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Day One: Initial Impressions
Day Two: Gameplay Impressions

Today I’ll be detailing my impressions of the three new or significantly tweaked modes found in NHL 12. In the future, I will be tackling the Be a GM mode, career mode and online features. These enhanced or new modes are Hockey Ultimate Team, Be a Legend and the Winter Classic.

Winter Classic

I’ll get this one out of the way first because it’s a relatively minor, but important, addition to NHL 12. It’s important mainly because the Winter Classic has sort of become the Super Bowl of the NHL. It’s the one game that most non-hockey fans might tune into regardless of their knowledge level of the game. As such, it’s one of those additions that will likely appeal to the broadest range of people planning on picking up the game.

Like the first game of the Jordan Challenge in NBA 2K11, the Winter Classic is the first thing that launches when you play the game for the first time. It’s a good choice as this mode, essentially just a "skinned" exhibition game, looks pretty good.

My guess is that the mode just borrows assets from Madden, but it does so effectively. You get a packed Heinz Field, rally towels, falling snow and so on. It all looks really nice, especially if you don't skip through the team introductions. 

I was disappointed that the game uses Heinz Field as opposed to the upcoming site, most likely Citizen’s Bank Park. However, as I mentioned in an earlier article, I understand that the logistics are still up in the air for this year’s Winter Classic so including any new stadium might have been difficult or even impossible. I just hope that’s the reason, instead of EA not having time (or wanting) to model a different stadium. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a patched in, or more likely paid DLC, Citizen’s Bank Park later. 

Hockey Ultimate Team

This mode was introduced and highly advertised last year, and it’s seen some significant upgrades that make it more enjoyable to play this year. Improvements have been made for both those that play primarily online and those who prefer to play alone.

The core of HUT is unchanged: You’ll still collect cards by spending EA Pucks, assemble a team and battle it out to earn more EA Pucks. The cards are from 10 different leagues, so you’ll see a wide range of players, both in terms of quality and teams. Added for NHL 12 are the rare Legends cards, too.

This mode is still much better, in my mind, then similar modes in other EA games. There is a lot you can do to enhance your team beyond just grinding games to buy new packs. In addition to training (upgrading) players, you can now change their position and heal them should injuries occur. Again, as in the past, everything is driven by cards -- that remedy for a key injury is just a proper healing card away.

For those that like to play this game alone, the new "EAUHL 24/7" is a great addition that keeps this mode fresh and interesting. Unlike Madden’s offline UT, where you can only choose a real-life team to play against, NHL 12 will download other Ultimate Teams that have been created by other users.

Not only does the game pull three random teams from the servers, it will also grab one "top 100" team should you want a challenge. You can earn Pucks in this mode if your team is selected by another user or by simply playing games yourself.

If you like to keep the action against human opponents, HUT will now let you play "friendlies" against your online friends with some basic stat tracking. This is a nice (and common sense) addition, especially for those who like to show off their collections. 

You can also save different lineups, like in FIFA, so that you are eligible for various tournaments. Also, alternate versions of players will be randomly inserted into the packs during the real NHL season, showcasing hot streaks and "players of the week."

Like the rest of NHL 12’s additions, the enhancements to HUT are small. But together, they really upgrade this mode. Those who liked HUT last year will find more to appreciate in NHL 12.

Be a Legend

Of all of the additions to NHL 12, this one was the biggest disappointment for me. I had attempted to stay away from press-release materials for this game to maintain objectivity. However, I had heard about the existence of Be a Legend mode. 

I suppose I built this up in my mind as a hockey version of the aforementioned Jordan Challenge, which is not quite fair to the mode. But what’s here, regardless of expectations, is a little lighter than what most people probably expect.

Essentially, Be a Legend is just Be a Pro, except with retired and classic players. You start as Jeremy Roenick (all others are locked), and you can join any modern-day NHL team to answer the hypothetical "what if he played today?" question. 

From there, you are given a list of tasks that you try to complete over the course of a season. Do well, and you may unlock a Wayne Gretzky interview, as well as another legend.

I guess this is a notable addition if you really want to put Gretzky or Roenick on the modern day Flyers, for instance. However, the legendary tasks are also present in the regular Be a Pro mode, so you don’t even have to play as the legends to unlock more legends.

Taken simply by itself, I can’t see many but the most die-hard fans working their way up the ladder by playing only as the legendary players. More likely, you’ll unlock them as you play with your created player in the regular Be a Pro mode. Again, this is not a terrible addition; it certainly does not "break" anything, and it’s not as invasive as when NFL Hall of Famers started showing up in yourMadden franchise years back. Nevertheless, it’s really not a new mode as much as a set of incentives for the already deep career mode.

Final Thoughts

These three additions help round out NHL’s vast wealth of play options, yet each alone probably is not enough to warrant purchasing the game. It is a benefit to all of these modes that they are backed up by the excellent gameplay mentioned in yesterday's article.