NHL 16 Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions

Brian MaziqueSep 15, 2015

NHL 15 felt like a term paper with a really pretty cover page and awesome graphics, but it had underdeveloped concepts in the text. When we were finished reading it, we were left wanting more.

Visually, the game was stellar, and even the gameplay was fun, but the limited features equated to an incomplete assignment from EA Sports. The developers heard and felt the backlash from the gaming community, and they have responded with a complete effort that will encourage fans to let the series out of the penalty box.

Still Pretty

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image provided by EA Sports

If there was a saving grace for last year's game, it was the graphics and animation. Several new cosmetic additions have only strengthened the game in this area. EASports.com describes its new visual authenticity as follows:

"
Enhanced facial features and new equipment details synonymous with the league’s top players adds another layer of player authenticity. Use these new equipment elements to customize your own created character giving them a unique look, from custom stick tape, colored skate laces, tinted visors, and more.
"

These words are not just lip service. Take a look at the series of facial expressions from the Winnipeg Jets' Andrew Ladd after I missed a wrister with him in one of the many games played during the review process:

image provided by EA Sports

The skating animations seem to get better every year. The gliding motions are smooth, and the connection of the skates to the ice looks realistic. Hitting is really solid, though it would be nice if a jarring check that dislodged a player's helmet had a few more frames added to the animation.

When bone-jarring hits like this take place, the helmet comes off the head in a less-than-natural manner. In perspective, that's the proverbial light scratch on the hood of a Rolls Royce. It's barely worth mentioning in a game that looks this good.

Now Presenting...

The arenas and crowds in NHL 16 are probably the best in all sports video games. EA Sports UFC's crowd looked natural, as does MLB 15 The Show, but neither is as clear or filled with as much personality as the drones in NHL 16.

image provided by EA Sports

There's diversity in the fanbase, a good number of animations, appropriate sound responses, signs, distinct nuances and events that are exclusive to NHL teams' buildings.

In a pre-release update, the defending Stanley Cup champions' home was added to augment the authenticity, per Steve Noah of Operation Sports:

The NBC branding also returns with cutscenes featuring Eddie Olczyk and Doc Emrick. The duo is back on commentary again, but the dialogue is only mediocre.

There's not nearly enough comments about the specific players, game situations or the current season if you're playing Be a GM or Be a Pro. Also on that note, there isn't enough stylized presentation in the game to separate a Be a GM regular season or postseason game from an exhibition game.

The game does introduce playoff beards, which is a cool addition, but there's still not enough presentational value during a Be a GM or Be a Pro season to immerse you in the experience.

Got Game?

If you're concerned about the gameplay in NHL 16, don't be. Great players feel different than mediocre ones, and it's easier to see the importance of every position on the ice.

Two-way defensemen and forwards have ways to impact the game on both ends. The excellent collision detection and physics engine make the gameplay and on-ice events feel plausible and realistic.

Previous versions of the game felt either too easy to score or too hard. The gameplay in this year's game was as close to just right as can be expected. Everyone has a different skill level, which is why it's nice that the game features sliders to affect every aspect of the gameplay.

On default, the defensive instincts are far better than in older versions of the game. Patented and unrealistic passes across the goalie's face to unmolested players in the crease are far less frequent. This forces users to be more creative when creating scoring opportunities.

Full control of goalies adds another layer to the gameplay, which can make scoring harder or easier for a human-controlled team, depending on how skilled they are on the sticks.

By default, the game has several tutorial overlays that are visible during gameplay. For someone who isn't exactly a hockey expert, they can be helpful. For more experienced players, the images can be annoying. They can be easily turned off if they become intrusive.

The changes and sustained qualities deliver fans an exciting, realistic and fun on-ice experience.

It's Good to Have Options

Finally, the depth has come back to the NHL series. Here's the following ways to play NHL 16:

Play Now
Online Versus
Online Shootout
Hockey Ultimate Team
EA Sports Hockey League
Online Team Play
Be a Pro
Be a GM
Season Mode
Playoff Mode
Offline Shootout
NHL Moments
Practice Mode

With that laundry list of options, it's safe to say EA Sports listened to the fans—at least a little. Most of the game modes are self-explanatory and function as they always have. A few deserve special attention for their qualities and shortcomings.

Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) is fun in some ways and feels clunky in others. The mode succeeds in getting you into the concept quicker than is the case with Madden's Ultimate Team option. Instead of waiting forever to get a player you're excited to play with, HUT gives you a few players from the team you chose as your favorite when you installed NHL 16 on your console.

