Of all the major American sports, ice hockey is perhaps the most dramatic and entertaining. The nature of the sport allows for surprise comebacks, high intensity goals, and emotional plays much like football, whereas the likes of baseball or NFL struggle to gain the same intensity thanks to the constant stoppages. So it amazes me that, with all its similarities to our national sport, ice hockey has not become popular in the UK. With the first release on the new consoles, however, NHL 16 is sure to bring in a lot of new fans. This is the first NHL game to make it to the new generation of consoles and as such there is a certain level of expectation, especially considering what was achieved with the latest installments on the last gen machines.
There are a variety of modes that allow the player to take on human opponents from around the world or to battle through a career as an ice hockey pro. The career mode seems to be the focus of the game with you taking control of a single player as they are drafted by an NHL team. You are then tasked with completing challenges within the season depending on your position, such as scoring goals or assisting with goals etc. I’m pretty lucky. I’ve seen the sports teams I follow win the World Series, the Super Bowl, and the Stanley Cup in my lifetime. I vividly remember watching the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals in ‘08 (a heartbreaking loss) and ‘09 (one heck of a Finals series) at a friend’s house. It was basically a party that happened every year, the Stanley Cup Finals. Many of my good friends were there, all clustered around a TV, chowing down on delicious food and watching some great hockey games.
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I enjoyed the presentation of the game this year, which is updated quite a bit from what it has been in the past. Every game begins with a "live" shot of the city that you're playing in, as well as pre-game commentary by Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk. The in-game commentary never gets boring, simply because of the massive amount of lines that were recorded by these two. As well, EA upped the number of crowd member character models substantially. The arena atmosphere is incredible as well, as the crowd really responds to whatever is happening on the ice, whether it be an odd man rush or a big hit, each one elicits a huge response from the crowd. I think the presentation really added something to the game, even though I believe that the added time and effort could have been put towards better things, such as added game modes or more online features.
By and large on the ice, NHL 16 continues and improves upon my experiences with last year’s game. The game is beautiful to look at. The introductory sequence and the overall televisual production features branding and interstitial from NBC Sports, who have an extensive deal to broadcast NHL games on television. In addition to this, the sportscasting tandem of Eddie Olczyk and Doc Emrick are included in the game, and not as uncanny valley digital denizens but as full-motion video recordings on top of a digitally modeled arena. I was caught off guard the first time I saw it, but I love it. Maybe it’s because it flashed me back to days of playing FMV games on laserdisc; maybe it’s just so much better compared to the half-dead, cold-fish sportscasters in Madden.
This being a sports game, the achievement list is a predictable one. Scoring goals, winning games and tournaments and levelling up your Be A Pro skater combine to form the bulk of gamer score, although there are a couple of bizarre ones included for not skipping over the cut scenes that link together pauses in play. Clearly, someone is very proud of their 'broadcast quality presentation' and are not shy about encouraging you to watch it.
Perhaps if less time was spent making this moments look nice and more assigned to including the components we reasonably expected to see then NHL 16 would a lot more interesting. As it stands, it doesn't feel finished. The matches themselves remain largely excellent, it's just a shame that there are so few ways to enjoy and approach them.
