NHL 22 Review – Meet the Next Generation

This year, the NHL series finally leaves the old Ignite engine after years of waiting and moves to Frostbite, where sister series FIFA and the NFL have been running for several years now. Have the developers been able to take advantage of the modern technology and performance of the new consoles and finally bring much-needed changes and innovations to the series?

• Platform: PS5 (peer review), PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
• Publication date: 15. 10. 2021
• Producer: EA Canada
• Genre: sport
• Czech location: yes (subtitles)
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Data to download: 40 GB
• Price: 1799 CZK (Xzone)

Finally a new engine

Like most players, I probably expected the new engine to change graphics, which has remained almost unchanged in the NHL series for many years. The next step is to know the lighting, reflections and models of the players themselves, including their faces. There has really been an evolution in the field of image processing. Unfortunately, a number of technical shortcomings remained even after the transition to a new engine. Rough head animations and a relatively large number of various glitches, bugs and strange collisions are still present. It is at these points that the difference between the NHL and the FIFA and NFL series is most apparent, benefiting from a significantly larger budget and human resources. Some of the stigma of being a poorer relative in this area hasn’t been entirely relieved, even with new NHL episodes.

But the new year is definitely not only about graphics. The developers also did a good job on the gameplay. Compared to last year’s work, the physics and work with the club has been significantly changed. Finally, you can now skillfully shoot pucks instead of relying only on points and hard play. Skating and the speed of the game itself have also undergone slight modifications. As with FIF, there is some slowdown. The game pushes you towards more varied combinations and a more creative way to play. However, the traditional cross pass is still deadly on defense. Even with slightly better goalkeepers, this tactic alone is not always enough. In the area of ​​gameplay, the game brings a decent amount of partial improvements.

The authors praise the DualSense driver’s feature support.

On the contrary, the X-Factor feature, which was strongly attracted by the developers before the release, remains below expectations. The system, taken from the NFL series, gives certain elite hockey players certain special abilities. However, if you expect that the presence of stars with unique perks will change the picture of the game, then you are mistaken. As a result, we are only talking about improving a certain skill of a player who has, for example, a special pen or defensive intervention. I definitely don’t see X-Factor as the new year’s highlight, and given the expectations I had for this feature, I find it disappointing.

Release Kraken and say hello to Dualsense

For series released annually, the transition to a new engine and the associated limited development time may result in the absence of some game modes. Fortunately, this occasional problem does not apply to the new NHL. As such, NHL 22 features the full range of game modes and content from last year. There are also such traditionally popular modes as Hockey Ultimate Team or World of CHEL. There is also a Be and Pro career mode, or the ability to create your own team and manage it in organization mode. Regular NHL players haven’t lost any of their favorite modes. At the same time, however, they did not receive any new ones. In the field of game modes, the developers simply did not invent anything and relied on security.

The indisputable attraction of the game is the number of valid licenses. In the case of the North American NHL, you can enjoy the new Seattle Kraken team. We will certainly be pleased with the presence of the Czech Extraliga. On the contrary, the Russian KHL is traditionally absent from the series. In addition, archaic and repulsive national T-shirts have not changed this year either. In a word, the national team did not get more careful care this year either.

NHL 22 brings significant improvements in graphics and gameplay.

The authors praise the DualSense driver’s feature support. For example, adaptive triggers are used that react to the fatigue of a particular line. The tactile response then tries to convey the sensation of skating. An imaginary trefoil of functions complements the driver’s speaker, from which various screams and other sound effects are heard directly from the rink. Although it may not seem like it, but together these features have a significant impact on the atmosphere of individual matches. Other sports games could learn from the new NHL by using the Dualsense driver.

NHL 22 brings significant improvements in graphics and gameplay. Thanks to the visual processing, I can better highlight the faces and models of the hockey players and much more complex lighting with reflections. The game also has improved physics, which you will especially notice when working with a hockey stick. On the contrary, the overall presentation, animation and a number of technical details, which the NHL did not say goodbye to even after switching to a new engine, remain below expectations. Disappointment was also caused by the X-Factor feature, which minimally affects the gameplay. In terms of content and game modes, everything remains the same except for a few details. However, this is an above average year that fans of the series shouldn’t miss.