What makes for a highlight-reel second in sports activities? It’s not simply the uncooked athletic talent on show — a part of the how-did-they-do-that thrill comes from the problem and threat related to a low-percentage play. Making a spectacular diving catch can get you into the SportsCenter Prime 10; touching grass along with your face because the ball rolls to the outfield fence is extra of an America’s Funniest Residence Movies form of factor.
Flashy performs have at all times been troublesome to tug off in EA’s hockey video video games, and rightfully so. That adjustments this yr in NHL 24, which is offered now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The sport’s builders at EA Vancouver and EA Bucharest determined to revamp their long-running management scheme in an try to make these jaw-dropping strikes simpler to do. It’s a part of a multifaceted overhaul to the stream of the sport on the ice.
I’ve lengthy argued for extra accessible controls in simulation sports activities video games. Notably in EA Sports activities NHL, a part of the expertise has been locked away behind a barrier of complicated button and stick inputs, regardless of the sequence’ wonderful tutorials. Right here, the admirable purpose of simplifying the finger gymnastics required for the talent strikes is undone by an implementation that prioritizes them over key controls and actions — even ones as important as capturing the puck.
![in a screenshot from NHL 24, Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky makes a splayed-out dive to his left along the ice in order to make a save against the Vegas Golden Knights](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Wvd4ehQp-wrvqAyrOM6v8A9Tug4=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24852844/NHL24_Bobrovsky_3840x2160.jpg)
Picture: EA Vancouver, EA Bucharest/Digital Arts
Referred to as Complete Management, the brand new scheme places 4 fancy puck-handling choices entrance and middle. I can now carry the puck between my skater’s legs, do a toe drag, tuck the puck previous the goalie with one hand, and make use of lacrosse-style maneuvers like “The Michigan” simply by urgent one of many controller’s face buttons. This setup makes it extremely easy to tug off these highlight-reel strikes in NHL 24, but it surely doesn’t flip them into cheat codes. Even within the shootout follow mode, with me alone versus a netminder, these methods didn’t assure any targets.
Among the face button capabilities have modified on protection, too: Physique checking is now mapped to circle/B (shoulder checks) and sq./X (hip checks). This dovetails with the sport’s up to date physics engine, whose new ragdoll animations achieve delivering a greater sense of the bone-crunching impression behind each collision. Icon passing, which lets you goal teammates instantly with passes (as a result of every individual is assigned a face button), is one other welcome addition that unlocks lovely tic-tac-toe performs.
![in a screenshot from NHL 24, the Florida Panthers’ Brandon Montour (#62) sends Alex Pietrangelo of the Vegas Golden Knights (#7) flying over the boards into the Florida bench with a body check](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/D82qAMGN-A9nNS8cgaodNgOtRBo=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24852843/NHL24_BenchHit_3840x2160.jpg)
The philosophy of marrying new gameplay options to regulate adjustments is a wise one, and there are clear advantages right here. The motion on offense and protection in NHL 24 resembles real-life hockey greater than ever — and extra importantly, that enchancment is tangible as a result of the revised controls put extra energy instantly in my arms to make it so. That’s, the Complete Management setup permits me to really feel liable for producing a simulation that appears extra lifelike, and I like that feeling.
Regardless of these upgrades, although, I ended up switching again to the outdated Talent Stick management scheme — which has remained largely untouched since 2008’s NHL 09, remarkably — after making an attempt to acclimate to the brand new setup for a couple of days.
My major challenge with Complete Management is that its concentrate on facilitating flashy strikes displaces important capabilities from the face buttons to a far much less handy place. Within the Talent Stick controls, the circle/B and sq./X buttons make line adjustments — a characteristic that I’ll use dozens of occasions throughout a single recreation, exponentially extra typically than I would try a toe drag. Line adjustments within the Complete Management scheme are ruled by the D-pad, a way more clunky choice as a result of it requires me to take my thumb off the left stick (and thus momentarily relinquish control of player movement). I grew annoyed with this setup after only a few situations of being knocked off the puck whereas making an attempt to swap traces.
![Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche skates with the puck in a screenshot from NHL 24](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rhWIyZGTkdL34ZINvedcDbWhlgI=/0x0:3840x2160/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3840x2160):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24852846/NHL24_CaleMakar_3840x2160.jpg)
Picture: EA Vancouver, EA Bucharest/Digital Arts
Sadly, reverting to Talent Stick controls isn’t a cure-all, due to a baffling second change that applies to each schemes in NHL 24. Clicking the appropriate stick is now used to brace towards an incoming physique test, which takes the type of my skater letting go of the puck as he does somewhat hop to soak up the contact. It’s not uncommon that I inadvertently click the stick while trying to shoot — and you’ll think about how infuriating it’s to lose out on a golden scoring alternative as a result of your puck service jumped as a substitute of taking a shot. It’s so dangerous that I’ll be shocked if the builders don’t backtrack on this in a future patch.
All of it jogs my memory of their try to overhaul the sequence’ beloved profession mode, Be a Professional, three years in the past: a promising replace torpedoed by confounding design choices. The Complete Management setup is a extra profitable effort, and it could win the hearts of on-line gamers who can make the most of the newly accessible talent strikes to skate circles round their opponents. However making an attempt these showy performs in a recreation at all times carries a threat of fumbling the puck away — and, within the course of, incomes the dreaded style-over-substance label.