Nah not even that it was mainly when nhl switched from Xbox 360 to Xbox one, they completely got lazy and started spitting out the same game with updates, nhl 14 EASHL had micro transactions and they would sell just as good as hut packs, from franchise mode immersive feeling aswell as be a pro nhl 14 was better for that or even nhl 13-12 And EA adding women into hockey, isn’t new, all they did was bring them back from removing them and don’t even add the legends of women hockey
@@MrVariantwhy’re you so salty? Them adding features that make sense, like having women, isn’t what makes it bad. Women should be in the game. NHL 23 is pretty garbage, yeah, but it’s not because of that.
Nhl 2K3 was by far the best hockey game ever created and you could play it from broadcast tv mode so there would be competition but noone cares about hockey, I agree that nhl 2003 and 2004 were good that maybe why nhl 2k3 never got the recognitionit deserved as the best hockeygame ever created
They should scrap the entire game and build it from the ground up they need a fresh start but will never do it because they know we will buy it every year
Thanks for the video. I think you nailed it on the head. I have been a diehard EA NHL fan my whole life, but right now I'm contemplating not buying the game for the first time since NHL 98. HUT would be so fun if there were no hockey cards and it was just build a team under the cap and create your own team name, uniforms and arena and play others online. Also how do we not have online leagues (GM Connected) yet? NFL 2k5 literally had this and it was perfect.
No GM connected and we will NEVER see it again because they cant monetize it lol and the developers dont actually like or play hockey so that is why they dont get my money anymore. I have been buying the game since the first one came out on SEGA back in 91 but haven't for the last 6 yrs
Word!! They have got to put a online franchise mode like madden has...this is crazy...I love playing h2h but I would love to be playing to achieve a cup
Also...that glitch shot kills the game...smh so many people force the issue of getting in the corner so they can skate pass the goalie and score...same shot everytime
2k is trash they will vc everything. Yet People only complain when ea has micro transactions but give a pass to 2k lol when 2k is much worse than ea lol Nice Hypocrits
i’m so glad someone made a video about this! i’ve been so sick of ea’s game plan every year of adding something they should’ve fixed through a patch and then market it as a new feature for the next game. meanwhile, something that was just fine last game gets broken by ea and then for next game they’ll fix it and announce as a new feature. it’s the same rinse wash repeat for years and they will never be good unless 2k steps in and made a game
You are 100% spot on.. I almost couldn’t make it through this whole video because I’m so mad and have been mad at EA for freaking years now.. every single year they just make the same game they build it off the same base platform every single year and have been doing it since like 2017.. they just refused to build a brand new NHL game from the ground up because they are so lazy.. I swear the EA employees for this game probably show up to work once a month and that’s all they really need because they don’t update crap.. I want gameplay updates I want the gameplay to be better and they just keep focusing on stupid crap and they know it’s stupid and I think they have been mocking us for years.. they take it vantage of all of us because they know that we all love hockey and they are the only game we can play.. I desperately wish there was a competitor. I just want to see EA in a panic and try to actually make a legit game for once. I thought that every single game any company makes every year they are supposed to put their all into it and make it better? EA sports has totally ignored that for years and years now. I almost wish we could legally do something about this and I’ve seen tons of people say this because they keep doing the same thing every year. Obviously I know they are allowed to do this and we are just dumb for buying it but come on now. Enough is enough it’s been going on for years and years now. They already have a thing called “FATMAN LAG” which most people don’t know about because only certain people get it. I’ve had it for years and there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it I know it’s in the coading of the NHL games but it will never disappear unless they build a game from the ground up.
I wonder what the hell they are doing for one year when they develop the game. We can safely assume that they start to develop the next game in spring because they will never work an entire year on one game, but what the hell are they doing in that year to come out only with this crap? And it's not even only NHL, it's in every EA game.
Spot on review, I personally haven't bought a NHL title since 17 because of everything you mentioned. I remember saying back then that I will wait until NHL24 because the last good one was NHL14
Great video. Very insightful. Absolutely disgraceful how little they change the game. Feels like they sneakily take good things away like the winter classic. Like what is the reason that they can’t have that in the game? So many great features that have been lost. Nhl 23 is bare bones.
100% agree with you. I never noticed things being taken out and then been added back in. The 2k Sports Stanely Cup celebration would look great in NHL 23. I really think that EA has lost touch with their community. Adding 500+ animations for the last chance puck movement was a waste of time. Nobody asked for it and even if we did, probably 10-15 animations different animations with enough variations would be sufficient. Focusing on gameplay to have a fun game again like you describe should be a priority for online players. Giving offline players the Winter Classic, All-Star games, editable players, and custom goalie helmet would be a good start. I'm not buying NHL 23 because the changes I care about like the ice texture could have been handled in a NHL 22 update.
Unfortunately one of the main issues here is there aren’t any other NHL games coming out these days so EA will continue to get away with it until that changes
It's ironic that the old game clips rolling in the background at the beginning of the video were all cut-scene animations that were not available in-game, yet used to advertise the game. Their presentation bait&switch tactics go back decades.
My wishlist: GM Connected Custom Goalie Mask Winter Classic World Juniors in franchise mode Attributes really affect the simulation, like a 96 Mcdavid should get 120+ points Skills Competition Goalie animations completely overhauled
they have to let you play in the world juniors or the actual tournament in Be A pro. Add skills competition to Be a Pro. And winter classic. Be a pro would get more attention.
I started at NHL '97. I played real Hockey as well. Almost got a Rangers tryout! I bought it Friday and see it's the same stuff. I don't like WOC. I want to play in NHL arenas with NHL jerseys and equipment. This series has fallen big time.
Great review. I don't even buy sports games anymore, as much as I want to. I will activate my GameFly every other year, try out 3-4 games, and play some with GamePass. But usually I end up buying an older sports title every 2-3 years, and playing it for awhile. I miss the old days of looking forward to a new release.
I'm with you! For years I've threatened to not buy the game but I always end up giving in and purchasing it. NOT THIS YEAR! I will not allow myself to purchase NHL23. I've bought the NHL game every year since 98, yeah, I'm that old. I used to run online leagues back before there was a such thing as HUT. That's how big a fan and how big a supporter I've always been. But not this year, enough is enough. I suggest everyone skip this game, it's the only way to send a message to EA that we've finally had enough.
Not only that but they don’t necessarily let you edit players attributes. Nor do they let players in franchise mode create their own draft class or create a player. But mostly not creating your own draft class and editing attributes or not even that, you can’t even edit an AHL player either. Which is really awful. And also no history section or records or awards sections. Much like Madden, EA does not put a lot of effort into NHL and if anything they put even worse effort on NHL and NHL gets even worse treatment as well.
Thank you for saying what almost everybody that doesn't play HUT feels. Only things I would add are the lack of PC support & the low refresh rate. I was an every year buyer & only played EASHL but I refused to purchase '22 & now '23. (not even when we all know the game is 50% off not long after being released ever year) I will not be buying NHL until high variable refresh rate PC support is added. Oddly, players & sticks clipping through each other & the boards now matches the horrible on boards digital ads on televised NHL games. **facepalm** "It's in the game" BOYCOTT HUT ((subbed))
That's never going to happen - pc version. I have it on PS5 but remember NHL22 was running at 120hz on XSX. Both PS5 and XSX are connected to the same TV, so it might be because I accidentally enabled black frame insertion on the XSX input, i'm not sure. All you need is 60 though and VRR, which it has on PS5. it plays great...I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. Just buy and have fun if you like hockey games.
In NHL 22 I won about 95% of the time. With 23 the CPU takes over, I win maybe 10% of the time. Even if my time on attack and shots on goal are 3 times the opponent’s I still lose. Usually I start by getting a 2 or 3 goal lead. Then all of a sudden every time I make contact it’s an elbowing penalty, pucks start going through my players bodies, it won’t let me switch control to my players closest to the puck, I defend the puck 3 or 4 times but it magically goes right back to the player I took it from, my goalie starts giving up rebounds on every single weak shot…
2k10 had great presentation before the game as well as talking about the players and goalie. This years nhl sometimes just goes right to the face off 😢
@@Dshivs They don’t own the rights, they have contracts from the NHL to make them because nobody wants the license, 2K made games right along with them and stopped because they weren’t selling what they wanted.
It honestly pisses me off so bad that the game asks you what your favorite team is each year and when you open hockey bags, you may get 1 item for your favorite team and then 1,000 items from other teams before you get another item from your team.
As someone who has pre-purchased the game I can tell you that what they promised is BS. Passing is still terrible, defensive player selection is still borderline broken, controls have a delay, the gameplay is focused on individual performance and not team play, goalkeepers make impossible saves while letting garbage through, objective completion is bugged, games sometimes load to black screen. This year is the worst EA NHL game I ever played.
