With NHL 27, EA Sports sets its sights on two core features. The first, more authentic presentation is an ever-changing goal to try and keep the game feeling like the real NHL. The second, one of the largest wish list features from fans for years, is connected franchise. It was clear from the marketing leading up to release that these were the focal points alongside the annual tune up.
Having played NHL since the original on the Sega Genesis in 1992, I’m experienced enough to know what to expect with EA’s marketing. Typically when a few core features are shown, other aspects remain largely unchanged. Is that the case here, or did the team at EA Vancouver manage to make improvements across the board?
Before fully diving in, I want to explain why this is an impressions article rather than a scored review. With a game like NHL, I know that different players expect very different things. Some will take ahold of their favorite NHL team and play traditional seasons like they have for decades. Others will solely play EASHL with their crew and never touch traditional NHL teams. Others yet will open their new packs and start their HUT journey for a fresh year of building their fantasy team. There are many ways to play, and I’ve found that very few seem to “play it all.” And to be fully transparent, we don’t believe a single reviewer can dedicate enough time, at launch, to really speak to full seasons of connected franchise, HUT, or other long-term modes. Instead, we want to provide our thoughts on what is immediately noticeable and things that fans should consider if they plan on jumping in.
Shiny Lights, Dull Skates
Playing my first few games, I jump into the LA Kings locker room, see Panarin and Kempe preparing for the game, and head into Crypto.com arena. Having attended several games in the past year, I’ll credit EA with capturing the sights and sounds of the arena more accurately than in recent years. While it’s a constant work in progress, it’s always fun to feel like you’re controlling your team in their environment.
This year’s completely new color commentary team of Darren Pang and John Buccigross keeps things feeling fresh as they deliver a strong performance. What stands out most is the added attention to detail spent on giving each stadium a distinct, unique identity. Mirroring their real world counterparts more than ever. Together, these enhancements give the game a fresh feel, a quality that can be hard to come by in annualized sports franchises.
One other standout addition to the broadcast package is EA’s new partnership with NHL franchises to integrate authentic team video packages into pre-game broadcasts. As well as going the extra mile to actually license the official goal songs of several teams. While not all of these are available at launch, it’s a feature with tremendous potential to elevate the arena atmosphere in every barn.
Sadly, that’s generally where the excitement ended. While meaningful gameplay changes feel fewer and further between nowadays, the actual, on-ice gameplay feels extremely similar to NHL 26 and even 25. A new Playbooks feature has been added to make each team play a bit more like their real life counterparts, or give a little bit of the flavor of your favorite NHL team to your customized team. However, in practice it’s a bit of a mixed bag. While it does feel like the CPU players are more alert and finding more ways to set up plays than previous titles, the difference you feel from changing from one team’s Playbook to another is minimal.
There have been a few times through the years where the series made major advancements and at this point it feels like we’re overdue. And even worse yet, that’s only the beginning of the story with NHL 27.
Disconnected Franchise
Shifting to the main, advertised addition of Connected Franchise, originally pioneered in EA’s Madden series, calling it a mixed bag would likely be too complimentary. While the foundation is here for a connected franchise, along with options for rule changes, trades, and generally expected features, it’s otherwise a pretty large miss.
Most bizarrely, there are no CPU-controlled teams. Yes, you read that correctly. This means that you either have to have a minimum of 3 people controlling teams and the league is therefore shrunk down to size in all aspects. Or you need to find 31 friends who want to partake. How this was considered acceptable, I’m unsure. Imagine my surprise when Eric (Game Positive) and I went to create our league and this is what we discovered.
To add insult to injury, there are no multi-season leagues, drafts, or anything of the like. Every season that you play is singular and finite. Honestly, the name “franchise” shouldn’t even be in the feature title. As I stated already, this was the most advertised feature of NHL 27 and marketed as the big addition. Seeing it this poorly executed is not only disappointing, but sadly demonstrative of the entire experience top to bottom.
