NHL 24 Hands-On Preview - NHL 07's Link to the Present

At EA’s unveiling of NHL 24, it kicked off with Cale Makar saying how stoked he was to be on the cover of NHL 24. During his intro one of the first things out of his mouth was that he started playing with NHL 07. Whether it was intentionally prescient or not, as we got deeper into the presentation — and then when I finally got to go hands-on for multiple hours — Makar’s mention of NHL 07 got lodged further and further in my brain. NHL 07 was a turning point for the EA NHL franchise, and hockey games as a whole.

Those first two years on the first HD consoles were a turning point for a lot of franchises:

• Madden had an all-time embarrassing launch on the Xbox 360
• EA’s NHL franchise did not release with the launch of the Xbox 360, but NHL 2K did
• FIFA would slowly begin to turn things around after a rough start to the HD era
• NBA 2K and NBA Live would soon flip positions for good as NBA 2K would become the clear choice as the best basketball game during most years from here on out
• NBA 2K7 and NHL 07 had all-time memorable demos

That last bullet point is really the one worth remembering for this conversation. NHL 07‘s demo was not a full game but rather a shootout that highlighted the new skill stick controls that would come to define the series to this day. While NHL 2K was still more polished than EA’s NHL game, 2K’s popularity would wane to a degree that 2K Sports mostly gave up making the game after NHL 2K10. That downfall can in part be traced back to the NHL 07 demo, and EA’s complacency with the NHL series can also likely be traced back to that demo to some degree.

For too long things have just felt stuck with EA’s NHL series. It’s never a game I truly despise, but as the years have gone on it’s been hard to deny the feeling that it’s simply not making big year-over-year strides, and last year was maybe the most obvious example of that fact. Well, that is finally changing with NHL 24, and it’s just exciting to finally be getting some actual mechanical changes to the core game. While I don’t think any one thing being added or tweaked this year will have the impact of the skill stick — I actually think some of the additions may inevitably harm the game even — the onus is on the developers to get people excited about checking this series out again.

With that in mind, let’s chat about how NHL 24 is finally changing up the formula this year.

NHL 24 Hands-On Preview

Controls

It’s worth starting off with the controls after the mentions of the skill stick. The control changes this year are two-fold in that they have been tweaked to reincorporate some old mechanics and also introduce new ones. The biggest change is the addition of icon passing. Much like something that we’ve seen in every basketball game for years, you can now hold down the right trigger and then as long as you keep it held you can continually make passes. This means you can pre-load passes while the puck is still in transit for true one-two (and even three-four) touch passes to get the defense moving.

I toyed around with this mechanic for quite some time just to see how it felt, and it’s certainly going to have a skill gap as you’re going to need to have a feel for body positioning as well as remember the icons themselves as they do change as you make passes. I was generally best off making one-two passes rather than adding that third touch pass as your players will always try to make the pass, but the accuracy is going to be a mess much of the time as they’ll be off-balance or looking the wrong way, etc.

This is a good thing, and I think it’s obvious this will likely be best utilized is on the power play so you can skip the puck from one slot to the other rather than hitting the man in the middle as you’d sometimes do by accident with the old passing system. You don’t have to use this mechanic at all if you don’t want to, but I think like many of the changes this year, this is meant to both help out new players and also add a layer of depth for those who play the game on a daily basis.

The two other big offensive changes relate to some of the hardest/most splashy dekes moving to the face buttons (you can still do them with the skill stick as well), and you now being able to check defenders with a “reverse hit” R3 button. I’m going to talk more about about the reverse hit in a section below, so I just want to call out that adding these flashy moves to the face buttons may seem concerning but really didn’t change much so far to me. I was more inclined to try out a between the legs shot now that it was on the face buttons, but now that the lacrosse is on a face button that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. I still never pulled it off during my games, and it’s still tied to attributes and all that.

What I will say is I just think this change makes sense. I always found it bizarre that some years the EA team would hype things like lacrosse dekes — or even last year with the desperation plays — yet it was something you’d barely ever see. We can talk all day about if those things should be a priority at all, but if you’re going to put them in your game then let’s see them actually happen from time to time. Otherwise, what was the point?