I'm on PS4 so I guess it's going to suck! -If the goalie suck bump up difficulty on goaltending sliders, right? -Is there any International play? Can you have a tournament of International Teams? - like with MUT ea pushes HUT which I'm not interested in. I want to play realistic season/career/ franchise mode AGAINST COMPUTER * if they ever find a model that works they don't need to ever mess with it again just allow you to update rosters. But no one would buy a new games
as a gm & be a pro player it pisses me off that they took out the stats tab on your main screen from i think 2014 game. You used to be able to toggle with the stick between team standings top goalies, points goals & assist leaders. It always made me feel more immersed in the game, like some how other people were seeing these stats. to have to go into the stats pages in the last how many years makes stats feel lackluster. i dunno if im explaining this right but i dont know why the fuck it was ever taken out. I also missed when they used to put like an iceberg or fire symbol or whatever next to players names who were on hot/cold streaks. i think thats from 94 or 96. Fuck can you imagine if they consistently added to the game instead of always taking shit out every year and then adding a a few things back over time calling it a new exciting feature.
couldn't agree more. they would make so much more money on selling games if they addressed alot of these things and actually listened to fans. be a pro took a step in the right direction last yr but they absolutely dropped the ball this yr. this alone is the reason for me not to buy it. if it was more like NBA I'd be all over it. big hits and making checking easier would improve the game as well.
if you look closely during the clip where the avalanche are raising the cup, you can see that the banners are STILL outdated, they still have the panthers old logo and the older Senators logo, im pretty sure it would take them literally like, 5 seconds to fix that, any shmuck with photoshop could do it
It's so funny how u talk about the random gear unlocking and player progression in CHEL. I sorta miss the days where we all competed to get the Lemiux mullet at P5. It's also funny how u put your fav team and then thats the team gear and jerseys you get the least of. Last year I went 2 months and didn't unlock a single Ranger jersey, switched my fav team to San Jose and had every Ranger jersey in a week.
well thats only if 2k remembers how to make hockey games. ea knows how, its just nhl isnt as popular as other sports so they arent gonna spend tons of money on making hockey game when they wont get it back. you do know how it all works right
I posted a review at NHL 23's Online Forum at EA's website re: how disappointed I was that they didn't include features that have been requested for years. They deleted my post saying it was inappropriate. The EA Moderator sent me a message as well informing me of the same. I replied as follows: "The fact that you removed my post speaks volumes about your company. Very disappointing. You don't listen to the fans/customers, don't give them answers re: why you ignore their requests, and then remove any posts that call it like it is re: your products. On top of that, your games are getting worse and worse every year. Don't agree with that assessment? Just check out the review comments posted virtually everywhere where gamers post comments. One by one, you're causing customers never to return. One day you won't be the only game in town (the only reason you've made it this far). Nothing personal towards you. I realize you're stuck with the Oz behind the curtains running the show there. It is very sad though when I think of what the NHL franchise could be and should be after all these years. The Madden franchise is in the same sinking ship too BTW (IMHO). Be well.” I then posted a follow up forum comment and they banned me for 24 hours saying I was “discussing moderation.” EA obviously doesn’t want to answer to their loyal customers. I’m done buying their crappy rubber-stamped games. I guess when you’re the only game in town you can be the bully. 2K Sports please come back to the NHL video game arena!
I feel your pain! I have bought nhl since 2006 as well. But I realized that ea has to come up with some things. I stopped buying nhl games since 2020…I am tired of glitch goals, crappy ai, crappy goalies etc. Nhl has been an upgrade from previous versions! This does not warrant my money bc they do not listen. I really enjoyed nhl 10 bc it was hard to score because you had to play the point move the puck and had to try different things. Unfortunately ppl were crying it was hard but that made me want to improve. Lastly, ea has no direct competition since 2k sports stopped making nhl games to focus on bball. I remember when 2k had Bob Cole and Harry Neal as actual commentators which was awesome compared to ray Ferraro and the other guy. I don’t think ea will ever get my money for a sports game again…just my thoughts.
Yeah man we need a super cringy corny career story. And always start out as the worst player in the league. And be forced to spend over 150.00$ on vc to upgrade our player. Yes man 2k is totally great and can do no wrong Rolls eyes. #KeepHypocriting
They also, for all their talk of improving the presentation, removed half of it. Remember how last year you had the "Full Presentation" option that would give you the warm up, goalie comparison, full highlights during games etc and the condensed presentation that just gave you goal highlights and skipped everything else? Well they completely removed the Full Presentation option this year so now even in offline modes you don't get any intros, goalie names/stats, no hit replays, nothing. Just goal replays when you score. Talking about the features they had years ago and put it, it's like when they reintroduced pre and post game interviews to Be A Pro, which was already a thing they had in the past then removed and didn't even change it, it was the exact same thing as the one they used to have and removed. This year they did nothing with it. Seriously if you have NHL 22, with roster sharing just wait for someone to do a current roster update and play that, this is absolutely not worth it unless you can get it for like 5 bucks and even then it's hard to justify that. If you're an online player that plays HUT or ECHL maybe the game might be worth it for you, but if you're an offline player, it really isn't. If anything this game just tells you that what they really want is to do NHL as just a HUT and ECHL only game but know that if they did that and didn't have BAP or Franchise mode in the game that they would lose a hell of a lot of customers.
They do it year after year. This game is a non-option for offline players and I have been on the same EASHL team for 8 years now, we were top 50 in EASHL clubs last year and half the team isn’t getting the game. Theres nothing to be excited about. If you’re a franchise player, theres better options out there like NHL 04 rebuilt for PC and hockey manager (I think thats the name).
When I see people complaining about FIFA or NBA 2K being bad and I look at them and I’m like come check out the NHL games, that’s BAD. I swear EA is the biggest con artist in gaming history. Almost nothing changed this year, there is no 100 dollar price justification here. It’s almost criminal what they do. The thing is NHL 22 was actually pretty good, but 23 is just straight AWFUL.
Not to mention to get early access, you have to pre order the X factor edition instead of the regular one. Like in what world do offer a pre order that doesn’t allow early access. Not to mention almost no benefits to begin with.
Sports games are sports games. Hockey isn’t as popular, and if you don’t play online you don’t have to buy the cofactor edition. The game actually plays really smooth. I can understand skipping this year if you play be a pro or franchise, but truthfully thats any sports game. Every year whether it’s madden or 2k we are pretty much buying a roster update. The fact that the gameplay is better this year is a sign of good things to come if you ask me. But content is content, I suppose.
They even still have the same issues as last year, random flickering in the middle of my gameplay on eashl sometimes, games not counting randomly after spending 30 minutes playing, random crashes mid game, freezing after searching for opponent and cancelling won’t work, just little things that were in nhl 22 are still in nhl 23 that wastes so much of people’s time after spending the $100 year after year boggles my mind
I got this game just a few days ago. It was at a pawn shop for $3 because the case was damaged. I also don’t have any previous nhl games, and I just got into the nhl fanbase. With no prior experience, I really like the game, but thanks for the tips.
I think they should add a park feature like NBA 2k does. I think that would be so cool using ur created player and going around different ice rinks and playing games to earn rank and stuff. I think that would make the game more fun and competitive
The fact that they still haven't addressed people quitting online games as soon as they start losing, tell you they could care less about the game. I was over a friend's house tonight and he tried playing games online. 16 games in a row once a team got down by a few goals, people quit and the entire game got cancelled. 16 games in a row! Online play is a huge part of why people spend money on the game. Who enjoys playing half a period 16 times in a row before people quit with no consequences! This could and should of been fixed years ago. I mean, you could simply track which users quit once a game starts and if you do it too often, you're banned from online for a set time period. And I know people will say EA can't tell if they quit or had a glitch with their connection, etc . Tough crap! First, you can definitely tell who actually hits quit, so start there. For those who just disconnect or turn off their system to get around it, well, you get a few of those to use up. But if you're playing online it shouldn't be happening that often enough so you get a few and once you reach say 5, you're banned from online for a week. And you don't need to penalize everyone in the game, they can see which accounts actually lose connection in a game. And since the people who quit are usually the ones that are on a team that starts losing, it's easy to determine which users should be hit with a penalty if they all of a sudden a few accounts are suddenly disconnected during a game when they're losing! It's a joke that they have been afraid to address this and yet it kills their online play. EA could care less though. It's a joke and it's a disgrace how bad things have gotten since the Genesis days of NHL 93, 94 and so on. Just a money grab now.
All HUT is... From someone who gave it a fair shot... Is people getting fast skaters and speed burning up the boards past slower defense. By the time you get to division 1, if you didn't pay real money for your team, then it's extremely hard to keep pace
For me the best NHL game was 99. Man I loved that game, the way you could tackle and destroy the team. Haven't played in a few years now, felt like they were all the same
i think the huge problem is that ea has zero competition when it comes to nhl or madden for that matter, it would be great if another studio could get their hat in the ring and push some innovations, but sadly this is all us hockey fans have. probably won’t buy but it will be in game pass sooner than later
I actually would like to have the option to choose your commentators, unlockable teams and player's, also I want EA to bring back the intro to the game (like NHL 2000 with the live action/CGI while "Push it" by Garbage is playing).
Man I really feel like this game plays so different than lasr year.. The goalies seem way better and dont let in every single cross crease pass like in 22..
