The latest edition of EA Sports’ hockey video game franchise hit stores Tuesday with the release of “NHL 17.”
The game features St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko on the cover. He’s one of the league’s best young players and an elite goal scorer.
If you were on the fence about buying this game, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a roundup of expert reviews for “NHL 17.”
Brian Mazique, Forbes.com
Score/Grade: 8.25/10
A few years ago, EA Sports added NBC duo Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk as the in-game commentators. Mazique feels that this area is still lacking, though.
“There’s not enough player-specific stories, conversational value or in-game statistic references. As it stands, the in-game commentary is mediocre at best.”
Glenn Wigmore, IGN.com
Score/Grade: 8.4/10
Wigmore is impressed with the new-look “Be a GM” mode: “It’s quite impressive how deep EA went with this feature, as you can adjust the price of individual food items at the concession, launch promotional nights, upgrade stadium facilities, meddle with ticket prices, and even relocate a franchise.”
Bryan Wiedey, Sporting News (aka @pastapadre on Twitter)
Score/Grade: 3.5/5 stars
Wiedey was impressed with the additions and improvements meant to EASHL, or EA Sports Hockey League.
Mat Paget, GameSpot
Score/Grade: 7/10
Under “The Bad” at the end of the review, Paget lists “not meaningfully different than NHL 16.” That’s a pretty common complaints for sports games that lack groundbreaking new features from year to year.
Tyler Treese, PlayStation LifeStyle
Score/Grade: 7/10
Treese notes that it’s difficult to switch players when defending. This has been a complaint for years with this series.
Pete Blackburn, FOX Sports
Score/Grade: B-
Blackburn makes a great point about the ratings system.
“There are more than 50 NHL players rated an 89 or above, but none higher than a 95 — Sidney Crosby gets top honors there. That’s way too high a percentage of the player pool to be rated that highly (with many others not far behind) and bunched that close together.”
For a more detailed look at player ratings in “NHL 17,” click here.
Thumbnail photo via YouTube/EA Sports
