EA is the greediest gaming company to ever exist. After playing a little bit of NHL 23, I can firmly say that I wasted $70 dollars on an overpriced, overhyped reskin-DLC of NHL 18-22.
EA has to cut it out. NOW! For what NHL 23 is and how similar it is to the past 5 NHL titles, it is downright wrong to charge anyone over $25 for this game, let alone the $70 it is priced as on PS5/Xbox Series X.
Sure, some of the on-ice presentation touches, such as the new Stanely Cup celebrations, the ice chopping, the realistic player faces, and the pregame intros, were great and more than needed to spice up this stagnant franchise, but it’s still not enough to be worth $70!
Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the Game of the Year contenders for 2019, only cost $60 when it was released and that game was worth 10,000X better than any NHL game that EA has ever produced.
Aside from those minor on-ice presentations, nothing else has been changed from the previous 5 iterations. Franchise Mode still has the same interface system that was introduced back in NHL 17, Ultimate Team is still a poor man’s version of Madden and FIFA’s UT modes, Be A Pro has been completely forgotten about by EA, and EA has just now given players the ability to save rosters/schemes in Online Versus.
EA is such a lazy, greedy company.
EA is so lazy that they couldn’t even be bothered to change the jerseys of players who moved for their in-game portraits. Alex DeBrincat, Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel (who was traded A YEAR AGO), and practically every player who has changed teams within the past three years still has the same portrait and team jersey of their previous team.
How much lazier can you actually be, EA? Your company makes nearly $7B a year and you charge an outrageous $70 for a reskin game, but you can’t be bothered to update the player portraits?!?! Shame on you, EA.
It’s too bad that EA has gobbled up the exclusive rights to make and produce NHL and NFL games as that has only inspired a corrosive contemptuous and laziness within EA, which has hurt and harmed consumers as they are forced to buy overpriced sports games. We are literally forced to buy their games or else not be able to play an NHL or NFL inspired video game.
Isn’t there a word for such a phenomenon? Oh, yeah, it’s monopoly. And I thought monopiles were actively broken up in the US?
Anyway, let me be a little fair here and give some props to EA as I nearly forget to mention that the gaming giant actually made one improvement to Franchise Mode. Wait for it…they added NEW SETTINGS!
Yes, how could I forget to say that we can now choose how much the salary cap can be, whether the salary cap is on or off, division realignments, conference realignments, different playoff brackets and formats, and being able to import European teams into the NHL. What a huge improvement…said no one ever.
This game sucks and I still have no idea why outlets like IGN are saying that this game is ‘a step forward’ and give it an 8/10. THEY SAY THAT EVERY YEAR!
Though, I guess that makes sense as it is the same game every single year.
Nevertheless, if you want an honest opinion that has not been bought by EA, then I’m rating this game is a 3/10 at most and a step BACKWARDS. Many, many, many, many, many steps backwards.
Don’t waste your money and just keep playing NHL 22…if you even purchased that game.
Images Source: Featured Image: (EA/EA Sports NHL) (NHL 23 Official Presentation Deep Dive Trailer – YouTube)