As long as the HUT fanatics keep throwing money at packs(serious, someone even said they spent 600$ on hut cards on the first day of early access) EA won't make any major changes to the rest of the game. I played HUT the first year it was introduced, and that was it. I did buy the game, but I primarily play offline, so the addition of custom leagues to franchise mode was the main selling point for me, and then I play EASHL as well, so I need to latest game to be able to do that, and having cross play will make that better. But, I'm not going to sing some praise here. EA does need to do more. They made a lot of small changes this year, and I HOPE that it means NHL24 will get big changes. The games aren't BAD, and NHL is better off than some of the others(Madden, looking at you) but that's a low bar lol. But I really do believe all the HUT players who just shovel money at packs, and the content creators who do it as well an then act like the game is perfect, is the main reason we don't see change. Addition: I HATE the hockey bags. They were originally going to be microtransactions, but after the Battlefront disaster, and some countries making paid lootboxes illegal, they made them free. So there's ZERO reason for them to be in the game years later. I hate that everything you get is random. Playing the game for a year to never get the ONE goal celebration I really want is annoying. They need to overhaul that to a point system. You get points after each game, and you can spend those points on exactly what you want. Easy. Painless. The bags are a chore and there is SO MUCH in the game. The odds of getting that one thing you want for each category is so slim.
First of all. Nice Video. You speak from my soul. I know that the in-game presentations are skipped by a lot of people. But I loved it. Especially when I went out of the tunnel onto the ice at NHL 09 with my Be a pro player. Unfortunately, this was cancelled at some point. Somehow I don't have much fun with NHL anymore, even though I used to love it. And the gruesome commentator doesn't make things any better. I just want to have an NHL Game again, which I can look forward to... :(
I met Rammer and had him sign a copy of NHL 20. My dad is 74 years old and we play in the same EASHL team. Played since 03 and this is the first time we agreed to skip after doing the beta for 23.
Addressing another issue w not being able to cross platform on same team. Not being able to play couch co op against people online is ridiculous. That was my favorite thing back in 2012 or whenever (don't exactly remember the year)
Well, why I fully understand those who don't want to buy this years NHL as they really have not given us much more options for let's say Franchise mode, Be A PRO mode, cutomazation of teams and players etc, I will buy it for 3. reasons, even if they are not that big; 1. I have NHL 21, that lacks the Seattle Krakens. 2. The Coyotes have officaly back the old logo and scrapped the boring plain red Coyote. Small but I never liked to play with or against them because they looks major boring. 3. Some of the upcoming reverse-retro jerseys added to all NHL teams. Like I said, these are just small reasons but I rather buy 23 then 22 to have the most recent. Well after 23 I very much doubt 24 will give me any reason to buy it. BUT I will try and not pay a full price, as many dollars/cents as possible to shave off. Even 2nd hand copy is fully open, even if I will have to wait a little longer.
Presentation was a big selling point to me this year and then when j got It i found out Presentation was all condensed which skips almost everything ...screwd again by EA
EA did have it somewhere in the wording that only 6 NHL teams would have the presentations so I can't really fault them there. However, they did it in such a way that it was like "read the fine print" that most people missed and got the wrong expectations. I would be fine with it If it didn't come at the cost of being stuck on condensed mode 100% of the time. I also do not like this game on the frostbite engine at all. Yes, there are some graphical upgrades most seen in lighting but I thought the game looked better on the last engine..most recently NHL 21. The game still plays choppy and player physics are weird. I actually did enjoy the cut scene at the very end of when you win the cup your team and it's players get shown on it which is kinda neat but besides that ehh I dunno. It's a lsight upgrade over NHL 22 but that's only because 22 was the worst game I have played in 5 seasons.
Glad you mentioned them taking out things and putting them back in years later like they are new. They've done the same thing with fifa for years and I'd guess any of their other sports games.
I bought the game and I haven't been able to play it yet. It showed me a ssl connect error white screen and didn't let me do anything but shut the application off. So disappointed with this purchase.
I just used the Michigan as a glitchy snapshot shot last year 🤣 never actually pulled it off but if you would try it in the middle of the ice when you would lower your stick to set it up you could snap it quickly and the shot would be faster then a normal snapshot.
just pay $25 like i just did to buy it around the holidays. it’s much more enjoyable knowing you paid less than half price for it. maybe try out franchise mode too. multiplayer is fun of course but the franchise mode in chel is slept on heavily.
Well made video, I keep saying that, I wish more people would complain instead of let EA get away with the cash grab $100 game evrey year. Maybe if they saw so many people aren't happy instead of the 25% of people who think the game is "great" they might make it a change. Petition to let 2K start making these games again? EA should be ashamed of themselves for robbing peoples money like this and stop putting themselves on a pedestal because only they are allowed to make NHL.
The only thing that really bothers me in the whole franchise is that I can't play offline and feel immersed enough to enjoy it because there's only a few players that have the gear they use in real life and it's too tedious to go through every single player and change their equipment and ratings to resemble their real life counterparts. And if I want to use a new roster update with rookies and other new players, the changes I've made will reset and must be done again, so I won't bother. I've done it many times before but I won't anymore. HUT is out of the question as well because there you can't change the equipment and must play with players using wrong gear in every game. I only play CHEL drop-ins alone or with my brother, even though I think it's the most toxic and chaotic game mode there is because people can't behave. We have no friends who play the game to fill a club so drop-ins are our only chance to get full 6vs6 games even occasionally.
Agree with your points but the shit that gets me is ya one timers are harder but the goal that goes in 95% is the hold forehand and hold behind your back then wrap around the goalie shit just can't be stopped either. Game is so boring, nobody does plays or anything cool, never get outplayed just get 1 goal scored on every game.
I ended up buying the game it’s legit the same game as 22 just like three new things and update graphics and roster. But I did mange to buy for $40 bc it was on sale. Which was okay it was like normally $80 or $90 idk
Not to mention the franchise sim is SO random +5s on all lines and an A+ coach all star team. 5 games below .500 to finish every season. Like does chemistry even effect play? its all ascetics and means nothing
The cover of the game says it all, and no im not talking about the players im talking about a beach type vibe..these guys have been making a comedy out of this game at this point... I wish 2k would come make video games, ea hasn't come out with a good game since NHL 14
This game is just so bad. Our club team, which we aren’t noobs, lost 7-1 with 20 more shots on net. There goalie made every save in the book and the other team scores 7 on 12 shots. So bad, this experience happened in each of the 3 next games. I went back and played 22 and it honestly felt so much better.
nhl offline seems to work well, lots of bs to deal with but still mostly fun and playable, also they do have some cool features that do impress me! with that being said online is completly inconsistant and broken... sometime ai players will just watch the puck slide by them and not even attempt to grab it, sometimes goalies will just not even attempt to make saves letting in the lamest goals anyones ever seen, then other times will switch to jesus mode become unrealisticly fast and not let anything in no matter how perfect the setup/shot, sometimes players have delays in passing and shooting ive noticed as well, i still have fun playing online from time to time, but its impossable to take seriously with how glitchy and broken it is! also the behind rap around glitch goal still hasnt been fixed and prolly never will😢
Bought it on Black Friday 47% off and still wasn't worth. Went on Play Now and edited my lines and strategies for 10+ mins and an error sign came up, thought nothing of it and started the game only for the whole screen to be pitch black. After that happened, just went on over to NHL 21 (didn't buy 22)
Last year I wanted this certain celebration and I think I only finally unlocked it in May or June when I was pretty much done playing the game for the year.
This is the first year since 08 that I didn't buy NHL. Last year was pretty bad for HUT especially when they changed the X factor points mid season that people had already had their teams built around. And the pressure they put on pay to win is more focused on then anything else.
