#NHL 21 REVIEW UPGRADE#
#NHL 21 REVIEW SERIES#

Whether I was interested in the offer or not, I had to restart whatever I was working on at the time from scratch. It’s a neat concept, and I was enjoying it for the most part…until I received trade proposals that booted me from whatever deal I was looking to swing. Once triggered, you will compete against other teams as well as the clock to pull the trigger on deals with other teams. One noteworthy add-in to Franchise Mode is a real-time trade deadline event. World of CHEL now boasts Ranked Seasons, if you’re into that sort of thing. HUT Rush gives a more arcade-style spin to the action with multipliers and such, but it’s not like we’re talking about some sort of NHL Hitz revitalization or anything. Those “tweets” became white noise to me a long time ago, but I enjoyed listening to Cybulski and Ferrraro interact with “callers” who definitely sound like their phoning in (and maybe they were, what with the pandemic-related lockdowns).īeyond Be A Pro, the NHL 21 cupboard isn’t necessarily barren of new additions but most of these tweaks feel like slightly different ways to engage with the same systems. It’s an understated but nice touch that I found to be much more interesting and engaging than what most other sports career modes do: create fake social media posts about what’s happening in your career. The time between games is also filled in nicely, from an audio standpoint, by a faux radio show hosted by the in-game commentary duo of James Cybulski and Ray Ferarro. These, too, often provide stat boosts for your player.

#NHL 21 REVIEW UPGRADE#

They can lead to more points earned to upgrade your player in the RPG-esque skill tree - another growing presence in sports games - and additional money to buy luxuries such as cars, living space decorations, etc. Of course, you can choose to be a narcissistic star who rubs the front office and the locker room the wrong way. But it’s not hard to keep all three ratings in the green if that’s how you want to do it.

Typically, giving one answer that boosts your Brand might ding your Management score to some degree, as an example. The way you engage in conversations with your coach, the front office, teammates, and media will affect three different likeability ratings: Teammate, Management, and Brand. Modes like this are inherently monotonous, so anything to break it up is welcome. Granted, the dialogue options are generally binary and don’t do much to develop the personality of your created player, but their mere presence allows for a more diverse experience than simple menu navigation and player-locked games on a rinse-repeat cycle.

#NHL 21 REVIEW SERIES#

If I could have directed the developers at EA Vancouver to beef up just one mode - and that’s essentially what appears to have happened in NHL 21 - it would have been Be A Pro.įinally included are branching conversation choices, which had been lifted from RPGs and adopted by sports series such as NBA 2K and MLB The Show years ago. The EA Sports NHL series’ career mode has been in desperate need of attention for years, lagging behind the other major sports titles both under and outside of the publishing giant’s umbrella. And a look around at the rest of the game reveal that not much has changed from last fall’s NHL 20. It’s a bad, bad sign for an annualized franchise that has gone stagnant in recent years.

Their logos and team audio aren’t included in custom team creation options either, so there’s no way to exactly replicate the look. While there are still some gameplay elements that aren’t quite right that skew the way you play, in general, it provides a strong and entertaining simulation of fast-paced hockey.Beats me, because you can’t do it.

The biggest condemnation I can offer for NHL 21 is that I could largely have just copied and pasted my closing for last year’s game into this spot and spent a minute making some tweaks to the cons, and it would still work.įor players who haven’t bought a hockey game in recent years, my recommendation is full-throated.

Teammate AI is less effective in set-piece offenses when established in the offensive zone, making effective play on breaks overly important.

Stickwork on defense still provides significantly more risk than reward, with tripping penalties so common you’re often better off leaning into a body-heavy approach.

Lack of change and innovation makes it hard to justify an upgrade for owners of NHL 20.

Franchise mode offers a deep array of immersion options, with the ability to turn them off for a less-intensive approach, as well.

The various pond hockey modes provide a fun change of pace from traditional games.

The engine plays extremely smoothly and feels as fast and fluid as a real NHL game.

Nhl 21 review