The accessibility provided and the customisable experience found in NHL 23 make it perfect for fans of the sport, and even those who have never tried an EA hockey game before.
EA Sports are well and truly in the game with the latest instalment of NHL, giving fans of the puck-whacking, blood-spilling, ice-ripping sport that is ice hockey the chance to prove themselves in NHL 23.
Ice hockey may not be the phenomenon that it is in other countries, but there’s still enough love for slapshots, zambonis and Wayne Gretsky (yep, that’s our ice hockey knowledge exhausted) to warrant releasing it on our shores. If you’re one of this elite crowd, then you might be excited to learn that NHL 22 is arriving on console Game Pass today, all thanks to EA Play.
NHL 22 has started to lay down the groundwork for a great ice hockey game. It’s incorporated new mechanics in X-Factor players, graphically it’s improving and the gameplay is a mixture of fluid simulation and fast paced arcade which is a great balance. However, Be A Pro mode is still stagnant, there is a heavy reliance on spending real money on card packs in Ultimate Team and there just doesn’t feel like enough new additions to get excited by.
It's silly season in the gaming world and that means EA will happily fill out our digital libraries with the annual drops of their sports titles. We've had FIFA 22 and been very impressed with it, Madden NFL 22 was equally good and worthy of an upgrade. Now it's time to take to the ice with NHL 22 - and especially the X-Factor Edition.
Despite now being ten years old, NHL 12 is the ice hockey game that gets everything so right it has become a timeless example of its genre. From mechanics to presentation it remains endlessly playable even a decade after it was first released, it remains a definitive hockey game and should be remembered as such.
In recent years, EA Sports have added plenty of new modes across their licensed games, and NHL 21 on the Xbox One is no exception; there is a lot of ice hockey on offer. The variety will offer something for everyone, but there are issues with the gameplay on the rink that mean some modes work better than others.
