NHL 22 Review – Superstar Letdown

Star players are the difference-makers for every team. They’re the ones fans look to when the pressure’s on to make the play and get the win. The problem is star players don’t always live up to their promise, and when there’s not enough supplemental talent around them, a team can crash quickly to the bottom of the standings. NHL 22 makes the grave error of investing everything in the league’s elite talent to elevate the game in all modes, creating an entire ability system around them to showcase their more dangerous assets on the ice. What’s the problem? These top players don’t make a huge impact on the game, and without any other meaningful additions, fans don’t have much to cheer for. 

Inspired by EA’s Madden, this year EA Vancouver introduced Superstar X-Factors, which provide special skills to the best of the best. For instance, Alexander Ovechkin has the “One Tee” ability, which not only gives him exceptional power and accuracy to one-time the puck, but also increases his ability to one-time less than ideal passes. X-Factors are a welcome effort to shake up the metagame, which hasn’t changed in some time, and I like the thought process behind them: raise players’ awareness when these elite talents step on the ice and make them feel different. But I didn’t feel the tension or offensive power that X-Factors would provide. All the players – star or fourth-liner – still feel pretty similar on the ice, and that’s a big problem. X-Factors, like star players, should be difference-makers, but instead, they’re just kind of there, and I rarely felt like they were contributing to some impressive play destined for the highlight reel. Where’s the fun in that?

EA Vancouver was too bold with X-Factors. They were added to all major modes and we had little else. Again, they’re not a major shakeup to the experience, so that left me feeling like I was playing more of the same. While franchise mode lets you target players with X-Factors, it still features the dull trade deadline minigame, the baffling requirements of the player, and no real way to convey a coach’s direction to the team. 

The Be A pro program, which allows you to draft your own player and create your own team of rookies, was given a new look last year. This felt promising. Imagine my dismay when I saw the same bland dialogue and half-baked salaries perks as before, along with lackluster events. You can earn X-Factor abilities by playing games and completing certain milestones, but even after unlocking a few, I didn’t feel like they made a huge difference in my game. I was also frustrated to see the conversation system still makes you choose between being a “star” or “team” player, and your responses to be a star are something any real coach would bench a player for saying. The conversation system still doesn’t have enough meaningful events for NHL fans to enjoy the season long term. 

The only place I felt X-Factors enhanced the game was in World of CHEL’s EASHL, as they allowed me to build a player more to my style. I play power forward, and I have the “Unstoppable Force” X-Factor, which makes it hard to knock me off the puck, even when I’m off-balance. It’s also nice that you have the ability to redistribute your stat points by choosing a position. It is very slow to power forward, which I don’t like. I am happy that I could sacrifice my accuracy and slapshot speed for more speed. EA balanced this so speed is a valuable skill that costs more, however, it’s a good thing that EA allows you to play around with the build that suits you best. It is much more easy to score in EASHL this year, which I find a negative. The majority of games I played were high scoring, so my statistics felt more cushioned than in previous years. I don’t mind feeling the exhilaration of scoring more, but I saw many questionable goals, like weak wristers, go in.

Overall, the gameplay feels a little different than last year. It is more natural and runs at a slower pace. The body checks were well balanced. There was only one occasion where I felt like the puck had been thrown at me too quickly. However, the poke check remains overpowered, especially since it’s easy to spam without taking penalties, even in online play. Hockey players certainly poke check, but it’s not used to anywhere near this degree in the real NHL. The puck is also difficult to track in corners. This has been an issue before, but it’s worse this year.

Some technical problems also occurred, including my player indicator vanishing and NHL star players showing up on my minor league roster. PS5 users can get haptic feedback and even coach commands, goalsongs, and noises through the controller. At first, it’s a neat little feature, but it quickly wears out its welcome. Worse yet, it can’t be turned off unless you go outside of the game and into the PS5 settings, which is a huge oversight. 

Sport teams are built around the core players and rarely change much until the inevitable rebuild. Every year is a chance for improvement in a game mode or feature. But, at some point more important changes must be made to the base before they become outdated. EA Vancouver failed to make the Superstar X-Factors an effective tool for this. The lack of a critical eye to various modes also doesn’t help. Playing NHL 22 can be likened to watching a team that is predictable. On the one hand, there’s comfort in knowing what to expect. On the other, it’s not fun seeing the same plays over and over again.