Shape Your Legacy in NHL™ 17, the biggest and most exciting hockey game to date. Whether you compete online in a bid for glory, live out your ultimate hockey fantasy in offline single player modes, or simply lace up and jump over the boards for exciting and innovative hockey gameplay - NHL 17 gives you the chance to Shape Your Legacy on and off the ice. Own Every Zone with more end-to-end control with Authentic Goalies, all-new Net Battles for offensive and defensive zone play, and thrilling new goal celebrations that capture the excitement of scoring the biggest goals on game night. Live out your ultimate hockey fantasy in all-new modes, including Draft Champions, the World Cup of Hockey, or manage the business in Franchise Mode.
Review
I have always enjoyed NHL games, I like Ice Hockey as a sport, I have just never really understood the rules etc. Which I think it why I like to play NHL games, as it lets me play a sport I like while learning about it.
When I started playing NHL 17 the first thing I noticed in the matches was how smooth the players movement was as well as the passing as of the puck. The game plays as though I have the feeling in my hands of playing on Ice, the smoothness and effortless gliding is there to been seen and felt through the controller with the excellent fluidity in motion.
The graphics for the game are really nice and there has been a lot of detail placed into the arenas and I love how over the last few years, not just with NHL, but FIFA and other sports games, the amount of crowd character models have increased and improved. Gone are the days were we see dotted coloured circles in the crowd bobbing about.
One thing I did notice as well about the crowd, you can tell who the home and away teams are by the crowd. I was playing as the away team, I scored and there was a kind of dull cheer from the crowd, I didn't think anything of it at first, until the home team scored against me, and the roar that went out was incredible. It was almost deafening, and I would love to see that in FIFA games, get some real atmosphere into it, as I have felt that in football games, that is something that is missing, and hearing that difference on NHL did put a smile on my face. Excellent little feature.
There have been some upgrades to the game mainly in what I mentioned above about the feel of the game, but it does seem a little familiar to NHL 16. Other changes have come in the form of the AI players. There reactions and passing play is a lot better in this, and I think that must be down to the change in the overall play of the game. However I did feel that the goalkeepers were still too easy to score against, take the 2 goals I scored below, both from distance and I would have though that these would be routine stops, although one is in the top corner and I would like to think unstoppable. ;)
https://youtu.be/NiDVcOQlchA
The Menu layouts are nicely designed and are very easy to navigate through to find which ever mode you are looking for.
There are different game modes within NHL 17 to try out, and there is going to be something for everyone.
H.U.T - Hockey Ultimate Team - This is your chance to build a fantasy team of the best hockey players around. If you've played FIFAs Ultimate Team then you will know the score.
You can buy packs to get random players and other items such as contracts etc, or you can peruse the market looking for the best players around.
Draft Champions - In this mode, you pick a theme for a team, so it could be All American, All Canadian, Around the World etc. From this you are given some scrubs for a team, and from this, you can then draft in other highly ranked players to take over from the lowest ranked in your team. There is a lot of replayability from this mode as you can pick and choose so many different variables and players. It's nice to mix it up and see what's what.
Franchise Mode - For this mode, you are the boss. You have control over the budget, you schedule promotional rights, I enjoyed the little bit I played of this and would love a similar feature to be added to FIFA. Such as a chairman mode. Budgets, Managers, whether the manager has full control over signings etc. Would be brilliant addition.
Be a Pro - This is your chance to shine. Your career and your chance to make it to the top and be best!
World Cup of Hockey - This is a new addition to the game this year and it's a nice little pre season type of tournament that you can enjoy. This mode even comes with official jerseys to play in! Ooooh!
Overall this is a very good game, it's not perfect, but it is a very good step in the right direction for NHL games, and if you're a fan of NHL or a sports fan in general and are on the fence of trying this, then I would highly recommend it as there is plenty to do in terms of different modes, and it does play beautifully.
8.5/10
Game reviewed on Xbox One and Game Kindly provided by EA.
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