Of course, with the good, there is always the bad. This makes it so all players in the World of Chel mode are equal on the surface, but have different strengths and weakness that make them feel unique. These traits include upgrades to your shot, dekes, one-timer capabilities, stamina, physicality - and that’s just a handful of the dozens of options at hand. While you still choose a base, universal class, you can now equip up to three traits to your player that you unlock as you move your way through the mode. These classes were all different from each other attributes-wise, but if your sniper was pinned against an opponents’ sniper, it meant you were playing with the same exact player. More recently, you were able to select a particular class for your players such as sniper, power forward, or two-way defenseman. This made it so the more you played, the better you were thus when pinned against a newer team, the game was almost decided from the time the puck hit the ice.
It seems like forever ago that you unlocked experience points for your player used to upgrade his or her attributes. The player traits finally found a comprise of two polar directions EA Sports has taken in pass renditions of their game. You can now queue up chirps such as “Sit down!” for when you dish out a bone-crush hit. The hockey bags you earn also include player traits, celebrations, and audio components.
NHL 19 will let you customize your online player’s appearance. The options seem to be infinite as you can dress your player however you see fit, including merchandise from your favorite NHL team as you unlock it. In the “Threes” and “Ones” modes, your player isn’t dressed up in an NHL jersey, but instead sweatshirts, jackets, jeans, cargo pants, and knitted hats. As your player gains experience, you unlock hockey bags containing multiple items including hockey gear. This mode includes multiple tiers just like the regular EASHL mode and allows you to earn experience for your player.Īnother improvement wrapped in the World of Chel package is what has become known as ‘hockey bling’. This features a 1 vs 1 vs 1 version of pond hockey with one three-minute period to see who comes out on top.
New in the World of Chel mode is the “Ones” game mode. The EA Sports Hockey League (EASHL) allows you start up a hockey club with your friends, hitting the ice as you earn experience points for your player and your team as in pursuit of division titles and championships. The World of Chel game mode transformed the most-played facet of EA Sports’ NHL series. It may take some time in the penalty box before you learn not to tap that poke-check button when you’re behind your opponent, but it is, overall, a great addition to the game. Spacing is a must, as if you find yourself too close to the oncoming forward, you still stand a good chance of tripping him up. Still, you need to time your poke checks appropriately.
Thanks to a patch installed mid-Beta, trips are less likely when your defenseman is positioned in front of the puck holder. Early on in the Beta, however, it seemed like every poke check resulted in a penalty. This allowed you to thwart a breakaway even if you found yourself a couple feet behind the opportunist. Before NHL 19, you could get away with poke checks that warp through your opposition’s legs without getting a tripping minor. While the controls and feel of stick-checking have remained the same as recent installments of the game, it now has a touch of realism. It also evaporates the fantasy that you can seamlessly switch from skating forward to skating backward while maintaining the same velocity.Īlso installed in the gameplay is a much-needed stick-checking update.
Gone are the days when you have to wait patiently as your player takes a turn spanning half the rink’s width when initiated at full speed. The skating engine also feels great when you find the controller resting in your own two hands. It makes the game look more realistic as your player can now stop on a dime, stay on the edges of his skate blades, and gallop before moving into his full stride. The Beta gave hockey fans their first look at the brand-new skating engine inspired by none other than McDavid. This is a review of the NHL 19 Beta, after all, and it feels right to cover the good first - and there’s lots of it. In other words, this decision places Subban among other outstanding superstars in today’s game. Other NHL stars to grace the video game’s cover include Connor McDavid ( NHL 18), Vladamir Tarasenko (NHL 17), Jonathan Toews (NHL 16), and Patrice Bergeron (NHL 15). Subban as the cover-athlete of this year’s installment of the long-running hockey game series.