NHL 22

Sports games are a tough sell, especially when the Series version of the game is now $70. Thankfully if you have Game Pass Ultimate you get a 10-hour free trial through the EA Play part of the subscription. If you love the sport and want the best looking and playing a version of it of all-time along with a staggering number of modes and options, then I think NHL 22 is going to make you quite happy.

NHL 22 does an excellent job at bringing back old arcade-y mechanics and blending it with today's simulation quality presentation in a way that works together rather than against itself. Some modes could still use a refresh, but the core gameplay of NHL 22 shows that the NHL series is really hitting its stride with this release.

The first thing that'll jump out to seasoned NHL veterans out is the new engine. EA Sports has rolled in the Frostbite Engine for NHL 22, which drastically improves things such as lighting. That may not sound like a huge step up, but it adds depth to the atmosphere of every arena. The player models have also been significantly improved, with each digital athlete resembling their real-life counterparts. For example, NHL 22 cover athlete Auston Matthews has made the transition into the game spectacularly with his signature moustache intact. That same attention to detail isn't applied to every pl...

Getting straight to the point, NHL 22 is just another hockey game to me. That’s not necessarily a negative, there’s just more behind it the simple person would overlook. When you take the time to think about it, the primary focal point to any sports games to the consumer is how the game feels and plays. The majority of players are usually diehard fans of the sport, so how close the game brings them to reality is whats going to determine the fun factor and replayability. A casual player us...

It's a transitional year for NHL, then. It's arguably better than ever on the ice, playing a mostly authentic and enjoyable brand of hockey that implements some subtle, but worthy new features to satisfy hardcore fans. It also looks meaningfully improved thanks to the Frostbite engine (and clearly a lot of hard work). But in terms of content and game modes, it's largely the same offering as last year, and that gets pretty old after a while. Hopefully, now that the engine transition is out of the way, we can look forward to some ambitious new modes and features in NHL 23 and beyond.

New console generations can prove rocky for sports franchises: performance issues, bugs, and a reduction in features are routinely guaranteed. Certainly, that's the fate that awaited EA's NHL series when it transitioned to the PlayStation 4 – after all, we still have nightmares about the abysmal NHL 15. Surprisingly, EA Vancouver has deked its way around this issue with NHL 22, and while the result isn’t an overwhelmingly new experience, it's refreshing to see the ice hockey sim remain on track.

A new generation should have meant an explosive debut for NHL 22, but inconsistencies in the presentation and gameplay department hardly makes the case for the game. Aside from its solid action on the ice, NHL 22 remains a far cry from what was to be an evolution.

The difference between a good or bad NHL game is often tiny. For the most part, moving the experience forward in any meaningful way is enough to get me to buy in. Maybe that’s a massive improvement to gameplay and AI, or a new mode that becomes a staple of the series. These wins are often enough to make the longstanding bugs or omissions tolerable. Problems arise when what’s on offer as the year’s shiny distraction falls flat. In NHL 22, improved visuals are there but are buggy at any given moment. Superstar X-Factor Abilities are cool but alone are not enough. NHL 22 doesn’t feel like the nex...