NHL 17 First Impressions: Hockey Ultimate Team

While NHL 17’s Beta of Hockey Ultimate Team left me impressed overall, there are still a few key issues and missing features that keep it off the level of more popular sports games

The NHL 17 Beta includes Online Versus mode, where you play as actual NHL teams online against an opponent, Hockey Ultimate Team, where you build your own team of NHL players and play other teams online, and EA Sports Hockey League, in which you create your own player and play your own career.

So far, I’ve played two of the three; Hockey Ultimate Team (which I will refer to as HUT for the remainder of the article) and Online Versus.  Overall, I’m mostly impressed with what I’ve played so far.

Some issues that have plagued the franchise for a while such as poor passing and checking mechanics have finally been, for the most part, fixed.  However, there are still many missing features and problems with However, there are still many missing features and problems with gameplay that separate NHL from more popular sports video game franchises such as Madden or NBA 2K.

Tampa Bay Lightning

First, I jumped in and played my personal favorite mode, Hockey Ultimate Team.  You are given the necessary cards to start your team and then you’re off to the ice.  The pack opening animation looks a lot cooler already as the cover for each card shatters and explodes as each card reveals itself.

This effect creates suspense as each card must be flipped individually, and I loved it.  As each card flipped, I became more and more excited, not only to see who was on my team but for what else new the Beta had in store for me.

The only Lightning player I received in my starter pack was Jonathan Marchessault, who doesn’t even play for the Bolts anymore.  Some other notable picks were Cam Ward in goal, Mike Fisher at center, and Radko Gudas at defense.  All of my other starting players were lesser known depth and prospect players from around the league.  With high hopes and high spirits, my ragtag team of future stars hit the ice.

As the puck dropped, Fisher did his job well and won the faceoff.  My team moved the puck deftly down the ice and got a quick shot away that was blocked by Panther’s backup goalie James Reimer.  Back and forth went the puck for a while until a soft backhand shot from the left circle ended up in the back of my net.

I was confused at first because it was a garden variety save for most NHL goalies, especially starters, but nothing could be done about it. 1-0 bad guys.  Unfortunately for my team, that first goal apparently unnerved Cam Ward and he let in another goal shortly after that.  And then another, and another, and another, and another.

By the time that the 6th goal was scored I was more than unhappy with my goaltender because nothing he let in was a particularly skillful or hard shot.  Three out of the six goals came from 15 feet away after the shooter switched from forehand to backhand, then back to forehand and shot.

Apparently, Cam can’t handle a shooter switching hands and my team fell 6-1.  Being my first game of the Beta, I didn’t think much of the loss and assumed it was just Cam Ward playing like Cam Ward, even if the game gave him a rating of 84 overall.

The next game I played, I won 2-1 in a shootout.  Goalie control in these situations has improved by leaps and bounds.  If you position your goalie correctly more often than not, he’ll block the shot. This is a huge improvement from NHL 16, where shootouts depended more on you making your shots in order to keep up with your opponent rather than trying to block theirs.

Booster packs are priced very cheaply as this is just a Beta and they want everyone to experience what different players play like and afford everyone the opportunity to have a good team.  I purchased a jumbo gold pack and was rewarded with Tyler Johnson, Craig Smith, Jaroslav Halak, and James Reimer.

Honestly, I was most excited about my new goaltending duo as I would no longer drop games and get humiliated because I had Cam between the pipes.  While Both Reimer and Halak were rated 86 overall I choose to start Halak.  Confident with my new roster, I began a new game.

After  few shots from both sides, I found myself in a very favorable position where my opponent was in the middle of a line change and I had the puck on the goal stripe.  A quick pass up the wing led to a breakaway and my player was all alone barreling towards the offensive zone.

A defender from the other team was rushing over to try to catch my player as he was continuing towards his final goal of the opponents net.  He only had time to throw a one-handed haphazard check behind him before my player was out of reach.

Assured this check wouldn’t land, I continued on ready to be the first on the board.  Suddenly, my player didn’t have the puck anymore, and it was now on the stick of the player who threw the check.  Somehow, some way, the backward one-handed check had landed and my breakaway was now over.

