NHL 17

NHL 16 saved the franchise from utter ruin, but NHL 17 shows you just what developers who love hockey can do when given ample time to work on a product. This year’s result is polished and bursting at the seams with care and love. With more modes than you can shake a stick at and niggling bugs of the past destroyed — I couldn’t find a single glitch over a marathon play session while preparing for this review — this is the best version of NHL to date.

NHL 17 is a game that overwhelms you with variety of play as well as feedback aimed at making you a better, happier player. Outside of a collection of new game modes including Draft Champions, Franchise Mode and the World Cup of Hockey, everything here is largely the same. The game still looks great. Still feels great. And most importantly, it still plays great. Little refinements throughout yield small but noticeable improvements on the experience.

NHL 17 confirms itself as one of the best sports games around, with lots of play modes and a deep simulation. A must buy for any hockey lover.

NHL 17 takes a step forward with the series in terms of more authentic gameplay, but has lost its edge in a couple of its long-standing modes.

The actual affair of playing hockey is more exciting than it's been in years.

Most importantly, the hockey presented on the ice is dynamic and fluid, and it serves up an excellent version of the fastest game around.

Small step for man, giant leap for hockey games. NHL 17 is only incrementally better than last year, but it is moving in the right direction. [Oct 2016]

In the end NHL 17 is a really great game of hockey. It’s got a full suite of features and modes that are complimented with excellent on-ice action. I found myself more engrossed in NHL 17 then I’ve been with a hockey game in quite some time. It’s a well-rounded and extremely polished game of hockey that fans of the franchise will be mighty happy with.

There are not many new things in NHL 17. But despite the absence of major changes, it is still a game that is worth considering. Small innovations in gameplay upgraded the game; and improved management mode along with the online modes will entertain you until next year comes another episode.

The game has been refined with loads of changes for both pros and novices, and the number of modes present, along with their depth, will ensure that this stays in rotation until the hockey season starts. If you already have NHL 16, then there isn't much of an impetus to grab the NHL 17 version.

NHL 17 isn’t leaps and bounds better than last year’s NHL 16, but it’s evident upon even a glance that EA Sports has been listening to its fan base. The end result of this leaves glimmers of unrealized potential, but the realization that this is the best installment that the series has seen thus far. It’s been a rough trek for gamers, but NHL is back and it’s better than ever.

There’s a lack of girth around the main game, with Draft Champions and Franchise Mode feeling like copies from previous EA Sports games. But at the same time, the on-ice play has never been better, the on-ice trainer is improved further and adding in net battles was a smart move. While it disappoints slightly, NHL 17 is still a must-play for hockey fans.

When compared to NHL 15, NHL 17 is miles ahead; when compared to NHL 16, it's incrementally better. That's the EA Sports way. There are some new features and improvements, but nothing mind-blowingly innovative. That's perfectly fine. There's a good hockey game at the core, and a lot of options on the periphery. That's all we ever wanted.

Despite the major additions and upgrades in NHL 17, a sense of stagnation threatens the considerable progress that the series has made in three years on current consoles. Without an unqualified success in NHL 17, I felt that ever more keenly this year.

I love hockey, so I’ll play NHL 17 for most of this upcoming winter. But similar to my hometown Minnesota Wild, I have mixed feelings about the quality on display. EA Canada continues to make minor improvements across the board, yet the NHL series has yet to tap its true potential this generation. As any sports fan will tell you, there’s always next year.

While it relies on tried-and-true modes and features, it delivers well on the most important aspects of a modern sports video game simulation. Newcomers to the series will appreciate the variety and depth of options it offers though it's an exceedingly difficult game to grasp at its introduction, while veterans experience mature on-ice gameplay that addresses many issues that were present in preceding iterations while still leaving that all-too-familiar feeling that not a whole lot has really changed.

NHL 17 has some real strengths, but it still feels like it hasn't quite made it out of the previous generation. The gameplay is strong but increasingly dated; the feature set feels haphazard, and there are lots of niggling quality-of-life issues. It feels more and more like the series is stuck in a rut, and it's hard to say where EA Canada should take it next. For now, NHL 17 is another decent outing, but the next step remains elusive.

From the presentation to the deep franchise mode, NHL 17 has everything away from the on-ice action nailed down to a T. If the experience of playing the game fell into the same pristine category instead of being too overbearing for its own good, this would be a near-perfect game of hockey.

It rides off a lot of what NHL 16 did, and the new additions don't add anything crucial to the experience. It's still a lot of fun to trade players in Franchise, build a formidable roster in Hockey Ultimate Team, and actually play matches, but if you were hoping NHL 17 would be a significant step forward for the series, you're out of luck.

EA Sports does just enough to add value to this game and make it a step above its predecessor.

NHL 17 is a very good game of hockey that has not really grown much since last year. Tweaks and improvements are there, certainly nothing feels worse about the title than last season, but there is still room to innovate.