On defense, the controls are not changing as much, but hip checks are back and have their own button. The checking system has also been broken out into a full-on check (down and up on right stick) and more of a nudge check now being utilized if you just press up on the right stick. The shoulder check has more risk/reward to pull you out of position, and the same goes for hip checks, while you can more easily spam the push check to try and nudge players off the puck. I did seem to get more cross checking calls if I really spammed the push check, but let’s chat more about the physicality in the next section.

Chaos Returns

For better or worse, right now it feels like a callback of sorts to some of the NHL games from 5-10 years ago. The physics can be a little wild at times, bodies are flying all over the place, and hip checks are causing chaos and leading to players flopping all over the ice — sometimes looking very awkward in the process. Push checks are the most intriguing subtle change, but I still need time to see how that feels in 6-on-6 games. On top of that, broken glass is back and knocking players over the side boards has also returned, so everything old is new again.

Ultimately, I do think all this physicality can be a positive for the series as soon as this year, but when you realize offensive players can also lower the boom with a body check all their own, bodies are going to be flying everywhere. Against the AI, it didn’t feel too chaotic, but my early guess is head-to-head games and especially 6-on-6 games are going to be absolutely insane with bodies splayed out every which way. Hip checks also do feel overpowered in general right now. They don’t feel like tractor beams like they did back in the day, but it’s still very much looking like the obvious way to end any rush along the boards if you cut off the angle.

Overall, I think all this physicality is something that’s going to be embraced more by the casual crowd than the more hardcore players, but if EA finds a way to balance out skill moves perhaps being a better way to avoid physical contact, then it could be a boon for all parties. I also think what could help in this area is better off-puck movement, but in the zone that still doesn’t quite feel up to speed, and the new touch passing system might not be enough to offset the sheer aggression at times.

Goalies And The Exhaust Engine

Another area of weakness last year was the goalies. EA did not update them enough before launch and then seemingly did not have a good way to update the AI once it became clear that one timers from behind the net and wraparounds were easy ways to score. In the build I played, the goalies were now handling those shots much better, and moving forward EA was very vocal about wanting to release more consistent tuner updates/patches when obvious gameplay exploits are hurting the game.

This seems like the right spot to mention the Exhaust Engine as well, which is basically what EA is calling their dynamic fatigue mechanic. As you spend more time in the zone, take more shots on goal, make more passes across the crease, and so on the “pressure” gauge will fill up (you can see this gauge on the ice) and if you reach peak pressure, the players locked in their own zone will basically take a slight ratings hit, your ratings will go up a bit, and fatigue will play a bigger and bigger factor — including with the goalies. You can “cleanse” yourself so to speak by clearing the puck, getting a face-off, calling a timeout or getting a play stoppage, but the point is this fatigue system creates new animation scenarios for the goalies and players, and should make it harder to play defense and easier to score goals. In essence, it’s a way to “even the playing field” by making grinder tactics more viable when you don’t have the skills to go end-to-end like peak Connor McDavid.

In a general sense, I love this change. The ratings changes feel very small so I wouldn’t even worry about those so much as just the fatigue itself. Your defenders will feel more sluggish and it does genuinely feel more desperate out there as you get stuck in your own zone for extended periods. That dread is a great feeling to have and it’s long overdue something like this came to a hockey game. That said, I am worried about the goalies right now. I’m not sure if it’s the fatigue engine or the general goalie tuning right now, but they are flopping around like crazy right now. In a sense, it’s cool because EA has added a lot of new desperation saves so seeing the goalie on his belly but still moving his arm to make a save on a shot looks killer at times. However, the goalies also seem to just be flopping into desperation mode for no reason at times.

I’m all for messier goals and having more gritty plays, and it absolutely feels like more garbage goals are there right now, which is good. That said, I would prefer that be because of more normal hockey plays like tips, rebounds, jamming at the puck around the net, and so on rather than because the goalies are out of position because they splayed out when they did not need to.

As for user goalies, they’re actually getting some love this year. A new “tether” system is now in the game so you can be returned to the middle of the net after making a save so you’re squared up to the next shot. In addition, there is now an “instinct system” which will basically allow you to guess early where a shot is going so you get increased chances of making the save. I did not personally try these new changes out, but I know human goalies have been wanting some changes for years, and it seems like they’re finally getting some to hopefully make it more worthwhile to be a goalie in EASHL or BAP.