Outside of the new Connected Franchise mode, single-player enthusiasts will see the return of Be a Pro, allowing you to guide your created prospect from the World Juniors all the way to hoisting Lord Stanley. EA Vancouver’s pseudo-RPG mode remains an immersive way to play, shifting the focus entirely to individual position-play rather than controlling the full roster. Mode veterans will be glad to hear that last year’s removal of Pricey Pond appears permanent, and I haven’t had to listen to Macklin Celebrini deliver awkwardly voiced lines in my time with it (so far). Press conference mechanics also return as a way to build your reputation across fans, locker rooms, and brand sponsors through the way you communicate with the press. An important aspect of Be a Pro as Off-the-ice progression gets a heavier emphasis this year, with the pursuit of team captaincy serving as your main narrative drive.
Deja Vu
Shifting to CHEL where I have traditionally spent the bulk of my time, NHL 27 has committed the cardinal sin that I and other players hoped would never come back to light. That is: pay-to-win.
Over the past several seasons the series has refined how you create your player and assemble your team. From X-Factors, to skill point adjustments, player types, and more. Generally speaking, it’s been a fun evolution and gave players more power to customize their play-style and coordinate with teammates. But what it didn’t do is allow players to create more powerful players by spending real money. NHL 27 does exactly that.
Not only is there a season pass that is slow grinding yet rewards players with stat boosts, but there are paid X-Factor bundles you can buy immediately alongside real player personas (Mario Lemieux as of this writing). And even more egregious, they are anything but cheap. In fact, Mario will run you $40 and the large X-Factor bundle will run you nearly $80 with tax (in the US). You’re essentially buying another copy of the game at that point (or worse). Ridiculous.
CHEL as a mode-suite hasn’t had much love in the series lately and that doesn’t change either. The modes you’ve known for years are here with EASHL, Ones, and the arcade-style Threes. In fact, many of the menus and options feel exactly the same leading me to ask the question, “For a CHEL focused player, what’s even the point of adopting new entries?”
Paid Fantasy
So, knowing Ultimate Team is where EA Sports typically focuses their development time given the revenue aspect, if there’s one area you expect to see big changes, it’s HUT. Right?
You can likely guess where this is going…
Without sounding like a broken record, HUT sees minor improvements in a few areas based on what I can gather. To be transparent, I’m not a HUT expert and I’ve only seriously committed to HUT in one full season. But what I’ve seen out of NHL 27 again feels like very much of the same save for a few wrinkles.
And while HUT has always had a pay-to-win aspect to it (and likely always will), again it feels even more in your face this year. Bundles are pricey and it already feels like a serious commitment to the mode will be nearly futile in terms of spend and time management for anyone but the most hardcore of fans. Which, frankly, is a shame. Because HUT as a mode can be a lot of fun over the course of a season. But when it feels like you have to continually spend money to make meaningful progress, it saps away any will I have to want to play it.
Broken Stick
All-in-all, NHL 27 is one of the most disappointing entries in the series in years. While it already felt like it had been years since we saw significant changes, additions, and improvements, not delivering on even the most marketed aspect fees like a large miss.
Despite the presentation wins, some long-standing issues with the NHL series continue to linger. Even with last-generation consoles finally left behind, the overall sluggishness of the UI navigation remains frustrating. Scrolling through basic menus feels heavy, which becomes a major drag in menu-intensive modes like Franchise and Be a Pro. Meanwhile, Hockey Ultimate Team continues its reliance on aggressive, pay-to-win micro-transactions. While offline HUT modes are a welcome addition, being greeted by interactive, full-screen HUT advertisements every time you try and navigate through the games’ many sluggish menu transitions was quite frustrating.
As someone who has played ice hockey for over 25 years of his life and enjoyed this series since the very beginning, I continue to hope that EA Vancouver is able to invest in larger scale changes that will result in a truly modernized hockey package. But if I’m being honest, I’m not holding my breath.
