There's so little presentation in this series, the game dies after about 2-3 games year after year.
I was blown away at how complete NBA 2K22 felt. Warm-ups, pregame reports, half-time shows, anthems, light-shows -- it's awesome. The Show is another series that just nails it. FIFA is typically alright, Madden, too. Not in the same tier as NBA 2K or The Show, but there's effort.
The NHL series? It's always been as flat as an interview with a hockey player between periods. You win the Cup in an NHL game and the crowd was infamous for sitting still, silent. This actually had to be patched a few years ago, but the crowd is still very plastic.
I think it's time to hire new developers. Get some new ideas. How has NHL not had a story mode? FIFA and Madden did it and it was a hit, but they wrapped that up years ago. Have these devs ever seen Youngblood? There are literally cinematic templates already out there to take inspiration from. This is just the second entry to use Frostbite, while FIFA and Madden have been using it for several years. Franchise updates are welcome, but still not enough. You can check a player's career stats, but why not awards? You can see records, but only up to the top five -- why not top 10 or even 100? You can only view the most recent five Cup winners... why not all of them? Same with trophies? It just creates more depth that way.
And this year, we get the genius decision to revamp presentation, make it a pillar of the marketing, and then... condense it? How did they not anticipate that people were going to be upset over this? The response from EA Kent was a pure headscratcher. I'm an English teacher and a published writer and I can't think of a word to describe my state of mind when I read it.
I don't think when I make my inevitable switch to the next gen consoles that I'll even bother with the NHL franchise. It's been pretty unremarkable for the Xbox One / PS4 years. It's just a tired franchise with little novelty left.
