I want to preface this review by saying I am an offline-only player. I rarely play an online match, but I have gathered opinions from people who play much more online than I ever have. That being said let’s get into the review.
The “NHL” franchise since moving over to current-generation consoles has largely been a complete failure. Ever since “NHL 15,” it seems as if the EA sports team has been attempting to recapture the magic of “NHL 14” after stripping “NHL 15” down to bare bones. It has been an extremely long process, but I think “NHL 25” has finally broken the seal, and can truly be called a good sports game.
Starting with not only my favorite mode but the focus of this “NHL “game, franchise mode. Franchise mode has been a hot mess since “NHL 14,” but over the last two games in the series, there have been loads of minor changes that made the game mode slightly better. This year a complete overhaul of the mode has made franchise mode the star of the game. They completely changed everything about the mode. They finally added no movement, and no trade clauses, they added a contract negotiation option, they made the players feel more realistic, and they even made improvements to free agency. There’s a mountain of new changes that EA added to the mode, and I just can’t touch on them all. The franchise mode in “NHL 25” is amazing, and to me, it rivals other GM modes in other licensed “NHL” games.
The on-ice gameplay of “NHL 25” is also such a huge step up. EA introduced ICE-Q as this huge gameplay change, and I’ll admit I was very skeptical. ICE-Q has been all it was advertised. It has completely changed the way you play the game. The technology makes the AI much smarter, and much more realistic to an actual NHL game. The way the players move, and the way they can create open space is such a breath of fresh air. You rarely get players running into each other, or glitching with each other: this has been a huge problem in the past. The gameplay is slow, but whenever you play with a player with huge speed you can really feel them using their speed to create that brief moment of separation. You can also tune the game speed to your liking, so it’s not a huge deal.
The base roster EA put out for the game is fine. The overalls in every NHL game are always confusing, but this year I feel like they are a bit of a step up from previous years.
Quickly touching on the online modes, from what I’ve seen EASHL, and World of Chel are fine, they work how they should, and they only need a little fine-tuning. HUT on the other hand I’ve heard is pretty bad. I’m gonna say something controversial, but I’m glad HUT got ignored. HUT has been EA’s focus ever since it was introduced, and in turn, EA has neglected the offline modes, because HUT makes them money. Of course, I want all the game modes to be great, but if HUT has to suffer for the real modes to be great, it’s a sacrifice every “NHL 25” should be willing to make.
Overall “NHL 25” is a good game and a leap in the right direction. There are a lot of things holding it back from being a staple in the “EA NHL” lineup like Be a Pro not being touched for the fifth straight year, but all in all the progress “NHL 25” has made for the “NHL” franchise can’t be understated.
