The overall gameplay does feel a bit different from last year, with a more realistic, slower pace. I don’t mind feeling the exhilaration of scoring more, but I saw many questionable goals, like weak wristers, go in.
Most games I played ended up high-scoring, and my stats felt padded compared to previous years. The only possible negative is it feels much easier to score this year in EASHL. EA has balanced this, so some valuable skills, like speed, cost more points than others, but I like that it encourages you to experiment with a build that works best for you. I hate how slow the power forward is, so I was happy to sacrifice some of my slap shot accuracy for some extra speed. I also like that when you pick a position, you can redistribute some of your stat points. I play power forward, and I have the “Unstoppable Force” X-Factor, which makes it hard to knock me off the puck, even when I’m off-balance. The only place I felt X-Factors enhanced the game was in World of CHEL’s EASHL, as they allowed me to build a player more to my style. Additionally, the mode still lacks meaningful events to keep the NHL season exciting for the long haul. I was also frustrated to see the conversation system still makes you choose between being a “star” or “team” player, and your responses to be a star are something any real coach would bench a player for saying. You can earn X-Factor abilities by playing games and completing certain milestones, but even after unlocking a few, I didn’t feel like they made a huge difference in my game. Imagine my disappointment when the bland dialogue, half-baked salary perks, and lackluster events returned. Sure, in franchise mode, you want to target players with X-Factors in the draft, but the mode still has the boring trade deadline minigame, the baffling player demands, and no way to really communicate a direction for the team to the coach.īe A Pro, where you create your own rookie and get drafted to an NHL team, received a fresh coat of paint last year, and it felt like a promising start.
Again, they’re not a major shakeup to the experience, so that left me feeling like I was playing more of the same. Unfortunately, EA Vancouver went all-in with X-Factors, adding them to most major modes as the big, new change and not much else to go with them. X-Factors, like star players, should be difference-makers, but instead, they’re just kind of there, and I rarely felt like they were contributing to some impressive play destined for the highlight reel. All the players – star or fourth-liner – still feel pretty similar on the ice, and that’s a big problem. However, I never felt the tension defensively or power offensively that X-Factors should provide. X-Factors are a welcome effort to shake up the metagame, which hasn’t changed in some time, and I like the thought process behind them: raise players’ awareness when these elite talents step on the ice and make them feel different. For instance, Alexander Ovechkin has the “One Tee” ability, which not only gives him exceptional power and accuracy to one-time the puck, but also increases his ability to one-time less than ideal passes. Inspired by EA’s Madden, this year EA Vancouver introduced Superstar X-Factors, which provide special skills to the best of the best. The problem? These top players don’t make a huge impact on the game, and without any other meaningful additions, fans don’t have much to cheer for. NHL 22 makes the grave error of investing everything in the league’s elite talent to elevate the game in all modes, creating an entire ability system around them to showcase their more dangerous assets on the ice. The problem is star players don't always live up to their promise, and when there’s not enough supplemental talent around them, a team can crash quickly to the bottom of the standings. They’re the ones fans look to when the pressure’s on to make the play and get the win. Every team depends on its star players to be difference-makers.
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