shutters like Jake Oettinger. Some spectacular dives and some holds will leave you speechless, ditto the blows and cannon shots against the balustrades that benefit from greater spectacularization thanks to the new animations “Stumble Action“.

Scoring in Lacrosse style

In addition to improving and making the ice skating phase more fluid, the team introduced the possibility of passing and throwing the puck. in conditions of poor balance. While falling on the ice or crashing into a balustrade, players have the option of firing a miraculous pass or a surprising shot at the last minute, as well as diving to conquer a stray puck near the door or sweep it as far away as possible. possible.

The control system is not new compared to that experienced in recent years and proves to be fluid with analog sticks (it is always possible to play with two buttons as in the legendary NHL 94).

As in Madden NFL, the NHL series has also become a land of conquest for the X-Factors, special skills that hockey stars have at their disposal. And the two testimonials of the game, Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse, were chosen to introduce two new types: for the Anaheim Ducks center we have the “Skilled Up“, which allows you to score goals in Lacrosse style.

For the winger of the Canadian women’s national team there is the “Relentless“, which increases accuracy in passing or shooting while unbalanced. As always, these super powers are activated during matches in certain situations and have been extended to all game modes of NHL 23.

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After a year of running in, EA Vancouver seems to have finally metabolized the transition to the new generation of consoles and done a lot of practice with the Frostbite Engine: the step forward compared to last year is clear. The grooves left by the skates of the players on the ice or the reflections of the lights on the helmets and sticks give an edge to the visual presentation, as well as the crowd that reacts in a “aware“to what happens in the field.

EA Vancouver has invested heavily in pre- and post-game to involve players more: the presentation of the teams complete with national anthems like it, as well as the celebrations, even if in the long run they tend to get a little too repetitive. The atmosphere in the stands heats up easily between screams, chants and whistles and the audience really manages to convey warmth and passion. There are also some nice bugs in group piles during the celebrations but nothing particularly annoying.

The freezing of the modalities

After spending the first hours of the game picking up the puck with the stick and putting it in the net with a movement in perfect Lacrosse style, we remained in religious silence to observe the choreographies organized by the virtual audience and listened to the choirs dedicated to the teams. After playing a few matches locally and online, we moved on to something substantial.

As for the game modes, EA Vancouver seems to have chosen the path of cryogenesis. Joking aside, there are no substantial news to report but only small tweaks here and there. It starts with Franchise mode which puts the player in the shoes of a general manager of one of the NHL franchises: the 2023 version is essentially identical to that of 2022, with the only positive note being the improved AI. The CPU-led teams in fact prove less ruthless at higher difficulty levels, limiting the steps but exhibiting a greater propensity to exploit the mistakes of others. It is possible to have a league with up to 48 franchises (by changing the schedule, format of the playoffs, conferences and more) and even import rosters from the community. Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to change the lines to be sent on the pitch during matches …

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The new version of the “World of Chel“it’s pretty much the same as last year – from rewards to progression – with the addition of some unreleased archetypes and a slightly more stable (improvable) connection, all in anticipation of cross-play which is expected to arrive in November in the form of an update. Career mode too “Be a Pro“It hasn’t changed one iota compared to that of NHL 22: same movies, same dialogue, same structure.

As for the goose that lays the golden egg of EA Sports productions, Hockey Ultimate Team chooses the path of inclusiveness (like FIFA 23) with the addition of dedicated cards to the most important players of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), which allow the creation of “alternative teams”. The backbone of HUT has remained the same as in recent seasons: it is necessary to triumph in online tournaments de-envelope a certain number of packagesas happens regularly in FUT and MUT.

 

NHL 23
NHL 23 Version Analyzed PlayStation 5NHL 23 is an improved and refined version of last year’s edition. EA Vancouver had declared that it had taken advantage of all the criticisms raised by its passionate community: so it was. Too bad that to improve the playing experience on ice and offer greater realism, the team sacrificed everything else. It is not enough to have cleaned up the audiovisual sector, improved the AI, retouched the Franchise mode or added the possibility to play with the IIHF girls: everything else is more or less the same as seen in NHL 22 and given the premises it was it is reasonable to expect more.