NHL 23 Is A HUGE Let Down - DO NOT BUY! 

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No one should be shocked. EA has been doing this for decades.

EA holding the NHL and NFL license is criminal. Not having any competition has made them incredibly lazy.

i love how before the game even came out I'm just preparing and praying for nhl 24 to be what i'm hoping for. they never fail to uspet the fanbase

My wish is that 2k comes out with a hockey game. I don't even care if they can't use player names. I'm ready to support even and Indie developer

Thanks for the video. I think you nailed it on the head. I have been a diehard EA NHL fan my whole life, but right now I'm contemplating not buying the game for the first time since NHL 98. HUT would be so fun if there were no hockey cards and it was just build a team under the cap and create your own team name, uniforms and arena and play others online. Also how do we not have online leagues (GM Connected) yet? NFL 2k5 literally had this and it was perfect.

You are 100% spot on.. I almost couldn’t make it through this whole video because I’m so mad and have been mad at EA for freaking years now.. every single year they just make the same game they build it off the same base platform every single year and have been doing it since like 2017.. they just refused to build a brand new NHL game from the ground up because they are so lazy.. I swear the EA employees for this game probably show up to work once a month and that’s all they really need because they don’t update crap.. I want gameplay updates I want the gameplay to be better and they just keep focusing on stupid crap and they know it’s stupid and I think they have been mocking us for years.. they take it vantage of all of us because they know that we all love hockey and they are the only game we can play.. I desperately wish there was a competitor. I just want to see EA in a panic and try to actually make a legit game for once. I thought that every single game any company makes every year they are supposed to put their all into it and make it better? EA sports has totally ignored that for years and years now. I almost wish we could legally do something about this and I’ve seen tons of people say this because they keep doing the same thing every year. Obviously I know they are allowed to do this and we are just dumb for buying it but come on now. Enough is enough it’s been going on for years and years now. They already have a thing called “FATMAN LAG” which most people don’t know about because only certain people get it. I’ve had it for years and there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it I know it’s in the coading of the NHL games but it will never disappear unless they build a game from the ground up.

i’m so glad someone made a video about this! i’ve been so sick of ea’s game plan every year of adding something they should’ve fixed through a patch and then market it as a new feature for the next game. meanwhile, something that was just fine last game gets broken by ea and then for next game they’ll fix it and announce as a new feature. it’s the same rinse wash repeat for years and they will never be good unless 2k steps in and made a game

Spot on review, I personally haven't bought a NHL title since 17 because of everything you mentioned. I remember saying back then that I will wait until NHL24 because the last good one was NHL14

Great video. Very insightful. Absolutely disgraceful how little they change the game. Feels like they sneakily take good things away like the winter classic. Like what is the reason that they can’t have that in the game? So many great features that have been lost. Nhl 23 is bare bones.

EA Sports needs to lose their NHL licensing. It's getting to the point that some people are even bailing on the NHL because of this relationship.

As someone who has pre-purchased the game I can tell you that what they promised is BS. Passing is still terrible, defensive player selection is still borderline broken, controls have a delay, the gameplay is focused on individual performance and not team play, goalkeepers make impossible saves while letting garbage through, objective completion is bugged, games sometimes load to black screen. This year is the worst EA NHL game I ever played.

100% agree with you. I never noticed things being taken out and then been added back in. The 2k Sports Stanely Cup celebration would look great in NHL 23. I really think that EA has lost touch with their community. Adding 500+ animations for the last chance puck movement was a waste of time. Nobody asked for it and even if we did, probably 10-15 animations different animations with enough variations would be sufficient. Focusing on gameplay to have a fun game again like you describe should be a priority for online players. Giving offline players the Winter Classic, All-Star games, editable players, and custom goalie helmet would be a good start. I'm not buying NHL 23 because the changes I care about like the ice texture could have been handled in a NHL 22 update.

We need 2K to take the game back

If I don't have any of the previous NHL games is it worth a buy on sale?

Unfortunately one of the main issues here is there aren’t any other NHL games coming out these days so EA will continue to get away with it until that changes

Let's make this video more visibility than the other "profesionnal RU-vidrs" that just praise this shitty game. This year is a total ripoff.

