Just in time for the season to kick off, the digital version of ice hockey comes to retail. For those of us who can barely stand in normal shoes and even less in a pair of skates, but who like to watch muscular men playing hard, it's obviously wonderful news. NHL 17 makes a grand entrance and offers more of a refinement than a change, which certainly isn't bad. NHL 16 had a big task ahead of it last year if it was to persuade fans that they are still serious about the hockey series after the gruesome experience that was NHL 15. They succeeded incredibly well and NHL 16 was a superb game on almost all points. Now, when it's time for the sequel, it seems that EA has managed to add to all that had been lacking, as well as polish all the other stuff that needed a touch more care.
Everything that made last year's game good is intact and perhaps even more polished. The controls are deep but simple, stick-handling feels natural, and the general fluency is impeccable. The ingenious calls about what you can and should do on the ice returns, and it's quite brilliant in its execution. The game dynamically teaches you to be better in all aspects, allowing you to finally master a difficult manoeuvre and get rewarded for it, which creates a wonderful feeling.
Learning the face-offs this way becomes a breeze and then to master the face-off techniques that work best in different situations makes you a better player instantly. After a while, when you've warmed up, you can turn off the trainers tips completely. If you want to go for an experience in the middle we can happily report that the possibilities are huge and you can set your experience to exactly what you want via lots of parameters.
The new features in NHL 17 aren't as numerous or as large as we would have liked, on the other hand, although we can't quite put our finger on what we would have wanted to add. A welcome addition is the World Cup mode. In NHL 16 something that was missing was the correct national team shirts due to some licensing hassles. This is resolved by EA and it's important that things look right when it's time for Sweden to brush Finland to one side. Another brand new game mode is called Champions Draft and it's taken from last year's Madden. It is a round-based mode where you have to win four games in a row while racking up new playing cards in a kind of fantasy league. You can play online or against computer-controlled opponents, and EA has promised that the cards will rotate over time to create unique games. Like fantasy leagues, this could be really interesting.
Another change is that the Be a GM mode has been renamed to Franchise and a lot of changes have been made. Here you can manage your team and everything around it. Players will be drafted, exchanged and wage grouped and there are more things you will be in charge of as well, like the team's home arena, delegating prices on popcorn and hot dogs will be added, and other administrative tasks like marketing also fall on your table. In short, there is a lot to keep track of and the game mode is actually quite deep. It is not so much about playing hockey but it is nice to have these extra features to break the tempo in a good way for those who want it.
The rest of the game modes are recurring from previous years. There's the usual quick matches, the playoffs, the shootout is of course still there, and there's the Be a Pro mode where you can create a rookie and then enter the AHL to show what you can do before being drafted into the big league. In Be a Pro, you only control your player and must therefore sit on the bench to catch your breath (not if you are a goalkeeper, of course). Here statements after every game are super important to your career and to do as you're told is preferable. Be a Pro is probably the most authentic hockey experience you can get, although we also like to play with the whole team under omnipotent control.
For those who want to test their luck online, there is also a wide range of choices. Besides shootouts, regular matches and the already mentioned Draft Champions, EASHL is back in all its glory. This is the game mode where you get to build your own club from scratch and play with other players online. It is very prestigious in every match and it is actually your own club (with its own designed logo) and ranking at stake. NHL 17 is really packed with game modes and finding something to sate your thirst of hockey shouldn't be a problem for anyone.
As usual when we talk about annual sports games it doesn't change much on the audiovisual front from year to year. NHL 17 runs smoothly and the details on the ice are very good with nice reflections and effects. Puck physics are realistic and larger players like Kronwall definitely feel heavier than their slimmer peers. The players' character models are a little plasticky in the way they look, as usual, and rigid at close range, but this isn't too bad. The crowd, however, leaves something to be desired with the obvious lack of detail and stilted animations, but it's not really the important part of the game and everything that happens on the ice is acceptable.
The puck slamming into the boards and sticks on the ice all sound just like they should do, and the crowd raises the atmosphere when we play at home, and they'll also acknowledge an important match. The commentators Mike Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, as usual, do a great job, and the comments often feel relevant. Certainly there is some repetition and sometimes we feel some comments are entirely misplaced, but it's nothing that ruins the experience (and you can always switch it off).
NHL 17 is a good hockey game and it builds on last year's already stable edition. The World Cup mode is a welcome addition and the changes to Franchise are many and deep. The biggest problem is if you already own NHL 16 then it may be difficult to justify a purchase for the whim of some new content. But, on the other hand, NHL 17 is a really good hockey game. If the very latest updates are important to you then perhaps that alone means you can justify a purchase.