While this was the most extreme example of the new checking mechanics, it was far from the last. It was seldom that a poke check ever missed its mark.  On one hand, this is an improvement as even the most skilled players can have their plays disrupted by any defender who can land a check.  On the other, everyone can land a check almost all of the time.  There’s a saying, too much of  a good thing can be a bad thing and it was for sure in this case.

I played a few more games and noticed that there was a trend.  I either won a very tight game with scores such as 1-0 or 2-1 in overtime or a shootout or dropped them by three or more points. NHL 17’s new goalie mechanics have been hyped since details for the new game had first been released, but personally, I’m unimpressed.

The goalies I played with either had the game of a lifetime or played like they were still in juniors. Cam Ward was the worst goalie I played with and he was a perfectly average 84 overall.  Another thing I noticed was that the shots that went in weren’t particularly skillful or realistic shots.

No player in the NHL would take the shots that went in because in real life, that shot would have been saved or the player trying to shoot would find himself in third-row seats courtesy of the defender wearing the opposite color jersey of him.

It seems the game rewards “dirty dangles” and individual efforts more than team plays and realistic offense.  On the note of team play, passing mechanics have been greatly improved as unless the pass is contested or just plain bad, it will usually find its mark.  This makes setting up NHL realistic offense easier, but that doesn’t often get rewarded.

Finally, on to the aesthetic features of the HUT Beta.  Character models have been improved even more as I was able to recognize some players based on their faces instead of looking at the name and number on the back of their sweater.

The arenas and crowds have also been greatly improved, and I was honestly impressed by how much.  Audible boos can be heard when a player from the home team fumbles the puck while big hits or good passes energize the crowd and get them cheering louder.

There are even groans and sighs when a shot hits the crossbar.  The reactions are so detailed that play as the away team and score first, the crowd is noticeably quieter until a comeback is made.  My favorite feature though has to be the singular loud voice that comes from the fan who might have had a little too much to drink.  The atmosphere of games has improved leaps and bounds.

Unfortunately, not all is well inside of the arena.  The commentary of Mike “Doc” Emrick and Eddie Olczyk is dry, has been re-used for the last few years, and eventually gets annoying.  The only difference I noticed was that every time Doc commented on defense, he found a way to put the word “roadblock” into whatever he was saying.

Lastly, we reach my personal pet peeve of every NHL game I’ve played, which is not including the goalie’s actual mask.  I know this is a relatively small detail, but a goalie’s mask is a representation of who he is.

It isn’t uncommon to see the goalie’s personal likes and interests painted onto the mask, as well as interesting takes on his team’s logo and symbols and even memorials painted onto them.  Not to mention, most goalie masks look sick.

Tampa Bay especially has a history of cool masks.  While there were some bumps in the road such as the time Olaf Kolzig and Mike Smith had their masks turned into billboards for Saw V, (I wish I was joking) Ben Bishop‘s Tron mask has become and Icon and the chrome palm trees on the side of Andrei Vasilevskiy‘s mask are tough to follow.  

Perhaps I wouldn’t be as upset about this if the in-game masks didn’t look like bad clip art.  They are basic, re-used from previous games, and look copy and pasted.  If there was one aesthetic detail from the Beta I could change, that would be it.  

It’s small details like this that set NHL apart from NBA 2k, Madden, or MLB.  If a basketball player wears a certain headband or a shooting sleeve of a certain color on a certain arm, you can bet it’ll be there in the game.  Same with cleats and towels in Madden and even sunglasses in MLB.  If NHL wants to become a serious contender in the world of sports video games, this is where they need to start.

Next: NHL 17: Tampa Bay Lightning Team And Player Ratings

So overall, I’m impressed.  There’s a lot that has been improved on while at the same time, there is still a lot to do before the game is released next September.  What are your thoughts on what you’ve seen of the game so far?  What about the Beta would you like to know?  Make sure to stay tuned to Bolts By The Bay for more information on NHL 17 soon.