My wishlist: GM Connected Custom Goalie Mask Winter Classic World Juniors in franchise mode Attributes really affect the simulation, like a 96 Mcdavid should get 120+ points Skills Competition Goalie animations completely overhauled

I'm with you! For years I've threatened to not buy the game but I always end up giving in and purchasing it. NOT THIS YEAR! I will not allow myself to purchase NHL23. I've bought the NHL game every year since 98, yeah, I'm that old. I used to run online leagues back before there was a such thing as HUT. That's how big a fan and how big a supporter I've always been. But not this year, enough is enough. I suggest everyone skip this game, it's the only way to send a message to EA that we've finally had enough.

I posted a review at NHL 23's Online Forum at EA's website re: how disappointed I was that they didn't include features that have been requested for years. They deleted my post saying it was inappropriate. The EA Moderator sent me a message as well informing me of the same. I replied as follows: "The fact that you removed my post speaks volumes about your company. Very disappointing. You don't listen to the fans/customers, don't give them answers re: why you ignore their requests, and then remove any posts that call it like it is re: your products. On top of that, your games are getting worse and worse every year. Don't agree with that assessment? Just check out the review comments posted virtually everywhere where gamers post comments. One by one, you're causing customers never to return. One day you won't be the only game in town (the only reason you've made it this far). Nothing personal towards you. I realize you're stuck with the Oz behind the curtains running the show there. It is very sad though when I think of what the NHL franchise could be and should be after all these years. The Madden franchise is in the same sinking ship too BTW (IMHO). Be well.” I then posted a follow up forum comment and they banned me for 24 hours saying I was “discussing moderation.” EA obviously doesn’t want to answer to their loyal customers. I’m done buying their crappy rubber-stamped games. I guess when you’re the only game in town you can be the bully. 2K Sports please come back to the NHL video game arena!

It's ironic that the old game clips rolling in the background at the beginning of the video were all cut-scene animations that were not available in-game, yet used to advertise the game. Their presentation bait&switch tactics go back decades.

They advertised updated presentation but took away full presentation on purpose, and didn’t say anything. Scumbag company

Nhl 2006 is legend. It’s insulting they think we wouldn’t notice ?

Thank you for saying what almost everybody that doesn't play HUT feels. Only things I would add are the lack of PC support & the low refresh rate. I was an every year buyer & only played EASHL but I refused to purchase '22 & now '23. (not even when we all know the game is 50% off not long after being released ever year) I will not be buying NHL until high variable refresh rate PC support is added. Oddly, players & sticks clipping through each other & the boards now matches the horrible on boards digital ads on televised NHL games. **facepalm** "It's in the game" BOYCOTT HUT ((subbed))

I started at NHL '97. I played real Hockey as well. Almost got a Rangers tryout! I bought it Friday and see it's the same stuff. I don't like WOC. I want to play in NHL arenas with NHL jerseys and equipment. This series has fallen big time.

We desperately need to resurrect NHL 2k. If 2k just tried id be willing to bet it would utterly annihilate ea and it wouldn't even be close

Is it worth getting the game if it’s your first time playing NHL?

When I see people complaining about FIFA or NBA 2K being bad and I look at them and I’m like come check out the NHL games, that’s BAD. I swear EA is the biggest con artist in gaming history. Almost nothing changed this year, there is no 100 dollar price justification here. It’s almost criminal what they do. The thing is NHL 22 was actually pretty good, but 23 is just straight AWFUL.

I have Ps4 what's the best version i should get 23 22 or 21? I also don't play online

2k10 had great presentation before the game as well as talking about the players and goalie. This years nhl sometimes just goes right to the face off 😢

Nhl 14 was awesome, with the winter classic arenas

It honestly pisses me off so bad that the game asks you what your favorite team is each year and when you open hockey bags, you may get 1 item for your favorite team and then 1,000 items from other teams before you get another item from your team.

Great review. I don't even buy sports games anymore, as much as I want to. I will activate my GameFly every other year, try out 3-4 games, and play some with GamePass. But usually I end up buying an older sports title every 2-3 years, and playing it for awhile. I miss the old days of looking forward to a new release.