I love how you have to pay an extra $40 to get the X factor edition. And X factor edition barely gets you extra perks, the $40 extra that you spend for it is basically so that you can play the game 3 days early. It's all just a money grab. It also said that my EASHL would have extra X factor slots open for me and some extra hockey bag rewards because I bought the X factor edition of the game. And when I checked, there was no new perks. Maybe you get like 500 HUT pucks but I don't play HUT so.... I pretty much spent $119.99 CAD but then like $132.55 after tax or something, and I did it for no reason. Kind of pissed me off But the rest of the game is what pisses me off more. It's safe to stay EA is *stuck* . They know that they have barely any ideas or new advancements to put into their games, so they're basically just twiddling their thumbs and creating false hype for all their new games, trying to distract their fans every year from the fact that they were barely able to make noticeable improvements to their game. For one, every new release, they just tweak their online and offline tuner sets, to make the game feel different. They barely change the main menu or much about that, and they just make their 19 year old minimum wadge employee find a new cheap soundtrack. Have you guys noticed that EA rarely has popular hit music in their games anymore, its like they don't want to pay for it. Also, the guy mentions multiple times in this video how EA will add something into their newest games that could've easily been added years ago. And that's because EA has sort of a progression agenda with their games, because they know that they're so slow at making actual improvements to their games, that they have to leave features out of their games for no reason, so that if a future game is failing during production, they can help make it look like they made more improvements by adding those little features later on. Like giving the ai goalies human save animations, they could always do that if they wanted, but they just held it off so that whenever they had nothing on their plate to hand to their customers, they can feed them that. And aside from the easy little features that they don't include unless they need to save themselves, EA does an even cheaper thing, where they take away promising features in their game, so that a few years later they can "re-introduce" those features as if their brand new. It's so bs. EA BARELY DOES ANYTHING NEW EVERYEAR, and they make tiny little improvements that they could've done in the past, and they decide thats enough to satisfy us, and they also bring stuff back from the past that they took out for now reason. They're playing around with it, its like they're focusing on distracting everyone from their issues rather then solving them. Also, just a couple other things in NHL that piss me off. So in Online versus I had a game where i had 4 min 56 sec Time on Attack with 4 shots on goal after one period. My opponent had 4 shots on goal too, and had 2 min 29 seconds Time on Attack. I had 6 faceoff wins, opponent had 1. He was up 4-0 on me after the first, all 4 of his predictable shots went in. Then the gave started glitching out and it gave me the message that I got disconnected from the Online server. I swear Ice tilt is even more present in online modes then they have been. And Ice tilt will always be controlling more and more aspects of the gameplay, the more and more EA tries to make their games flow like a real life simulation. Because basically, the game is constantly trying to us the Ai to generate "realistic" outcomes everywhere on the ice. They're trying to make the game play appear realistic more then trying to let people have options and creativity, to succeed you basically have to do everything the game wants you to do, which becomes so f****ng repetitive. The game streamlines you into making the decisions it wants you to make, and if you try and play complex or more unorthodox type of playstyle, the game will just say f*** you and will use your own AI and your opponents AI to destroy you, and at that point, your battling more against the game then your actual opponent. Thats ICE TILT in a nutshell, battling the game because the algorithm has turned against you. And the only reasons that algorithm exists is, one, because they need to make the gameplay appear realistic as I said, but also because EA wants to tug on everyones emotions. A noob player will feel like he's almost good at the game because the game will hand cookies to them everywhere, and because of it, the noob will be hooked because he constantly feels like he's improving and like he's kissing the tip of success. Whereas a very skilled player will have ICE TILT thrown against him and therefor it'll make everygames a challenge, even if he's playing a noob, and therefor the skilled player will never be bored. That's EA's motto for their game, its just a simulation algorithm thats pretty much controlling the flow of the game and giving the users half of the freedom they used to have, it's like the games practically playing itself, but at the same time there is an emotional aspect where the game is making everything an emotional rollercoaster so that people think the game is more fun then it really is. In reality, the game is so bare boned that you basically just skate into the zone and look for the same scoring opportunities every time because there's only a few main ways to score. It's like constant mindless repetition, and when you think really hard about it, you realize the game is basically a complete mental waste of time to play, but you play it anyways. Lastly, they actaully said in one of their trailers that a big improvement was that you can now open Hockey bags faster in EASHL and also that the Cross platform thing will make the search times quicker. Both of those were flat out LIES. Hockey bags still take just as long, and the wait times almost feel even longer Queueing up into a lobby, and the games fresh out of stores. Also, anyone notice that the game feels choppy when you're in the main menu, and that the game constantly has to Sync before games start, and also that the game is pretty buggy in general? I had EASHL freeze on me twice already, I had an error during the middle of a game, and free skate doesn't even work in EASHL. Also, wtf is with them calling EASHL EEEESHOL. Also, no one has to tell me that BE a pro is the same, I know it wasn't improved and they'll just let it rust for a few years. Also, why is there still no Suspensions, its an easy features that they used to have. EA will probably re introduce it soon like its something new. To be honest, the only thing about NHL 23 that I actually liked was the fact you can make a 48 team league in franchise mode. That says alot when EA makes new presentation features and showcases the last chance puck movements and some more tickity boo Zegras moves, and out of everything they added, the only thing I enjoyed from it was a mini feature in one of their offline game modes. Also, all of EA's trailers were so stretched out, they were just trying to fool people. Everyone was so pumped for every team having a pre game ice presentation, and it's only for 6 teams and lasts for 7 seconds!!!!?? I already don't care anymore, so to me, that feature aint looking to new to me. Also, yeah, the new last chance puck movements never happen, poke checking feels a little weird, also the new interception animations were basically a scam because they never happen, and the goalies barely utilize all those new animations they put in the game. I agree with this person too how the goalies are very bad in this game. Inconsistent, and I know EA's trying to do that to make it appear more real life like, 'How any bounce can happen" type of thing, and I suppose it allows for flucky goals to happen, but within one week of playing the game I've noticed so many swiss cheese goals that the goalies were flat out supposed to save. The cover of the game too, its alright, I wouldn't say its good, and tbh it seems like they choose tropical colors and it makes the game appear more "childish" rather then professional, idk if childish was the right word to use. The cover is whatever though, I can't really care to much because the cover isn't part of the game. But I'm not sure if I like the cover though. Anyways, *OVERALL* I'll rate this game a *5.6 out of 10* . It's basically just BLAH. I think certain others would rate it 3.9 out of 10 and those who really like the game would say 7.4 out of 10. I think EA is the most 👹video game company around, because it seems like they just want money and they don't seem like an honest video game company compared to most others.
I am looking for a new sports game. I’m interested more in the single player career mode and the games nowadays seem to be moving away from this ( NBA, FIFA ). How is the career mode in this one ? Is the draft for real or do you get drafted by your fav, team ? Is the career progression any good ?
just played part of my 10 hours and i already saw a white ref with black hands and the crowd was very pixelated. also they didn’t put goal songs back in which were in like nhl 15. but i did get the anthem presentation while playing as the pens
They should add arena specific stuff. All the small things sung by the fans in Colorado, the potvin sucks chant at the garden (even though that should just go away completely) That would really make arenas stand out just as much or more than pregame stuff.
Check out my hockey podcast th-cam.com/play/PLKWeeS7r_OF5SUFlKWPcFzDQKegOmI-ei.html
No one should be shocked. EA has been doing this for decades.
Ever since micro transactions
Nah not even that it was mainly when nhl switched from Xbox 360 to Xbox one, they completely got lazy and started spitting out the same game with updates, nhl 14 EASHL had micro transactions and they would sell just as good as hut packs, from franchise mode immersive feeling aswell as be a pro nhl 14 was better for that or even nhl 13-12
And EA adding women into hockey, isn’t new, all they did was bring them back from removing them and don’t even add the legends of women hockey
@@Keetan01 also classic ea for bring a old feature and calling it “new”
Lol just add women like fifa, NBA and this and you're good 😂. Let them have the fantasy. 2:21 I rest my case. Enjoy pride night next year.
@@MrVariantwhy’re you so salty? Them adding features that make sense, like having women, isn’t what makes it bad. Women should be in the game. NHL 23 is pretty garbage, yeah, but it’s not because of that.
EA holding the NHL and NFL license is criminal. Not having any competition has made them incredibly lazy.
EA doesn't have the NHL license. There's simply no competition.
Nhl 2K3 was by far the best hockey game ever created and you could play it from broadcast tv mode so there would be competition but noone cares about hockey, I agree that nhl 2003 and 2004 were good that maybe why nhl 2k3 never got the recognitionit deserved as the best hockeygame ever created
They must have a good lobby going with the NHL in keeping it that way
The problem is people keep buying this trash.
Which NHL 2K had Joe Thornton on the front? That was amazing! But, yeah it might be the lack of competition.
i love how before the game even came out I'm just preparing and praying for nhl 24 to be what i'm hoping for. they never fail to uspet the fanbase
EA is a joke. Every sports game they make is a disaster and a letdown to loyal fan bases
Exactly
Someone finally argrees
They should scrap the entire game and build it from the ground up they need a fresh start but will never do it because they know we will buy it every year
@@jodyanderson8418 you meant agree
Thanks for the video. I think you nailed it on the head. I have been a diehard EA NHL fan my whole life, but right now I'm contemplating not buying the game for the first time since NHL 98. HUT would be so fun if there were no hockey cards and it was just build a team under the cap and create your own team name, uniforms and arena and play others online. Also how do we not have online leagues (GM Connected) yet? NFL 2k5 literally had this and it was perfect.
No GM connected and we will NEVER see it again because they cant monetize it lol and the developers dont actually like or play hockey so that is why they dont get my money anymore.
I have been buying the game since the first one came out on SEGA back in 91 but haven't for the last 6 yrs
Word!! They have got to put a online franchise mode like madden has...this is crazy...I love playing h2h but I would love to be playing to achieve a cup
Also...that glitch shot kills the game...smh so many people force the issue of getting in the corner so they can skate pass the goalie and score...same shot everytime
My wish is that 2k comes out with a hockey game. I don't even care if they can't use player names. I'm ready to support even and Indie developer
They can do whatever they want. Actually anybody can. Nobody wants though.
