All of the modes I have come to expect from over the years are here. The thing is, NHL 17 comes away like an updated and polished version of last year’s game, but without really adding a lot of actual meat to the experience. Last year EA Sports managed to right the ship, making sure to include most if not all of the trimmings that people looked for from their hockey game. The idea was sound, but the series took some lumps that first year as NHL delivered some new physics and player models but somewhere along the way forgot to include many of the modes and features that hard core sports fans enjoyed most. The overall engine was rebuilt a couple of years ago for the new generation of consoles. The atmosphere is there and the way NHL 17 rolls out by having you take over one of two teams with no real stakes on the line as a learning experience is a good introduction to what the game has to offer. The outdoors look at the stadiums and the use of actual announcing announcers successfully drive home the presentation that makes you feel as though you are about to watch an actual hockey game. The visuals have a clean and crisp appeal to them with the player jerseys standing out starkly against the frozen white ice beneath the players. So, right out of the gates, I want to state that NHL 17 still makes a really solid impression.

Related reading: You can check out Nick’s review of last year’s NHL title here. That being said, the lack of changes from last year to this has given the game a somewhat stagnant sense of progress that nagged at me as I continued to play.

There is a lot for hockey fans to enjoy in NHL 17, because the on-ice action still delivers and there are enough modes to keep gamers coming back from more.

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