Women to hut is trash. They would get smashed. Literally an figuratively

Your literally the first person to say that the woman being added in is cool. Mad respect.

In NHL 22 I won about 95% of the time. With 23 the CPU takes over, I win maybe 10% of the time. Even if my time on attack and shots on goal are 3 times the opponent’s I still lose. Usually I start by getting a 2 or 3 goal lead. Then all of a sudden every time I make contact it’s an elbowing penalty, pucks start going through my players bodies, it won’t let me switch control to my players closest to the puck, I defend the puck 3 or 4 times but it magically goes right back to the player I took it from, my goalie starts giving up rebounds on every single weak shot…

couldn't agree more. they would make so much more money on selling games if they addressed alot of these things and actually listened to fans. be a pro took a step in the right direction last yr but they absolutely dropped the ball this yr. this alone is the reason for me not to buy it. if it was more like NBA I'd be all over it. big hits and making checking easier would improve the game as well.

"Women being added into the HUT is awesome and if you don't think so, you're a loser"

2k gotta make nhl24, need a better career mode

Does the ps5 controller makes cool sounds with like how fifa 23 did? And is it any good?

the worst part to me is not being able to practice the cool moves in the tutorial sections... you can only do basic stuff. that really is frustrating

I am looking for a new sports game. I’m interested more in the single player career mode and the games nowadays seem to be moving away from this ( NBA, FIFA ). How is the career mode in this one ? Is the draft for real or do you get drafted by your fav, team ? Is the career progression any good ?

It's so funny how u talk about the random gear unlocking and player progression in CHEL. I sorta miss the days where we all competed to get the Lemiux mullet at P5. It's also funny how u put your fav team and then thats the team gear and jerseys you get the least of. Last year I went 2 months and didn't unlock a single Ranger jersey, switched my fav team to San Jose and had every Ranger jersey in a week.

Not only that but they don’t necessarily let you edit players attributes. Nor do they let players in franchise mode create their own draft class or create a player. But mostly not creating your own draft class and editing attributes or not even that, you can’t even edit an AHL player either. Which is really awful. And also no history section or records or awards sections. Much like Madden, EA does not put a lot of effort into NHL and if anything they put even worse effort on NHL and NHL gets even worse treatment as well.

Gameplay feels great dont really care about the other stuff because i mostly play only hut but i understand if it annoys other people

Woukd you guys suggest to buy it for only 40 bucks ?

Great video. And your last thoughts about HUT being the beginning of the end for this franchise were spot on.

My birthday is on Wednesday the only reason I am asking for it is because the teams other than that I don’t think they tried to change anything

They also, for all their talk of improving the presentation, removed half of it. Remember how last year you had the "Full Presentation" option that would give you the warm up, goalie comparison, full highlights during games etc and the condensed presentation that just gave you goal highlights and skipped everything else? Well they completely removed the Full Presentation option this year so now even in offline modes you don't get any intros, goalie names/stats, no hit replays, nothing. Just goal replays when you score. Talking about the features they had years ago and put it, it's like when they reintroduced pre and post game interviews to Be A Pro, which was already a thing they had in the past then removed and didn't even change it, it was the exact same thing as the one they used to have and removed. This year they did nothing with it. Seriously if you have NHL 22, with roster sharing just wait for someone to do a current roster update and play that, this is absolutely not worth it unless you can get it for like 5 bucks and even then it's hard to justify that. If you're an online player that plays HUT or ECHL maybe the game might be worth it for you, but if you're an offline player, it really isn't. If anything this game just tells you that what they really want is to do NHL as just a HUT and ECHL only game but know that if they did that and didn't have BAP or Franchise mode in the game that they would lose a hell of a lot of customers.

I wish they’d make a mode you can use rollerblades. Street hockey

Not buying nhl for the first time in over a decade. Absolute garbage!!

