I'm curious to get people's appreciation about NHL 23. The review on Xbox is 1.6 Stars and I see a lot of people quitting the game on the Forum.Personally I think this the worst version of the game. Not sure what EA was trying to accomplish with this but just bring back NHL14 with todays visuals if you don't want to invest on this franchise anymore.

Cross-play was a big addition this year, but the gameplay is in a worse state than last year and people are giving up on the game or not playing much. I only play EASHL and the broken and unforgiving stick lifts are terrible. The goalie save frequency for cross-crease and one-timers is ridiculous and sucks the fun out of the game. High scoring chances like that should be rewarded more often like in previous years. Those chances are happening because mistakes were made by the other team. Punish the mistakes and reward the nice plays. The goalie should not be bailing out the team on those kinds of chances often.It is very frustrating being a fan of this series as EA never seem to get it right. Things that should be obvious for them to fix/tune are left unattended. There are always major issues from year to year that keep people from playing. If they fixed these issues, people would play more and more players would return and recommend the game to new players. Such a shame that cross-play has been wasted this year on a poor effort of a game. This could have been the year that the community really started to grow again. Now the excitement is gone and more people continue to give up on the game. EA messed up.

I'm on the same page as @TTZ_Dipsy. Online ( EASHL in particular ) is in the worst place I've seen it since before the introduction of the skill stick. Goalies are incredibly weak in scenarios where they should be strong ( eg extreme-angle short-side shots ). Defensive tools are terribly inconsistent and in cases like stick-lift just flat out terrible.The consensus on my club is that the flaws in NHL 23 have given us a highly frustrating game experience where most of the time, win or lose, it feels like the team that wins does so because the broken mechanics went in their favor and not because they were necessarily the better team. "We won because their goalie gave up two goals on shots from the corner and put one in his own net trying to cover a loose puck." or "We lost because our AI winger took three unforced penalties", etc. Yes, there are games where we just outplay our opponent and win or get outplayed and lose, but the majority of the games feel like we just have to hope it's not our goalie giving up a few weak goals or its not our poke-checks that just act like passes for the other team. Wins don't feel rewarding and losses are frustrating when it all feels arbitrary.Top it all off with EA feeling like gameplay is fine as it is so no tuners or gampleay updates are necessary and there's not much to look forward to with this game. Last night around 8 PM EST we spent 15 minutes searching for an EASHL club 3s game with cross-play turned on. We don't normally have those kind of wait times until the dog-days of summer. The game's only been out two months and it feels like it's already dead.

23 is probably the worst modern NHL - Normally, there would be at least 1 thing semi-decent added but I think there are only negatives with this years iteration. You can change the offline game to how you want it via sliders so I'm not really sure those players keep buying the game but for HUT/EASHLers, what you see is what you get; they basically stopped tuner updates so my team disbanded

@drewgriffiths wrote:@Raven969 Personally, as someone that’s played the games since the very beginning with what was called EA Hockey in 1991 here in the UK, I have to say that 23 for the vast majority is very solid. Bear in mind I just play offline and have barely played any online modes on these games since around 2015 when a mate who would win 99% of online games lost most against me because of my toe drags and dekes 😆I’m genuinely curious as to why you think it’s the worst of the series. I have literally owned and played them all and I’d point to the early PS1 games of 97 and 98 as the worst. It seems fashionable for people to bash the latest game. A lot look back at 14 fondly but in fact at the time, it was bashed a lot in much the same way 23 is now.Just my opinion, rememberOnline is a broken, buggy, exploit competition where skating backwards with the puck is a key skill to have to be competitive.Offline is unplayable because the AI doesn't try to take the puck away from you or try to stop you from getting close to their goal, which is a pretty big part of hockey.

@Raven969 What makes this edition bad is doesnt feel like a new game— its just the patch we should have gotten last November. The gameplay is the similar to V1.0 w/ LCPM & AI goalie animations added, the menus & background & modes are the same from last year.Its December & the game already feels outdated, which is why people complain about not getting their money's worth.

Anybody like this game so far? | EA Forums

17 Replies

Redw91
Seasoned Veteran
3 years ago
EA promoted the game erroneously. Promising improved presentation without the courtesy to let consumers know they have in fact actually downgraded the entire package overall. And then to further remove presentation elements like a true to TV broadcast cam without even mentioning it in the patch notes and forcing people to make the change is an awful move.
johum2886
3 years ago
@Raven969 i only play offline, and this game is a complete mess

be a pro is useless, the amount of conversations and inability to gain any useful x-factors just push me away from playing it. salary cap does not exist (teams can have cap hits of 100+ million), instant superstar storyline is boring as hell

franchise. has. so. many. bugs. new ones, bugs returning from years ago, same bugs that have been in the game for years. terrible simulation engine, not to mention the ai

i've resorted to playing the menus, and even that is something i would have to heavily consider to do for money. it is that unenjoyable
Jeff_frm_Edmonds
Rising Ace
3 years ago
I'm loving NHL23 so far.
But I'm also old enough to remember what video games were like in the 70s & 80s.
Light years, man. Light years
Kmahrle83
Rising Veteran
3 years ago
@Jeff_frm_Edmonds wrote:
I'm loving NHL23 so far.
But I'm also old enough to remember what video games were like in the 70s & 80s.
Light years, man. Light years
I'm ole enough as well and while those games were simple, at least they were finished before release. Studios rely too much on post release support. Not cool. Especially when you make NHL and give nearly ZERO post release support, and make excuses.
drewgriffiths
Seasoned Veteran
3 years ago
@Jagavekov I must have a special copy of the game, then 🙄
Jagavekov
Seasoned Veteran
3 years ago
@drewgriffiths wrote:
@Jagavekov I must have a special copy of the game, then 🙄
I guess so, the clips I posted are indisputable.
KlariskraysNHL
Hero+
3 years ago
EASHL 6s only player. I enjoy the game for the most part. Stick Lift needs addressed for being a penalty button is my only real gripe when it comes to EASHL.

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Anybody like this game so far?

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