I tried to take a tripping penalty willingly, and even though I kept poking my stick into a running opponent's feet, it took me about 10 attempts to get called on a tripping penalty. While it moves away from realism a bit, it feels like it balances defensive play against the offense in a much better way than previous entries. Things may have become easier on that front, but it also makes playing defense easier and more effective than in previous titles. Penalties occur far less often, making defensive plays less of a risk factor. Sticks no longer clip into bodies or the boards, so you can steal the puck from an opponent by skating through their stick and pushing it aside. In previous games, it was possible to not hit any part of an opponent's body but still incur a tripping penalty. You can expect the same overall experience, with some vital tweaks to stick physics, so it finally matters where you hit a player or the puck with your stick. Overall, the controls and the skill stick to freely dribble the puck are still here, and they work as well as they always did. Once you get into a match, the gameplay feels somewhat different and mostly in the right ways. I hope that this year's iteration is the foundation for more significant visual improvements in future installments because this simply cannot be it. The switch to the Frostbite Engine feels more like a name-drop than a substantial overhaul of the visuals and physics. The details on textures and models have also increased in the next-gen versions, and if you focus on that, it looks sharper and more detailed across the board but not to a degree that immediately declare that NHL 22 is the superior-looking game. The ice surface shows more detail as players skate across it and reflects more vibrantly and realistically. The rest still wear the same misshapen mugs they always have, which makes them stand out. For the star players of the league, character models and faces are better animated and detailed. Without a direct comparison to last year's version, the difference in visuals is very slim and often inconsistent. While the Frostbite engine brings noticeable improvements to some visual aspects - e.g., body checks, puck physics, and especially stick interactions - the game largely looks the same. It hasn't and doesn't need to change since it handles pretty well, so improvements are marginal. If you've played every title in the past five years, you're likely more than a little burned out by the perpetually repeating selection of modes and gameplay. NHL games have been stuck in a rut for years, offering few gameplay tweaks and the occasional extra mode to tide fans over for yet another year.
While it is the best NHL version to play, it amounts to little more than another familiar entry. The biggest talking point this year is the long-overdue swap to the last-gen Frostbite engine, which brings some graphical and technical improvements but lacks the feel of a true generational leap - or even half of one.
NHL 22 now faces a similar predicament, except that it didn't cut any modes and instead offers very few additions on all fronts, including its visuals. The last time an NHL title was released on the Xbox One and PS4, it was a major letdown there were noticeable graphical improvements, but most modes were cut and slowly added back in subsequent releases. EA's NHL games don't have the strongest cross-generation record.
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