I ended up buying the game it’s legit the same game as 22 just like three new things and update graphics and roster. But I did mange to buy for $40 bc it was on sale. Which was okay it was like normally $80 or $90 idk

What do u mean? I’ve seen last chance puck movement very frequently

as a gm & be a pro player it pisses me off that they took out the stats tab on your main screen from i think 2014 game. You used to be able to toggle with the stick between team standings top goalies, points goals & assist leaders. It always made me feel more immersed in the game, like some how other people were seeing these stats. to have to go into the stats pages in the last how many years makes stats feel lackluster. i dunno if im explaining this right but i dont know why the fuck it was ever taken out. I also missed when they used to put like an iceberg or fire symbol or whatever next to players names who were on hot/cold streaks. i think thats from 94 or 96. Fuck can you imagine if they consistently added to the game instead of always taking shit out every year and then adding a a few things back over time calling it a new exciting feature.

My words, just facts. I am hoping for NHL24 to switch it up a little. They got so many haters this year that they have to feel bad just a little.

I'm old enough to remember NHL Hockey from 1993 PC/Dos.

The fact that they still haven't addressed people quitting online games as soon as they start losing, tell you they could care less about the game. I was over a friend's house tonight and he tried playing games online. 16 games in a row once a team got down by a few goals, people quit and the entire game got cancelled. 16 games in a row! Online play is a huge part of why people spend money on the game. Who enjoys playing half a period 16 times in a row before people quit with no consequences! This could and should of been fixed years ago. I mean, you could simply track which users quit once a game starts and if you do it too often, you're banned from online for a set time period. And I know people will say EA can't tell if they quit or had a glitch with their connection, etc . Tough crap! First, you can definitely tell who actually hits quit, so start there. For those who just disconnect or turn off their system to get around it, well, you get a few of those to use up. But if you're playing online it shouldn't be happening that often enough so you get a few and once you reach say 5, you're banned from online for a week. And you don't need to penalize everyone in the game, they can see which accounts actually lose connection in a game. And since the people who quit are usually the ones that are on a team that starts losing, it's easy to determine which users should be hit with a penalty if they all of a sudden a few accounts are suddenly disconnected during a game when they're losing! It's a joke that they have been afraid to address this and yet it kills their online play. EA could care less though. It's a joke and it's a disgrace how bad things have gotten since the Genesis days of NHL 93, 94 and so on. Just a money grab now.

I'm on PS4 so I guess it's going to suck! -If the goalie suck bump up difficulty on goaltending sliders, right? -Is there any International play? Can you have a tournament of International Teams? - like with MUT ea pushes HUT which I'm not interested in. I want to play realistic season/career/ franchise mode AGAINST COMPUTER * if they ever find a model that works they don't need to ever mess with it again just allow you to update rosters. But no one would buy a new games

HUT is a scam. Always has been. NHL should be a free to play game. Franchise mode glitch is so shit too cant play games after a year because of the black screen glitch. So bad I refunded NHL 23 after a day with it.

Not buying it either. Maybe if they charged 50 or something but $90 for the changes they made? It’s disrespectful af

5 months later and its still broken, not fun and gets you really mad. Ai’s are clueless, games dont start which makes you have to restart the game. Rewards are useless. Mechanics suck. Glitches are crazy. Dont buy it.

I’m convinced that every sports video game hit there peak in 06-09 the ps2 years

EA hasn't dropped a good game for a long time copy and paste and add a couple things and call it good.

Ea killed battlefield, and the ea sports games are next

This game is not fun to play u can't choose countries as a team and you can't control the players Easily

There needs to be a falling animation for when u tie drag the fuck out of a defender

I remember the older nhl games like 1995 on the 16-bit

I don't care what anyone says, if I have to choose between allocating dev resources towards new features or women being in the game, I'll choose the former. No one watches or cares about women's hockey except during the Olympics. The guy making this video spends ten minutes whining about no new features being added, yet calls people against the idea of adding female hockey players "losers". Hey genius, maybe if EA cared about its hockey fans instead of trying to appear woke, you wouldn't need to make this video. Plus we know you'd spend exactly 0 seconds using the female players anyway. But great virtue signalling

Sports games are sports games. Hockey isn’t as popular, and if you don’t play online you don’t have to buy the cofactor edition. The game actually plays really smooth. I can understand skipping this year if you play be a pro or franchise, but truthfully thats any sports game. Every year whether it’s madden or 2k we are pretty much buying a roster update. The fact that the gameplay is better this year is a sign of good things to come if you ask me. But content is content, I suppose.

I stopped buying In 2015…. Such a disservice to a loyal fan base.

if you look closely during the clip where the avalanche are raising the cup, you can see that the banners are STILL outdated, they still have the panthers old logo and the older Senators logo, im pretty sure it would take them literally like, 5 seconds to fix that, any shmuck with photoshop could do it

nhl offline seems to work well, lots of bs to deal with but still mostly fun and playable, also they do have some cool features that do impress me! with that being said online is completly inconsistant and broken... sometime ai players will just watch the puck slide by them and not even attempt to grab it, sometimes goalies will just not even attempt to make saves letting in the lamest goals anyones ever seen, then other times will switch to jesus mode become unrealisticly fast and not let anything in no matter how perfect the setup/shot, sometimes players have delays in passing and shooting ive noticed as well, i still have fun playing online from time to time, but its impossable to take seriously with how glitchy and broken it is! also the behind rap around glitch goal still hasnt been fixed and prolly never will😢

Well, why I fully understand those who don't want to buy this years NHL as they really have not given us much more options for let's say Franchise mode, Be A PRO mode, cutomazation of teams and players etc, I will buy it for 3. reasons, even if they are not that big; 1. I have NHL 21, that lacks the Seattle Krakens. 2. The Coyotes have officaly back the old logo and scrapped the boring plain red Coyote. Small but I never liked to play with or against them because they looks major boring. 3. Some of the upcoming reverse-retro jerseys added to all NHL teams. Like I said, these are just small reasons but I rather buy 23 then 22 to have the most recent. Well after 23 I very much doubt 24 will give me any reason to buy it. BUT I will try and not pay a full price, as many dollars/cents as possible to shave off. Even 2nd hand copy is fully open, even if I will have to wait a little longer.

I feel your pain! I have bought nhl since 2006 as well. But I realized that ea has to come up with some things. I stopped buying nhl games since 2020…I am tired of glitch goals, crappy ai, crappy goalies etc. Nhl has been an upgrade from previous versions! This does not warrant my money bc they do not listen. I really enjoyed nhl 10 bc it was hard to score because you had to play the point move the puck and had to try different things. Unfortunately ppl were crying it was hard but that made me want to improve. Lastly, ea has no direct competition since 2k sports stopped making nhl games to focus on bball. I remember when 2k had Bob Cole and Harry Neal as actual commentators which was awesome compared to ray Ferraro and the other guy. I don’t think ea will ever get my money for a sports game again…just my thoughts.

Please tell me why they removed hat throwing and visible injuries from fights from chel 21 to chel 22 to begin with...

Nah man it’s been bad since 17 tbh the glitch goals are CRAZY and should never exist there should be hot fixes for this shit but nope we get new jerseys yay I can do the same glitch goal from 3 years ago still in this game somehow

I just WISH they would let NHL come to PC so bad

2:08 that’s so true lol. I will still be buying NHL 23 just because I’ve been playing 17 for a while now, but I can certainly see the frustration.

I haven’t played a NHL game in about 4 years or more….. would it be worth me getting?

I disagree

honestly the nhl should find a new game developer company

Is this still the case or have they updated it, thinking of buying it on ps5 for 40 bucks

First of all. Nice Video. You speak from my soul. I know that the in-game presentations are skipped by a lot of people. But I loved it. Especially when I went out of the tunnel onto the ice at NHL 09 with my Be a pro player. Unfortunately, this was cancelled at some point. Somehow I don't have much fun with NHL anymore, even though I used to love it. And the gruesome commentator doesn't make things any better. I just want to have an NHL Game again, which I can look forward to... :(

So it’s not at all better than NHL 22? I want to know because I haven’t bought an NHL game since 2019 and I really want to know what year after 19 I should buy??? Thanks brother

To be completely honest. I hated NHL 22 and it made me take a break on making videos for 6 months. But NHL 23 are so good! And yes... The passing is a huge difference maker for me. For those who love HUT, this is the one game to play. For once they focus on gameplay, and i think is the best move for years.

EASHL used to actually be fun, but ever since 21/22 it's been nothing but a sweat fest. Not only is it the exact same game as 22, but the same issues still exist with basically zero new features added in. It's sad, but not surprising.

I wish they would implement raising your teams banner after you win the cup, not having it feels like such an empty accomplishment without it.

I can get it for $18 should i get it?

I have to respectfully disagree with the overall negative review. Being an EASHL player primarily, this game so far is definitely better than than the 20 through 22 era. The traits and X-factors are more balanced, penaltys are more realistic. You can't just spam poke check anymore as it needs to be timed well. Goalie actually feels fun to play again. All the little presentation features are awesome , I love it when my club is dominating a team on their home ice and I hear the crown booing angerly ! So much fun ! Also this is the best soundtrack they have had in decades ! Actual hard rock/metal songs included instead of the dumb little indie pop songs they have been using the last few years.

For me the best NHL game was 99. Man I loved that game, the way you could tackle and destroy the team. Haven't played in a few years now, felt like they were all the same

NHL 15.8 , totally agree with the skipping the game part this year. The game has become unbearable with no changes worth talking about in 8 fucking years 😖🔫.

These devs hate the players you can tell by the blinding white menu background that players have been begging to be changed for over a year

Real life graphics with arcade gameplay

This game is just so bad. Our club team, which we aren’t noobs, lost 7-1 with 20 more shots on net. There goalie made every save in the book and the other team scores 7 on 12 shots. So bad, this experience happened in each of the 3 next games. I went back and played 22 and it honestly felt so much better.

As long as the HUT fanatics keep throwing money at packs(serious, someone even said they spent 600$ on hut cards on the first day of early access) EA won't make any major changes to the rest of the game. I played HUT the first year it was introduced, and that was it. I did buy the game, but I primarily play offline, so the addition of custom leagues to franchise mode was the main selling point for me, and then I play EASHL as well, so I need to latest game to be able to do that, and having cross play will make that better. But, I'm not going to sing some praise here. EA does need to do more. They made a lot of small changes this year, and I HOPE that it means NHL24 will get big changes. The games aren't BAD, and NHL is better off than some of the others(Madden, looking at you) but that's a low bar lol. But I really do believe all the HUT players who just shovel money at packs, and the content creators who do it as well an then act like the game is perfect, is the main reason we don't see change. Addition: I HATE the hockey bags. They were originally going to be microtransactions, but after the Battlefront disaster, and some countries making paid lootboxes illegal, they made them free. So there's ZERO reason for them to be in the game years later. I hate that everything you get is random. Playing the game for a year to never get the ONE goal celebration I really want is annoying. They need to overhaul that to a point system. You get points after each game, and you can spend those points on exactly what you want. Easy. Painless. The bags are a chore and there is SO MUCH in the game. The odds of getting that one thing you want for each category is so slim.

The cover of the game says it all, and no im not talking about the players im talking about a beach type vibe..these guys have been making a comedy out of this game at this point... I wish 2k would come make video games, ea hasn't come out with a good game since NHL 14

Man I really feel like this game plays so different than lasr year.. The goalies seem way better and dont let in every single cross crease pass like in 22..

I got this game just a few days ago. It was at a pawn shop for $3 because the case was damaged. I also don’t have any previous nhl games, and I just got into the nhl fanbase. With no prior experience, I really like the game, but thanks for the tips.

The only thing that really bothers me in the whole franchise is that I can't play offline and feel immersed enough to enjoy it because there's only a few players that have the gear they use in real life and it's too tedious to go through every single player and change their equipment and ratings to resemble their real life counterparts. And if I want to use a new roster update with rookies and other new players, the changes I've made will reset and must be done again, so I won't bother. I've done it many times before but I won't anymore. HUT is out of the question as well because there you can't change the equipment and must play with players using wrong gear in every game. I only play CHEL drop-ins alone or with my brother, even though I think it's the most toxic and chaotic game mode there is because people can't behave. We have no friends who play the game to fill a club so drop-ins are our only chance to get full 6vs6 games even occasionally.

Dude don’t waste your money on these new NHL games your just going to to continue to get disappointed play NHL 04 NHL 06 even NHL 11 NHL 14 NHL 01 for the PS1 is the best one