As another season of NHL Hockey approaches, a further installment of EA's NHL series arrives to continue what should unequivocally be on the list of strangest developer-player dynamics in simulation sports. NHL 19 doesn't reinvent the wheel, because it no longer demands to. Players will encounter some cheap NHL Coins frustrating and head-scratching choices on the developers' element, but... have come to expect, if not accept that reality.
The fantastic news? Although past releases have raised the question posed to all annual sports titles - would be the improvements actually deserving of a full-priced gamed? - NHL 19 has created measurable improvements, placing much more tools and customization into the players' hands, and integrated new, surprising game modes apparently designed for one explanation: fun. Who said a sports simulation needs to be taken seriously, anyway?
That is not to say that the developers at EA Vancouver fail to deliver the identical polished, satisfying item out with the package. If something, they took their simulation from the game of hockey also seriously, as well early. Where series like Madden, FIFA, or NBA Live struggled using the fact that console technology could not replicate a true practical experience, the NHL series, maybe sooner than any other, utilised the technologies on hand to make a quality simulation not by replicating the real physics, but by... properly, simulating it. And ever considering that NHL 15 created the jump to next-gen consoles, with advanced game physics handed more than for the EA Ignite Engine, the developers have continued to improve the game on a technical level - as most players would be hard-pressed to identify what, if something, feels different, let alone enhanced.
This year, it really is the RPM - the Real Player Motion Technologies - that is becoming touted as the next evolutionary step in player skating, bodychecking, and collision physics. But in the event the RPM has affected any portion on the play, we couldn't spot it. Again, that is not an indictment of the developers, merely the side effect of their previous good results: it's tough to know what portion of the game's physics might be enhanced without the need of fundamentally altering the nature in the simulation. And without an identifiable tech limitation or boundary becoming bumped against, players do not know what to demand. The NHL group has been serving hamburgers to buy HUT 19 Coins repeat consumers every week for the past decade, so by this point, asking if their prospects "notice something various?" concerning the recipe is going to get a predictable array of responses.
NHL 19 is obtainable now for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One particular. Screen Rant was supplied with a PS4 copy of the game for overview.