NHL 24 Review: Throwing Pucks at the Net That Don't All Hit Their Target

[Steve_OS]

Often considered something of a neglected child among EA's annual sports titles, the NHL series seems...

Written By: Kevin Scott

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[MizzouRah]

Well written and I agree with the majority of it. They finally have the game fun to play and I hope they smooth out some of the rough edges in the coming months.

[VeNOM3099]

It's an... Ok review. Some parts I agree with. But some parts have me raising an eyebrow wondering if the reviewer might be letting the game off the hook because it's EA.

The part I don't agree with is the one about the AI being "smarter" this year. More aggressive? Maybe. More difficult (especially the AI goalies)? I'll give you that. But "smarter"? The AI's patterns on offense and defense are still pretty much the same as they always were. It will routinely b-line towards the net and attempt a shot when keeping possession and setting up for a cycle is warranted. On defense, AI Teammates will NOT pass the puck up to a forward when they have a chance. Opting instead to carry it up ice or, if the opposing team pressures them, double-back into their zone and often times coughing up the puck. Goalies might be harder, especially the AI, but they don't have to deal with the tether system the human goalies do. And their save logic is virtually nonexistent, often opting a butterfly save when a full on spread eagle or just stretching a pad or an arm is the correct (read "more realistic") decision.

All in all, HUT got the most attention this year (surprise, surprise). Well, maybe not the most, but certainly the more care in how it handled imrpovements . EASHL, Franchise, and most of the other modes stayed pretty much the same. The most egregious of the modes is BaP or "Pro Career" which is, for all intents and purposes, virtually a copy-paste of the same mode from NHL 22... Down to the same tired intro cut-scene to introduce your "Pro".

NHL 24 sees a new dev team with (allegedly) a new vision and new direction. That remains to be seen as the game remains virtually unchanged from previous versions, even preferring to err on the side of arcade-ish features instead of the more "realistic" approach the devs said they wanted to take this series in. We'll see what time will bring.

But 24 is neither an improved or different game. It's just filling the void with another copy-pasted yearly sports video game release...

[tcnumba10]

I have only NHL 22 to compare since I skipped 23 with the lack of presentations. But I find it mostly the same game except the CPU is more assertive especially on Superstar difficulty (not so much on Pro or All-Star, routinely outshooting the CPU just like NHL 22). For some odd reason, I can’t score on True Broadcast even with the CPU Goalie sliders at 0 which I didn’t have a problem with in NHL 22 with slider changes.

[phillyfan23]

Quote: Originally Posted by VeNOM3099

The part I don't agree with is the one about the AI being "smarter" this year. More aggressive? Maybe. More difficult (especially the AI goalies)? I'll give you that. But "smarter"? The AI's patterns on offense and defense are still pretty much the same as they always were. It will routinely b-line towards the net and attempt a shot when keeping possession and setting up for a cycle is warranted.

Venom, I've noticed this complaint from you since at least NHL 23. Have you ever tried to make the cycle/shoot sliders at 0/10 for the cpu? Because at default, yes they are too shot happy and bee lines to the net with no regards to cycling.

For NHL 23/24 I put cycle/shoot slider at the team strategy section at 1/10, and the cpu cycles great.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[The EVHL]

Pretty fair review. I'm a lot lower on icon passing than most. As someone who has always used 0/100 assist and 5/100 pass accuracy, it makes icon passing completely useless as players will miss by egregious lengths. There's also some touch passing issues imo when trying to pre-load a pass, almost ends up being this really quick/weak pass when in reality I'm trying to just preload my next pass before receiving, not actually trying to touch pass the puck. Skating is also brutal imo. There's no glide. Need to get that solved ASAP before this feels like a hockey game.

Anyway, not to beat a deadhorse. Maybe some good small steps, think this series is a few years away at least, but at least there's some life and signs of change. That being said, the stick lift still being an auto penalty is just horrendously embarrassing. I don't understand how you're paid to make this game and can actually think that's acceptable.

[phillyfan23]

Quote: Originally Posted by phillyfan23

Venom, I've noticed this complaint from you since at least NHL 23. Have you ever tried to make the cycle/shoot sliders at 0/10 for the cpu? Because at default, yes they are too shot happy and bee lines to the net with no regards to cycling. For NHL 23/24 I put cycle/shoot slider at the team strategy section at 1/10, and the cpu cycles great. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Have a look at this nhl 24 clip between myself ( rangers) vs cpu (islanders)

https://youtu.be/Hz8xOxVrgv0?si=Dw4xQDYdVjpTf7Pd


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[phillyfan23]

Quote: Originally Posted by phillyfan23

Have a look at this nhl 24 clip between myself ( rangers) vs cpu (islanders) https://youtu.be/Hz8xOxVrgv0?si=Dw4xQDYdVjpTf7Pd Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Another cpu cycle sequence....both clips I shared were from the 1st 10 mins of period 1.

https://youtu.be/k7AYxSJ9S18?si=VoOSs6kbyTQFLsRZ


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports