6/14/2023 0 Comments Nhl 21 reviewOnline, most players use the new diving move as more of a joke and look to abuse a glitch. However, like net battles a few years ago, this mechanic is highly situational and doesn’t crop up very often, making it a bit weak as a headlining gameplay addition for the year. These new animations can be neat when they work and allow players to perform a last-ditch effort on goal or a pass. This allows players to still handle the puck and make shots even as they lose balance and are falling to the ice. There are some notable new animations for the netminders, to coincide with a new Last Chance Puck Movement mechanic. Even in these moments, while you easily outskate the opposition, the AI goaltenders are almost impossible to beat – except with the usual cheese moves that all long-term players are too familiar with. There's even a bug that is evident when you have to play through various HUT challenges that set the AI to the lowest difficulty. So it's just more safe and efficient to use the same moves over and over, as has been the case for a few years now in the franchise. All other attempts are simply too risky – offline and online, you are likely to get dispossessed by taking too long or by an errant pass, and the goalies save pretty much everything that comes from outside the circles. So everyone waits for the usual breakaways, so they can pull off the same deke or cross-crease snipe move that always results in a goal. The goalies this year got a boost, and so trying to play more true-to-life hockey just doesn’t pay off. The lack of goal variety isn't perhaps entirely to blame on the lack of player creativity. Everything will feel very familiar to returning players, as the vast, vast majority of the goals will still be from close-in shots after a deke move. Poke checking is still good and effective, while slashing penalties from stick lifts seem to be the flavor of the week for the referees. Online, passing accuracy has been tweaked so that you can actually make good plays without sending the puck wayward. Offline play remains highly customizable, and the AI seems to be improved this year and able to break into the attacking zones more easily, and generally play better. It continues to make a minor difference on the ice, where the gameplay remains quite familiar. The system returns again this year across all modes, with a few balance tweaks to the special zone abilities (stat boosts in certain situations) and a few new ones added for the best players in the sport. However, the new interactions on trade deadline day are enough to satisfy me.The major addition in NHL 22 was the X-Factor system, in itself a port of the idea that EA Sports Madden introduced a few years back. Franchise mode’s new coaching options are a good update, but they’re only a superficial change. It may still end up feeling repetitive, but it feels fresh and could rejuvenate that aspect of the game. Be A Pro received much-needed changes and is the first innovative offline mode in the series since the implementation of the expansion draft. NHL 21 has taken strides forward in some areas that lagged in the past. Finally, it seems like the mode’s playthrough experience is going to be largely the same regardless of where you go - at least straight out of the gate. Most of the in-game dynamic goals also seem to follow the same conversation format: either you can promise to be a team player and help your team get back into the game or protect a lead, or you can promise to be the hero and score a goal yourself. However, from time to time these games do noticeably improve and, while far from prefect, so far during my time with NHL 21 I can say certain areas have gotten much better.Īdditionally, the story-driven narrative dialogue probably won’t make a huge impression on you, and it seems like a lot of the dialogue, prompts and player objectives can be very surface-level and repetitive. We always hear about new features, improved this and enhanced that, but commonly we know it’s just their way of marketing the new game. Typically, with the NHL series - and sports games in a general sense - a common belief is from year to year games are literally copy and pasted with minimal changeover. However, the final impression left on me is still somewhat minimal so my NHL 21 review might come off as a bit confusing, or maybe more fairly put, be a mixed bag of pucks.įirst, before we skate into some of the specific areas I want to highlight, allow me to briefly explain what I mean. Now, after playing NHL 21 for a little over a week, I am convinced that strides have been taken and an impression has been left. Coming into this, I did not think NHL 21 would make a big impression on me or take major strides forward.
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