2k is trash they will vc everything. Yet People only complain when ea has micro transactions but give a pass to 2k lol when 2k is much worse than ea lol Nice Hypocrits
@@electrovampyre1572 I'm talking about game play
@@electrovampyre1572 because the game is actually good they actually add things you just stare at one game mode
@@electrovampyre1572 have u played 2k? There is more depth in 2k23 then there is in NHL, FIFA, & Madden 23 combined
i’m so glad someone made a video about this! i’ve been so sick of ea’s game plan every year of adding something they should’ve fixed through a patch and then market it as a new feature for the next game. meanwhile, something that was just fine last game gets broken by ea and then for next game they’ll fix it and announce as a new feature. it’s the same rinse wash repeat for years and they will never be good unless 2k steps in and made a game
You are 100% spot on.. I almost couldn’t make it through this whole video because I’m so mad and have been mad at EA for freaking years now.. every single year they just make the same game they build it off the same base platform every single year and have been doing it since like 2017.. they just refused to build a brand new NHL game from the ground up because they are so lazy.. I swear the EA employees for this game probably show up to work once a month and that’s all they really need because they don’t update crap.. I want gameplay updates I want the gameplay to be better and they just keep focusing on stupid crap and they know it’s stupid and I think they have been mocking us for years.. they take it vantage of all of us because they know that we all love hockey and they are the only game we can play.. I desperately wish there was a competitor. I just want to see EA in a panic and try to actually make a legit game for once. I thought that every single game any company makes every year they are supposed to put their all into it and make it better? EA sports has totally ignored that for years and years now. I almost wish we could legally do something about this and I’ve seen tons of people say this because they keep doing the same thing every year. Obviously I know they are allowed to do this and we are just dumb for buying it but come on now. Enough is enough it’s been going on for years and years now. They already have a thing called “FATMAN LAG” which most people don’t know about because only certain people get it. I’ve had it for years and there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it I know it’s in the coading of the NHL games but it will never disappear unless they build a game from the ground up.
I wonder what the hell they are doing for one year when they develop the game. We can safely assume that they start to develop the next game in spring because they will never work an entire year on one game, but what the hell are they doing in that year to come out only with this crap? And it's not even only NHL, it's in every EA game.
Spot on review,
I personally haven't bought a NHL title since 17 because of everything you mentioned.
I remember saying back then that I will wait until NHL24 because the last good one was NHL14
Same, but its NHL 18 for me and I thought this was going to be the year. Now I'm not so sure
@@jaysleeper264 NHL 18 was the last good NHL. ever since they added stupid attributes to EASHL they completely ruined that game mode.
I still got my NHL14
@@anthonycampisi3474 totally true 18 was the last playable NHL. It had its flaws but was something you wanted to play when you were at home.
@@ggqbc I’d argue that nineteen and twenty weren’t completely awful. They weren’t good, but everything after was so much worse
Great video. Very insightful. Absolutely disgraceful how little they change the game. Feels like they sneakily take good things away like the winter classic. Like what is the reason that they can’t have that in the game? So many great features that have been lost. Nhl 23 is bare bones.
Marchand is a disgrace to humanity. Change that picture you classless Bruins fan
"absolutely disgraceful that they don't waste money on a game that barely makes a profit in the first place"
amerilard moment
So they can put it back later on an call it a ”new feature” 😂
100% agree with you. I never noticed things being taken out and then been added back in. The 2k Sports Stanely Cup celebration would look great in NHL 23. I really think that EA has lost touch with their community. Adding 500+ animations for the last chance puck movement was a waste of time. Nobody asked for it and even if we did, probably 10-15 animations different animations with enough variations would be sufficient. Focusing on gameplay to have a fun game again like you describe should be a priority for online players. Giving offline players the Winter Classic, All-Star games, editable players, and custom goalie helmet would be a good start. I'm not buying NHL 23 because the changes I care about like the ice texture could have been handled in a NHL 22 update.
Unfortunately one of the main issues here is there aren’t any other NHL games coming out these days so EA will continue to get away with it until that changes
No one else can make an NHL game because EA holds the license for NHL video games.
@@Dshivs yeah
@@Dshivs tape to tape. Get it.
It's ironic that the old game clips rolling in the background at the beginning of the video were all cut-scene animations that were not available in-game, yet used to advertise the game. Their presentation bait&switch tactics go back decades.
My wishlist:
GM Connected
Custom Goalie Mask
Winter Classic
World Juniors in franchise mode
Attributes really affect the simulation, like a 96 Mcdavid should get 120+ points
Skills Competition
Goalie animations completely overhauled
they have to let you
play in the world juniors or the actual tournament in Be A pro. Add skills competition to Be a Pro. And winter classic. Be a pro would get more attention.
I started at NHL '97. I played real Hockey as well. Almost got a Rangers tryout! I bought it Friday and see it's the same stuff. I don't like WOC. I want to play in NHL arenas with NHL jerseys and equipment. This series has fallen big time.
Great review. I don't even buy sports games anymore, as much as I want to. I will activate my GameFly every other year, try out 3-4 games, and play some with GamePass. But usually I end up buying an older sports title every 2-3 years, and playing it for awhile. I miss the old days of looking forward to a new release.
EA Sports needs to lose their NHL licensing. It's getting to the point that some people are even bailing on the NHL because of this relationship.
I'm with you! For years I've threatened to not buy the game but I always end up giving in and purchasing it. NOT THIS YEAR! I will not allow myself to purchase NHL23. I've bought the NHL game every year since 98, yeah, I'm that old. I used to run online leagues back before there was a such thing as HUT. That's how big a fan and how big a supporter I've always been. But not this year, enough is enough. I suggest everyone skip this game, it's the only way to send a message to EA that we've finally had enough.
Not only that but they don’t necessarily let you edit players attributes. Nor do they let players in franchise mode create their own draft class or create a player. But mostly not creating your own draft class and editing attributes or not even that, you can’t even edit an AHL player either. Which is really awful. And also no history section or records or awards sections. Much like Madden, EA does not put a lot of effort into NHL and if anything they put even worse effort on NHL and NHL gets even worse treatment as well.
Thank you for saying what almost everybody that doesn't play HUT feels. Only things I would add are the lack of PC support & the low refresh rate. I was an every year buyer & only played EASHL but I refused to purchase '22 & now '23. (not even when we all know the game is 50% off not long after being released ever year) I will not be buying NHL until high variable refresh rate PC support is added.
Oddly, players & sticks clipping through each other & the boards now matches the horrible on boards digital ads on televised NHL games. **facepalm** "It's in the game"
BOYCOTT HUT
((subbed))
That's never going to happen - pc version. I have it on PS5 but remember NHL22 was running at 120hz on XSX. Both PS5 and XSX are connected to the same TV, so it might be because I accidentally enabled black frame insertion on the XSX input, i'm not sure. All you need is 60 though and VRR, which it has on PS5. it plays great...I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it really is. Just buy and have fun if you like hockey games.
In NHL 22 I won about 95% of the time. With 23 the CPU takes over, I win maybe 10% of the time. Even if my time on attack and shots on goal are 3 times the opponent’s I still lose. Usually I start by getting a 2 or 3 goal lead. Then all of a sudden every time I make contact it’s an elbowing penalty, pucks start going through my players bodies, it won’t let me switch control to my players closest to the puck, I defend the puck 3 or 4 times but it magically goes right back to the player I took it from, my goalie starts giving up rebounds on every single weak shot…
2k10 had great presentation before the game as well as talking about the players and goalie. This years nhl sometimes just goes right to the face off 😢
2k was next level back then
Even in NHL 11, we had custom music, and cutscenes with the players taking the tunnel. It's an embarrassment of a franchise
Nhl 14 was awesome, with the winter classic arenas
NHl 94, NHL 2004, and NHL 14 were all incredible.Perhaps NHL 24 will be great? I honestly don't have high hopes...
We need 2K to take the game back
Nothing is stopping them from making another NHL game, they chose to stop making them.
@@VegaMyster EA is stopping them since they own the rights
@@Dshivs They don’t own the rights, they have contracts from the NHL to make them because nobody wants the license, 2K made games right along with them and stopped because they weren’t selling what they wanted.
It honestly pisses me off so bad that the game asks you what your favorite team is each year and when you open hockey bags, you may get 1 item for your favorite team and then 1,000 items from other teams before you get another item from your team.
As someone who has pre-purchased the game I can tell you that what they promised is BS. Passing is still terrible, defensive player selection is still borderline broken, controls have a delay, the gameplay is focused on individual performance and not team play, goalkeepers make impossible saves while letting garbage through, objective completion is bugged, games sometimes load to black screen. This year is the worst EA NHL game I ever played.
I'm on PS4 so I guess it's going to suck!
-If the goalie suck bump up difficulty on goaltending sliders, right?
-Is there any International play?
Can you have a tournament of International Teams?
- like with MUT ea pushes HUT which I'm not interested in.
