Summer’s approaching, and you know what that means — The annual sports simulations are being announced one after another. And for those of you to love to play some puck, today is a day to be happy because the folks at EA Sports are cleaning up the ice and gearing up for NHL ’20.
On the rink itself, this new iteration of EA’s hockey franchise promises more than 45 new shot animations, new goaltender AI, and a new animation system that aims to make the skaters’ actions more seamless. Whether you think these improvements are very subtle or very noticable is entirely your call.
It’s been since the NHL series has drastically changed the broadcast package, but they’re doing so this year with a new HUD, commentary team, and highlights system. It doesn’t look like the NBC license has been renewed, but I could very well be wrong.
Hockey Ultimate Team this year features many new players as well as the Squad Battles from the FIFA franchise. In these offline matches, you’ll be facing not only current NHL players, but also musicians, athletes from other sports, etc. Sounds like HUT will be just as fun as ever, provided you can handle its microtransaction system.
World of CHEL is receiving tons of new content like new weekly challenges, equipment, clothing, and even new outdoor rinks set in a wide variety of environments. The Ones mode will now be playable in local multiplayer, which will make for some fun parties if you’ve got a couple of friends willing to lace ’em up (Hope you’ve got pizza and Pepsi on standby!). There’s one more update to CHEL this year, and probably the most controversial one so far…A battle royale mode for 81 players. Yes, a battle royale in a sports game…What a bandwagon this has become.
NHL ’20 may not be hitting the ice for another three months, but it seems they’ve already got a loaded locker room of new features (Yes, that includes the battle royale mode). EA may hit the crossbar sometimes, but I have full confidence that this new hockey game will be a one-timer worthy of the highlight reel.
Silver Soul Gaming 