That frame of reference helps a lot when your squad isn't decked out with studs.

Though you have to build your team, decent players seem to come along a little easier than they do in Madden. It would've been nice if NHL 16 featured a feeder option for HUT like Madden 16's new Draft Champions and FIFA 16's FIFA Ultimate Team Draft, though.

Those options introduce new fans to Ultimate Team and provide them with a glimpse of what it's like to play with great players.

An area where both Madden and NHL suffer as it relates to Ultimate Team is in the organization of the menus. Let's face it: Ultimate Team is a relatively complicated concept. The menu designers didn't do gamers any favors with the functionality, though. Simply editing your lines takes one too many steps, and the verbiage in the menus takes some getting used to.

Once you get into the actual gameplay of the mode, it's a blast. However, it would be nice if all of EA Sports' Ultimate Team games borrowed a page out of NBA 2K (MyTEAM) and MLB The Show's (Diamond Dynasty) book. Both of those sports gaming franchises allow you to customize the look of your team rather than wear an existing professional team's jersey.

Hopefully, that's the next step for the NHL series and the EA Sports Ultimate Team family.

Perhaps the biggest restored feature is the return of EA Sports Hockey League (EASHL). The online team-up mode is back and features more detail and structure than before. Gamers now pick a style class before heading to the ice to team up with a squad of human-controlled players against another group of human users.

The pregame screen feels like a first-person shooter. Picking a style is like selecting your loadout gear.

Your choice of style attempts to carve a niche and responsibility for your player on the ice. Whether everyone sticks to the plan is a different story.

When there's cooperation and accountability among a team, this can be one of the most fun and satisfying gaming experiences you can have. However, when you're just joining a game and playing a virtual game of pick-up hockey, if you will, the experience is more frustrating than fun.

I'm not sure there's anything the developers can do about this issue. The nature of the sport of hockey is such that without teammates playing a role and passing, users can easily be left out in the cold.

The online stability was solid in most modes. There was noticeable lag in about 15 percent of the online contests I played, and that didn't last throughout the entire game. Most sports gamers will take that any time.

If you're a roster creator like me, you'll be mostly pleased with the amount of options for creating players as well as editing existing ones. There's a good number of faces to choose from when creating a player, though you can't use a scale tool on any of the facial features. Also on the downside, you can't change the hairstyles of any existing players. Pro Evolution Soccer might be the only sports game I've seen that allows you to do that.

The options you have in the create-a-player suite when you build your Be a Pro (BAP) prospect are solid but not spectacular. There are enough options available for you to make him—or her—unique.

Thankfully, the option to sim ahead to your shift on the ice has returned. NHL 15 tortured gamers by making them watch the action from the bench when they weren't in the game. In the default settings, games can still be a little long for my tastes in this mode. However, like most aspects of this game, period length is adjustable.

While on the ice, your BAP gets a good amount of feedback, and those same potentially annoying tutorial overlays become a useful guide to your performance. You're constantly being graded on every aspect of the game on the ice.

Where BAP could stand to improve is in its overall personality. It's impossible to look at one of these single-player campaign style modes in a sports game and not compare it to what we see from NBA 2K in MyCAREER or what we saw in Champions Mode in Fight Night Champion.

A storyline for BAP would've been amazing and made the mode more compelling to play.

Last but not least, there's the Be a GM (BAGM) mode. Franchise modes are my favorite sports gaming option, so I'm particular when it comes to the details. As a roster creator, it's almost essential to have the option to use a custom roster in a franchise mode. NHL 16 does allow you to do this, but you can't change the names of any existing players.

You can, however, add created players to any team, which is nice.

The option to do a fantasy draft is a must. This is something that was missing from NHL 15 but is present in NHL 16. Playing with the teams as they are has some value, but scrambling the league and playing virtual general manager is awesome.

One nice-to-have feature that isn't in the game is the ability to play for any team during a franchise mode. In NHL 16, you're confined to the team you selected. This also takes away the option to have a multiplayer franchise mode locally or on online. Many fans will see this as more than just a minor drawback.

While steps to flesh out the BAGM mode were made, there's still some room for growth moving forward.

The Bottom Line

Last year, I scored NHL 15 a 7.5. The stellar graphics and gameplay were bogged down by so-so presentation and a lack of depth and options. This year, the qualities were sustained—and even improved in some areas.

The weaknesses weren't cleared up altogether—especially when you compare the game to others that shine in the genre. But there was still marked improvement, and the future looks bright.

If you love hockey, you will really like NHL 16.