I want to play realistic season/career/ franchise mode AGAINST COMPUTER
* if they ever find a model that works they don't need to ever mess with it again just allow you to update rosters. But no one would buy a new games
the worst part to me is not being able to practice the cool moves in the tutorial sections... you can only do basic stuff. that really is frustrating
huh? I was playing last night doing all the dekes in practice.
as a gm & be a pro player it pisses me off that they took out the stats tab on your main screen from i think 2014 game. You used to be able to toggle with the stick between team standings top goalies, points goals & assist leaders. It always made me feel more immersed in the game, like some how other people were seeing these stats. to have to go into the stats pages in the last how many years makes stats feel lackluster. i dunno if im explaining this right but i dont know why the fuck it was ever taken out. I also missed when they used to put like an iceberg or fire symbol or whatever next to players names who were on hot/cold streaks. i think thats from 94 or 96. Fuck can you imagine if they consistently added to the game instead of always taking shit out every year and then adding a a few things back over time calling it a new exciting feature.
couldn't agree more. they would make so much more money on selling games if they addressed alot of these things and actually listened to fans. be a pro took a step in the right direction last yr but they absolutely dropped the ball this yr. this alone is the reason for me not to buy it. if it was more like NBA I'd be all over it. big hits and making checking easier would improve the game as well.
if you look closely during the clip where the avalanche are raising the cup, you can see that the banners are STILL outdated, they still have the panthers old logo and the older Senators logo, im pretty sure it would take them literally like, 5 seconds to fix that, any shmuck with photoshop could do it
They advertised updated presentation but took away full presentation on purpose, and didn’t say anything. Scumbag company
Nhl 2006 is legend. It’s insulting they think we wouldn’t notice ?
It's so funny how u talk about the random gear unlocking and player progression in CHEL. I sorta miss the days where we all competed to get the Lemiux mullet at P5. It's also funny how u put your fav team and then thats the team gear and jerseys you get the least of. Last year I went 2 months and didn't unlock a single Ranger jersey, switched my fav team to San Jose and had every Ranger jersey in a week.
If I don't have any of the previous NHL games is it worth a buy on sale?
We desperately need to resurrect NHL 2k. If 2k just tried id be willing to bet it would utterly annihilate ea and it wouldn't even be close
well thats only if 2k remembers how to make hockey games. ea knows how, its just nhl isnt as popular as other sports so they arent gonna spend tons of money on making hockey game when they wont get it back. you do know how it all works right
@@bittitagiton1359 they would get their money back if they made a game that was actually worth $80 each year when they haven’t changed a thing
Let's make this video more visibility than the other "profesionnal TH-camrs" that just praise this shitty game. This year is a total ripoff.
I posted a review at NHL 23's Online Forum at EA's website re: how disappointed I was that they didn't include features that have been requested for years. They deleted my post saying it was inappropriate. The EA Moderator sent me a message as well informing me of the same. I replied as follows: "The fact that you removed my post speaks volumes about your company. Very disappointing. You don't listen to the fans/customers, don't give them answers re: why you ignore their requests, and then remove any posts that call it like it is re: your products. On top of that, your games are getting worse and worse every year. Don't agree with that assessment? Just check out the review comments posted virtually everywhere where gamers post comments. One by one, you're causing customers never to return. One day you won't be the only game in town (the only reason you've made it this far). Nothing personal towards you. I realize you're stuck with the Oz behind the curtains running the show there. It is very sad though when I think of what the NHL franchise could be and should be after all these years. The Madden franchise is in the same sinking ship too BTW (IMHO). Be well.” I then posted a follow up forum comment and they banned me for 24 hours saying I was “discussing moderation.” EA obviously doesn’t want to answer to their loyal customers. I’m done buying their crappy rubber-stamped games. I guess when you’re the only game in town you can be the bully. 2K Sports please come back to the NHL video game arena!
I feel your pain! I have bought nhl since 2006 as well. But I realized that ea has to come up with some things. I stopped buying nhl games since 2020…I am tired of glitch goals, crappy ai, crappy goalies etc. Nhl has been an upgrade from previous versions! This does not warrant my money bc they do not listen. I really enjoyed nhl 10 bc it was hard to score because you had to play the point move the puck and had to try different things. Unfortunately ppl were crying it was hard but that made me want to improve. Lastly, ea has no direct competition since 2k sports stopped making nhl games to focus on bball. I remember when 2k had Bob Cole and Harry Neal as actual commentators which was awesome compared to ray Ferraro and the other guy. I don’t think ea will ever get my money for a sports game again…just my thoughts.
2k gotta make nhl24, need a better career mode
Yeah man we need a super cringy corny career story. And always start out as the worst player in the league. And be forced to spend over 150.00$ on vc to upgrade our player. Yes man 2k is totally great and can do no wrong Rolls eyes. #KeepHypocriting
@@electrovampyre1572 nah it's moreso 2k just makes better games lol
2k23 is bad for vc sure but so is nhl so who cares at that point
They also, for all their talk of improving the presentation, removed half of it. Remember how last year you had the "Full Presentation" option that would give you the warm up, goalie comparison, full highlights during games etc and the condensed presentation that just gave you goal highlights and skipped everything else? Well they completely removed the Full Presentation option this year so now even in offline modes you don't get any intros, goalie names/stats, no hit replays, nothing. Just goal replays when you score.
Talking about the features they had years ago and put it, it's like when they reintroduced pre and post game interviews to Be A Pro, which was already a thing they had in the past then removed and didn't even change it, it was the exact same thing as the one they used to have and removed. This year they did nothing with it.
Seriously if you have NHL 22, with roster sharing just wait for someone to do a current roster update and play that, this is absolutely not worth it unless you can get it for like 5 bucks and even then it's hard to justify that.
If you're an online player that plays HUT or ECHL maybe the game might be worth it for you, but if you're an offline player, it really isn't. If anything this game just tells you that what they really want is to do NHL as just a HUT and ECHL only game but know that if they did that and didn't have BAP or Franchise mode in the game that they would lose a hell of a lot of customers.
They do it year after year. This game is a non-option for offline players and I have been on the same EASHL team for 8 years now, we were top 50 in EASHL clubs last year and half the team isn’t getting the game. Theres nothing to be excited about. If you’re a franchise player, theres better options out there like NHL 04 rebuilt for PC and hockey manager (I think thats the name).
When I see people complaining about FIFA or NBA 2K being bad and I look at them and I’m like come check out the NHL games, that’s BAD. I swear EA is the biggest con artist in gaming history. Almost nothing changed this year, there is no 100 dollar price justification here. It’s almost criminal what they do. The thing is NHL 22 was actually pretty good, but 23 is just straight AWFUL.
Not to mention to get early access, you have to pre order the X factor edition instead of the regular one. Like in what world do offer a pre order that doesn’t allow early access. Not to mention almost no benefits to begin with.
Sports games are sports games. Hockey isn’t as popular, and if you don’t play online you don’t have to buy the cofactor edition. The game actually plays really smooth. I can understand skipping this year if you play be a pro or franchise, but truthfully thats any sports game. Every year whether it’s madden or 2k we are pretty much buying a roster update. The fact that the gameplay is better this year is a sign of good things to come if you ask me. But content is content, I suppose.
Great video. And your last thoughts about HUT being the beginning of the end for this franchise were spot on.
My birthday is on Wednesday the only reason I am asking for it is because the teams other than that I don’t think they tried to change anything
My birthday is October 19th as well! Happy birthday!!!
Your literally the first person to say that the woman being added in is cool. Mad respect.
2:08 that’s so true lol. I will still be buying NHL 23 just because I’ve been playing 17 for a while now, but I can certainly see the frustration.
Gameplay feels great dont really care about the other stuff because i mostly play only hut but i understand if it annoys other people
Gameplay is the worst thing about it
@@BriBryBriBry well if you dont like it i hope you didnt buy it
@@Kono_L_ I won’t.. I have won it three years in a row on Twitter 😂
Goalies let in too many soft goals
I wish they would implement raising your teams banner after you win the cup, not having it feels like such an empty accomplishment without it.
They even still have the same issues as last year, random flickering in the middle of my gameplay on eashl sometimes, games not counting randomly after spending 30 minutes playing, random crashes mid game, freezing after searching for opponent and cancelling won’t work, just little things that were in nhl 22 are still in nhl 23 that wastes so much of people’s time after spending the $100 year after year boggles my mind
I wish they’d make a mode you can use rollerblades. Street hockey
I got this game just a few days ago. It was at a pawn shop for $3 because the case was damaged. I also don’t have any previous nhl games, and I just got into the nhl fanbase. With no prior experience, I really like the game, but thanks for the tips.
I think they should add a park feature like NBA 2k does. I think that would be so cool using ur created player and going around different ice rinks and playing games to earn rank and stuff. I think that would make the game more fun and competitive
My words, just facts. I am hoping for NHL24 to switch it up a little. They got so many haters this year that they have to feel bad just a little.