On the AI front, last year was the first big tweak to special teams strategies in ages, and while I’m not sure how much more is being added to strategies as of now, the AI is taking advantage of the pressure system right now by shooting more from the point. After a couple hours of gameplay, I did not feel like AI teams were playing completely different from one team to the next or anything, but even just the increased shot variety is a long overdue change for how games play out. EA still needs to focus a lot more on this area, but they should also recognize how much even a small change like “shoot more from the point” can freshen things up.

A New Voice In The Booth

The most noticeable change on the presentation front is the addition of Cheryl Pounder to the broadcast booth. She takes Ray Ferraro’s role, and the EA developers have had nothing but great things to say about her. Since I only had so much time with the game, I don’t have much yet to say on the commentary front, but she was recorded for over 200 hours this year alone, and EA is recording with her twice a week, so she is committed to the role at the very least.

Beyond that, I do think one thing I am comfortable mentioning with the commentary is they did clearly try to build up more moments during gameplay. A commentary crescendo is a good phrase to use for them, and it’s those moments where you get over the red line, then the blue line, then make a pass, then make another pass before potentially scoring a goal where everything builds on itself. As the commentary builds along with the crowd swells, that does genuinely feel like a nice improvement for the series.

Beyond the commentary, the most obvious change is going to be the contextual boards/digital dashers. Instead of having ads that are changing like on TV, EA has decided to tweak that TV-style presentation to present users with game info. These boards will showcase things like shots, time in the period, checks, delayed penalties and so on (all in real-time). In essence, it’s moving a lot of what was presented on the score bug to the boards. The “pressure” gauge itself will show up on the ice so that’s separated out from the group, but most other things will be cycled through the dashers. I think this is a logical tweak in order to still fit into that TV-style, but it’s also not what was holding back the presentation in NHL before this year.

Instead, it’s been a lack of replays, aging commentary, and just a lack of “juice” that’s been more felt since the split from NBC. I don’t think this year feels like a wholesale change, but the new goal presentation is much more cinematic, and we are finally getting some more replays of things like big hits and so on during stoppages in the action. The commentary and TV-style elements of flare still have a ways to go, but much like the gameplay, this feels like the NHL team waking from its slumber and thinking long and hard again about how to best improve what’s here year over year.

And, okay, yes I am burying the lede here by posting a picture of the True Broadcast Legacy camera now being back in the game but only now mentioning it. There is also another True Broadcast camera in there as well so you will have two options for that TV-style view if you want to play on that again (and, yes, I do want to play from that view thank you very much). At the time of this writing, I don’t know if there is a “no skip” presentation style in the game where whistle to whistle everything is captured, but I would guess that still won’t be in the game since I think that comes down to re-investing in the tech/animations for that, which maybe has never been returned to since the changeover to Frostbite.

Bottom Line

“Feels like hockey” is the tagline the developers are going with this year. It’s not a very original concept in the world of sports video games as it’s a similar motto many other developers have trotted out over the years. On top of that, I don’t necessarily think it’s true for this year, and I’m not even saying that as a negative. Instead, what this year feels like is the alarm clock for the series. The developers are throwing a lot of new stuff on the ice, and I don’t think all of it is going to hit. But it’s time to be risk takers again, and it’s time to start giving people a reason to check in on the NHL series each year.

The irony of things like X-Factors has been that the more abilities that are added to the game, the less unique the game has felt. You run into the same 3-5 abilities and same sorts of goals online, and so nothing new really ends up mattering because everyone plays the same way.

This year, if anything, it feels like choices should return to this game. It won’t be quite at the level that styles make fights because I don’t think the tactics, AI, or depth is quite there to make end-to-end teams feel truly unique from teams who just like to eat up time on attack, but I do think additional gameplay mechanics like icon passing, the Exhaust Engine, and the overall changes to the checking system will create an environment where grind-it-out hockey is a viable tactic. If this is the first step in a long line of improvements, then eventually “feels like hockey” will take care of itself. If these sorts of improvements don’t continue year over year (and even during the cycle with timely patches/tuners) then it will be just another hollow tagline.

NHL 24 is set to release on October 6 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It will also have an early access release that hits three days earlier (like most EA Sports games).