NHL 16 Review

Brett Hull give me strength.

One feature that returning players might hate but newcomers might love is the NBC SPORTS broadcast commentary by Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Ray Ferraro. Most of the lines are repeated from NHL 15 and can wear thin for veterans. The things they say are by no means low quality, but they tend to get annoying after awhile. If more lines were recorded, it would have helped the whole presentation they’re going for. Though there is the option to turn them off, the audio then sounds shallow as a result.

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What NHL 16 and previous games do so well is capture the overall feel of a professional hockey game. The way the crowd cheers during a big hit or a goal, how mascots dance in the stands, and how the ice becomes worn down during a period. NHL 16 builds up on last year’s version and does indeed run smoother, as well — giving the players the closest thing to being on the ice besides actually being there.

What will pull you out of the experience is the sometimes off-putting decisions players make on the ice. Numerous times, the defensive line wouldn’t help contain the puck and just seemed completely absent. You can change how they operate via coaching but no matter what happened they seemed useless. The only way to feel truly part of a cohesive team was to play with someone in co-op.

Speaking of Multiplayer, online is a complete mess. You would fair far better having a friend play with you on the same console because most of the online features in NHL 16 were extremely laggy or immediately crashed. While trying to play the new 6v6 online mode, the game got stuck loading while all the players in-game were cursing the buggy experience. The game’s online modes seemed to only work when it was 1v1 and, even then, there was a chance for unstable gameplay, no matter the connection.

NHL 16

EA will hopefully release a patch soon to smooth over the online hiccups. If they can hammer-out the issues, the game will be a blast to play online. It’ll be interesting to see how goofy 6v6 can become while playing online. Maybe EA will patch in the Benny Hill theme song, as well? Only one can hope.

With plenty of minor complaints, NHL 16 is still the definitive hockey experience without ever going to the ice yourself. There are some fun modes, stadiums and teams are authentic, gameplay is great, and the NBC SPORTS presentation ties it all together. Once a few patches are released for the stuttering online experience, the game will most likely never be out of my PlayStation 4. If you’re a hockey fan, there’s no real reason you shouldn’t buy this game; it’s leaps and bounds better than the version we received a year ago and worth sharpening your blades for.

Score: 3/5


Pros

• Included all the features that was missing from NHL 15.

• Great for people brand new to the series.

• Atmosphere in the stadiums is incredible.

Cons

• Without patches, online gameplay is a laggy mess.

• Only a few game modes worth playing.


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Author
Brian Robbins
Brian was a freelance writer for Twinfinite between September 2015 and June 2016 who predominantly covered news stories for the site, as well as all things Destiny. He was a senior journalism student, Spider-Man enthusiast, Halo and Destiny master and bearer of a Triforce tattoo. I love lamp.