The fact that they still haven't addressed people quitting online games as soon as they start losing, tell you they could care less about the game. I was over a friend's house tonight and he tried playing games online. 16 games in a row once a team got down by a few goals, people quit and the entire game got cancelled. 16 games in a row! Online play is a huge part of why people spend money on the game. Who enjoys playing half a period 16 times in a row before people quit with no consequences! This could and should of been fixed years ago. I mean, you could simply track which users quit once a game starts and if you do it too often, you're banned from online for a set time period. And I know people will say EA can't tell if they quit or had a glitch with their connection, etc . Tough crap! First, you can definitely tell who actually hits quit, so start there. For those who just disconnect or turn off their system to get around it, well, you get a few of those to use up. But if you're playing online it shouldn't be happening that often enough so you get a few and once you reach say 5, you're banned from online for a week. And you don't need to penalize everyone in the game, they can see which accounts actually lose connection in a game. And since the people who quit are usually the ones that are on a team that starts losing, it's easy to determine which users should be hit with a penalty if they all of a sudden a few accounts are suddenly disconnected during a game when they're losing! It's a joke that they have been afraid to address this and yet it kills their online play. EA could care less though. It's a joke and it's a disgrace how bad things have gotten since the Genesis days of NHL 93, 94 and so on. Just a money grab now.
I remember the older nhl games like 1995 on the 16-bit
I’m convinced that every sports video game hit there peak in 06-09 the ps2 years
All HUT is... From someone who gave it a fair shot... Is people getting fast skaters and speed burning up the boards past slower defense. By the time you get to division 1, if you didn't pay real money for your team, then it's extremely hard to keep pace
For me the best NHL game was 99. Man I loved that game, the way you could tackle and destroy the team. Haven't played in a few years now, felt like they were all the same
i think the huge problem is that ea has zero competition when it comes to nhl or madden for that matter, it would be great if another studio could get their hat in the ring and push some innovations, but sadly this is all us hockey fans have. probably won’t buy but it will be in game pass sooner than later
The line and team strategy editing in franchise mode is so dumb now like how do you save it for the whole season not just one game?
I actually would like to have the option to choose your commentators, unlockable teams and player's, also I want EA to bring back the intro to the game (like NHL 2000 with the live action/CGI while "Push it" by Garbage is playing).
Man I really feel like this game plays so different than lasr year.. The goalies seem way better and dont let in every single cross crease pass like in 22..
As long as the HUT fanatics keep throwing money at packs(serious, someone even said they spent 600$ on hut cards on the first day of early access) EA won't make any major changes to the rest of the game. I played HUT the first year it was introduced, and that was it.
I did buy the game, but I primarily play offline, so the addition of custom leagues to franchise mode was the main selling point for me, and then I play EASHL as well, so I need to latest game to be able to do that, and having cross play will make that better.
But, I'm not going to sing some praise here. EA does need to do more. They made a lot of small changes this year, and I HOPE that it means NHL24 will get big changes. The games aren't BAD, and NHL is better off than some of the others(Madden, looking at you) but that's a low bar lol. But I really do believe all the HUT players who just shovel money at packs, and the content creators who do it as well an then act like the game is perfect, is the main reason we don't see change.
Addition: I HATE the hockey bags. They were originally going to be microtransactions, but after the Battlefront disaster, and some countries making paid lootboxes illegal, they made them free. So there's ZERO reason for them to be in the game years later. I hate that everything you get is random. Playing the game for a year to never get the ONE goal celebration I really want is annoying. They need to overhaul that to a point system. You get points after each game, and you can spend those points on exactly what you want. Easy. Painless. The bags are a chore and there is SO MUCH in the game. The odds of getting that one thing you want for each category is so slim.
First of all. Nice Video. You speak from my soul.
I know that the in-game presentations are skipped by a lot of people. But I loved it. Especially when I went out of the tunnel onto the ice at NHL 09 with my Be a pro player. Unfortunately, this was cancelled at some point. Somehow I don't have much fun with NHL anymore, even though I used to love it. And the gruesome commentator doesn't make things any better. I just want to have an NHL Game again, which I can look forward to... :(
I met Rammer and had him sign a copy of NHL 20. My dad is 74 years old and we play in the same EASHL team. Played since 03 and this is the first time we agreed to skip after doing the beta for 23.
I don't understand why I can't do a co-op season with a friend where we each pick a position and lock it in.
I'm old enough to remember NHL Hockey from 1993 PC/Dos.
Addressing another issue w not being able to cross platform on same team. Not being able to play couch co op against people online is ridiculous. That was my favorite thing back in 2012 or whenever (don't exactly remember the year)
Well, why I fully understand those who don't want to buy this years NHL as they really have not given us much more options for let's say Franchise mode, Be A PRO mode, cutomazation of teams and players etc, I will buy it for 3. reasons, even if they are not that big;
1. I have NHL 21, that lacks the Seattle Krakens.
2. The Coyotes have officaly back the old logo and scrapped the boring plain red Coyote. Small but I never liked to play with or against them because they looks major boring.
3. Some of the upcoming reverse-retro jerseys added to all NHL teams.
Like I said, these are just small reasons but I rather buy 23 then 22 to have the most recent. Well after 23 I very much doubt 24 will give me any reason to buy it.
BUT I will try and not pay a full price, as many dollars/cents as possible to shave off. Even 2nd hand copy is fully open, even if I will have to wait a little longer.
Presentation was a big selling point to me this year and then when j got It i found out Presentation was all condensed which skips almost everything ...screwd again by EA
I put goalie sliders to 0 yet they make PHENONOMAL react saves especially on one-timers... I don't get it
Why cant they just release an update for the nhl 22 if its going to be the same. I might buy it just for the use of the Reverse retros 2.0 update
EA did have it somewhere in the wording that only 6 NHL teams would have the presentations so I can't really fault them there. However, they did it in such a way that it was like "read the fine print" that most people missed and got the wrong expectations. I would be fine with it If it didn't come at the cost of being stuck on condensed mode 100% of the time. I also do not like this game on the frostbite engine at all. Yes, there are some graphical upgrades most seen in lighting but I thought the game looked better on the last engine..most recently NHL 21. The game still plays choppy and player physics are weird. I actually did enjoy the cut scene at the very end of when you win the cup your team and it's players get shown on it which is kinda neat but besides that ehh I dunno. It's a lsight upgrade over NHL 22 but that's only because 22 was the worst game I have played in 5 seasons.
Glad you mentioned them taking out things and putting them back in years later like they are new. They've done the same thing with fifa for years and I'd guess any of their other sports games.
I bought the game and I haven't been able to play it yet. It showed me a ssl connect error white screen and didn't let me do anything but shut the application off. So disappointed with this purchase.
honestly the nhl should find a new game developer company
I just used the Michigan as a glitchy snapshot shot last year 🤣 never actually pulled it off but if you would try it in the middle of the ice when you would lower your stick to set it up you could snap it quickly and the shot would be faster then a normal snapshot.
just pay $25 like i just did to buy it around the holidays. it’s much more enjoyable knowing you paid less than half price for it. maybe try out franchise mode too. multiplayer is fun of course but the franchise mode in chel is slept on heavily.
Well made video, I keep saying that, I wish more people would complain instead of let EA get away with the cash grab $100 game evrey year. Maybe if they saw so many people aren't happy instead of the 25% of people who think the game is "great" they might make it a change. Petition to let 2K start making these games again? EA should be ashamed of themselves for robbing peoples money like this and stop putting themselves on a pedestal because only they are allowed to make NHL.
The only thing that really bothers me in the whole franchise is that I can't play offline and feel immersed enough to enjoy it because there's only a few players that have the gear they use in real life and it's too tedious to go through every single player and change their equipment and ratings to resemble their real life counterparts. And if I want to use a new roster update with rookies and other new players, the changes I've made will reset and must be done again, so I won't bother. I've done it many times before but I won't anymore.
HUT is out of the question as well because there you can't change the equipment and must play with players using wrong gear in every game.
I only play CHEL drop-ins alone or with my brother, even though I think it's the most toxic and chaotic game mode there is because people can't behave. We have no friends who play the game to fill a club so drop-ins are our only chance to get full 6vs6 games even occasionally.
What do u mean? I’ve seen last chance puck movement very frequently
Agree with your points but the shit that gets me is ya one timers are harder but the goal that goes in 95% is the hold forehand and hold behind your back then wrap around the goalie shit just can't be stopped either. Game is so boring, nobody does plays or anything cool, never get outplayed just get 1 goal scored on every game.
I ended up buying the game it’s legit the same game as 22 just like three new things and update graphics and roster. But I did mange to buy for $40 bc it was on sale. Which was okay it was like normally $80 or $90 idk
Not to mention the franchise sim is SO random +5s on all lines and an A+ coach all star team. 5 games below .500 to finish every season. Like does chemistry even effect play? its all ascetics and means nothing
The cover of the game says it all, and no im not talking about the players im talking about a beach type vibe..these guys have been making a comedy out of this game at this point...
