Is there really any doubt about it? NHL 24 just released its first gameplay trailer today, and even though it has some neat new features, we all know it’s going to be another half-assed, unpolished mess.
An NHL game made by EA? Is there really a chance it’s NOT automatically crap?
EA has unveiled its first official gameplay trailer for NHL 24 today with some pretty neat and game-changing features that are either bound to be underdeveloped/unpolished or completely buggy, game-breaking messes that will only drive even more people away from the franchise. And, to be honest, it’s honestly funny how bad EA has handled the NHL franchise.
Do you remember the days when NHL games were actually fun and thrilling adventures you could sink your teeth into for a good 3-4 hours on Career Mode, Online Versus, Be A Pro, and dip a toe into HUT with your favorite teams and players, whether they were real, generated, or of your own design, and actually enjoy yourself? Yeah, everything before NHL 15 were the good old days.
Sorry for that little trip down memory lane as an avid, lifelong NHL fan, I sometimes reminisce about those games as it’s tough to play them on the modern consoles. Anyways, as for NHL 24, the topic you’re here to read about, EA just dropped a new gameplay trailer for it, and it actually looks like it has some promise.
No, I don’t mean the promise where you play it for two days, realize you got tricked by the conman “additions” (more like ripped out features just replaced after a decade) showcased in the trailers, hate the way the game feels and plays because its entirely different from last year’s gameplay, and then eject from your console and never play it again.
Sure, there is still some of that promise in this trailer as EA added sending players through the glass and adding a “tethered goalie system” that pretty much just centers the goalie back in the net (which I’m sure was a feature in the old NHL games), yet there are some massive new additions too. Mainly, the Sustained Pressure System and Goalie Fatigue System.
Instead of just having defensive players tire and get drawn out of formation after minutes of sustained offensive zone pressure as it has been in the last 23 years of NHL games, there’s now a new, dedicated system to keeping track of offensive zone possession and dishing out pretty substantial stat debuffs on tired and worn-out defenders. And it’s essentially the same thing for goalies who face a lot of shots or who are forced to move around in the crease a bunch.
Now, in theory, this could actually be a great feature as it rewards offensive-minded players for positive, forward-thinking attacks and gameplans, while it also forces defensive-focused players to not absorb too much pressure without pushback or risk getting scored on.
But, since it’s EA who is making this game, I’m 85% confident this system is going to COMPLETLEY wreck games as the system will either be exploited by the NHL sweaters (you know who they are when you see them) or the system itself will break down and result in defenses and goalies being totally useless. Honestly, the user A.I. goalies are already so awful and inconsistent at times, and now they’re adding in a system that actively makes them worse?
We’re going to be seeing Vesa Toskala-level goals going in every game now!
(Electronic Arts-NHL 24-Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer)
And the new Total Control Skill Moves controls sounds like yet another game-breaking control set that a certain section of players will sweat out and completely hijack, resulting in dozens of stupid lacrosse goals and between-the-leg shots going in when they would NEVER in the real NHL.
I know EA is looking for a more fantastical version of the NHL in their games, but you need to have some form of realistic basis for the video games or else they’ll just be boring, broken, abused messes.
If literally any other developer (okay, maybe not EVERY other developer, but 80% of them) were developing NHL 24 and implementing these new ideas, then I think the game would have a chance to succeed and these features being implemented properly. But, since it’s EA, there’s a greater likelihood Winnie the Pooh grows wings and flies through EA’s corporate office windows than them developing a functioning, ready-to-play game on Day 1.
We’ll have to wait and see…I guess.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Electronic Arts) (NHL 24 Gameplay Reveal | Official Trailer – YouTube)
In text Image 1: (Electronic Arts) (NHL 24 Gameplay Reveal | Official Trailer – YouTube)