I wish 2k would come make video games, ea hasn't come out with a good game since NHL 14
This game is just so bad. Our club team, which we aren’t noobs, lost 7-1 with 20 more shots on net. There goalie made every save in the book and the other team scores 7 on 12 shots. So bad, this experience happened in each of the 3 next games. I went back and played 22 and it honestly felt so much better.
nhl offline seems to work well, lots of bs to deal with but still mostly fun and playable, also they do have some cool features that do impress me! with that being said online is completly inconsistant and broken... sometime ai players will just watch the puck slide by them and not even attempt to grab it, sometimes goalies will just not even attempt to make saves letting in the lamest goals anyones ever seen, then other times will switch to jesus mode become unrealisticly fast and not let anything in no matter how perfect the setup/shot, sometimes players have delays in passing and shooting ive noticed as well, i still have fun playing online from time to time, but its impossable to take seriously with how glitchy and broken it is! also the behind rap around glitch goal still hasnt been fixed and prolly never will😢
Please tell me why they removed hat throwing and visible injuries from fights from chel 21 to chel 22 to begin with...
I never pay full price for sports games I usually wait 4-6 months and you can get it on sale for 20 bucks.
Bought it on Black Friday 47% off and still wasn't worth.
Went on Play Now and edited my lines and strategies for 10+ mins and an error sign came up, thought nothing of it and started the game only for the whole screen to be pitch black.
After that happened, just went on over to NHL 21 (didn't buy 22)
Speaking of the can't level up for skates or sticks it's annoying because sometimes you can't even get the thing you want for the whole year
Last year I wanted this certain celebration and I think I only finally unlocked it in May or June when I was pretty much done playing the game for the year.
Not buying it either. Maybe if they charged 50 or something but $90 for the changes they made? It’s disrespectful af
EA scammed me when it showed that u can customize ur own ice rink with lights and stuff and totally lied straight to my face
This is the first year since 08 that I didn't buy NHL. Last year was pretty bad for HUT especially when they changed the X factor points mid season that people had already had their teams built around. And the pressure they put on pay to win is more focused on then anything else.
I love how you have to pay an extra $40 to get the X factor edition. And X factor edition barely gets you extra perks, the $40 extra that you spend for it is basically so that you can play the game 3 days early. It's all just a money grab. It also said that my EASHL would have extra X factor slots open for me and some extra hockey bag rewards because I bought the X factor edition of the game. And when I checked, there was no new perks. Maybe you get like 500 HUT pucks but I don't play HUT so.... I pretty much spent $119.99 CAD but then like $132.55 after tax or something, and I did it for no reason. Kind of pissed me off
But the rest of the game is what pisses me off more. It's safe to stay EA is *stuck* . They know that they have barely any ideas or new advancements to put into their games, so they're basically just twiddling their thumbs and creating false hype for all their new games, trying to distract their fans every year from the fact that they were barely able to make noticeable improvements to their game. For one, every new release, they just tweak their online and offline tuner sets, to make the game feel different. They barely change the main menu or much about that, and they just make their 19 year old minimum wadge employee find a new cheap soundtrack. Have you guys noticed that EA rarely has popular hit music in their games anymore, its like they don't want to pay for it. Also, the guy mentions multiple times in this video how EA will add something into their newest games that could've easily been added years ago. And that's because EA has sort of a progression agenda with their games, because they know that they're so slow at making actual improvements to their games, that they have to leave features out of their games for no reason, so that if a future game is failing during production, they can help make it look like they made more improvements by adding those little features later on. Like giving the ai goalies human save animations, they could always do that if they wanted, but they just held it off so that whenever they had nothing on their plate to hand to their customers, they can feed them that. And aside from the easy little features that they don't include unless they need to save themselves, EA does an even cheaper thing, where they take away promising features in their game, so that a few years later they can "re-introduce" those features as if their brand new. It's so bs. EA BARELY DOES ANYTHING NEW EVERYEAR, and they make tiny little improvements that they could've done in the past, and they decide thats enough to satisfy us, and they also bring stuff back from the past that they took out for now reason. They're playing around with it, its like they're focusing on distracting everyone from their issues rather then solving them.
Also, just a couple other things in NHL that piss me off. So in Online versus I had a game where i had 4 min 56 sec Time on Attack with 4 shots on goal after one period. My opponent had 4 shots on goal too, and had 2 min 29 seconds Time on Attack. I had 6 faceoff wins, opponent had 1. He was up 4-0 on me after the first, all 4 of his predictable shots went in. Then the gave started glitching out and it gave me the message that I got disconnected from the Online server. I swear Ice tilt is even more present in online modes then they have been. And Ice tilt will always be controlling more and more aspects of the gameplay, the more and more EA tries to make their games flow like a real life simulation. Because basically, the game is constantly trying to us the Ai to generate "realistic" outcomes everywhere on the ice. They're trying to make the game play appear realistic more then trying to let people have options and creativity, to succeed you basically have to do everything the game wants you to do, which becomes so f****ng repetitive. The game streamlines you into making the decisions it wants you to make, and if you try and play complex or more unorthodox type of playstyle, the game will just say f*** you and will use your own AI and your opponents AI to destroy you, and at that point, your battling more against the game then your actual opponent. Thats ICE TILT in a nutshell, battling the game because the algorithm has turned against you. And the only reasons that algorithm exists is, one, because they need to make the gameplay appear realistic as I said, but also because EA wants to tug on everyones emotions. A noob player will feel like he's almost good at the game because the game will hand cookies to them everywhere, and because of it, the noob will be hooked because he constantly feels like he's improving and like he's kissing the tip of success. Whereas a very skilled player will have ICE TILT thrown against him and therefor it'll make everygames a challenge, even if he's playing a noob, and therefor the skilled player will never be bored. That's EA's motto for their game, its just a simulation algorithm thats pretty much controlling the flow of the game and giving the users half of the freedom they used to have, it's like the games practically playing itself, but at the same time there is an emotional aspect where the game is making everything an emotional rollercoaster so that people think the game is more fun then it really is. In reality, the game is so bare boned that you basically just skate into the zone and look for the same scoring opportunities every time because there's only a few main ways to score. It's like constant mindless repetition, and when you think really hard about it, you realize the game is basically a complete mental waste of time to play, but you play it anyways.
Lastly, they actaully said in one of their trailers that a big improvement was that you can now open Hockey bags faster in EASHL and also that the Cross platform thing will make the search times quicker. Both of those were flat out LIES. Hockey bags still take just as long, and the wait times almost feel even longer Queueing up into a lobby, and the games fresh out of stores. Also, anyone notice that the game feels choppy when you're in the main menu, and that the game constantly has to Sync before games start, and also that the game is pretty buggy in general? I had EASHL freeze on me twice already, I had an error during the middle of a game, and free skate doesn't even work in EASHL. Also, wtf is with them calling EASHL EEEESHOL. Also, no one has to tell me that BE a pro is the same, I know it wasn't improved and they'll just let it rust for a few years. Also, why is there still no Suspensions, its an easy features that they used to have. EA will probably re introduce it soon like its something new.
To be honest, the only thing about NHL 23 that I actually liked was the fact you can make a 48 team league in franchise mode. That says alot when EA makes new presentation features and showcases the last chance puck movements and some more tickity boo Zegras moves, and out of everything they added, the only thing I enjoyed from it was a mini feature in one of their offline game modes. Also, all of EA's trailers were so stretched out, they were just trying to fool people. Everyone was so pumped for every team having a pre game ice presentation, and it's only for 6 teams and lasts for 7 seconds!!!!?? I already don't care anymore, so to me, that feature aint looking to new to me. Also, yeah, the new last chance puck movements never happen, poke checking feels a little weird, also the new interception animations were basically a scam because they never happen, and the goalies barely utilize all those new animations they put in the game. I agree with this person too how the goalies are very bad in this game. Inconsistent, and I know EA's trying to do that to make it appear more real life like, 'How any bounce can happen" type of thing, and I suppose it allows for flucky goals to happen, but within one week of playing the game I've noticed so many swiss cheese goals that the goalies were flat out supposed to save.
The cover of the game too, its alright, I wouldn't say its good, and tbh it seems like they choose tropical colors and it makes the game appear more "childish" rather then professional, idk if childish was the right word to use. The cover is whatever though, I can't really care to much because the cover isn't part of the game. But I'm not sure if I like the cover though.
Anyways, *OVERALL* I'll rate this game a *5.6 out of 10* . It's basically just BLAH. I think certain others would rate it 3.9 out of 10 and those who really like the game would say 7.4 out of 10. I think EA is the most 👹video game company around, because it seems like they just want money and they don't seem like an honest video game company compared to most others.
I am looking for a new sports game. I’m interested more in the single player career mode and the games nowadays seem to be moving away from this ( NBA, FIFA ). How is the career mode in this one ? Is the draft for real or do you get drafted by your fav, team ? Is the career progression any good ?
just played part of my 10 hours and i already saw a white ref with black hands and the crowd was very pixelated. also they didn’t put goal songs back in which were in like nhl 15. but i did get the anthem presentation while playing as the pens
These devs hate the players you can tell by the blinding white menu background that players have been begging to be changed for over a year
They should add arena specific stuff. All the small things sung by the fans in Colorado, the potvin sucks chant at the garden (even though that should just go away completely) That would really make arenas stand out just as much or more than pregame stuff.