From my attempt at playing NHL 16, being a general manager is less about managing a team and more about hitting the “simulate until this game” button after placing agents around the globe in a management experience with as much depth as an Assassin’s Creed game. My time as Monster Mash, the Detroit Redwings GM, did not last long, both out of boredom and a lingering question about what I was actually supposed to be doing. NHL 16 Be a GM mode has a new hook as well in the form of a new player moral system. Gone are the days of just snatching up the best players, now each skater has a unique personality and act as individuals, requesting trades, forming positive and negative relationships with other teammates and management, calling team meetings and more. EA promises more in depth information on this radical change to NHL 16 Be a GM mode in the months leading up to the September release, but just this little bit of info has me very excited.

 

On the ice, there will be a new precision skating system and seamless puck pickups, which should reduce some of the issues from last year’s game, where players would find it very difficult to control a bouncing or rolling puck. NHL 16 will be coming to Playstation 4 and Xbox One in September 2015. In Be a GM mode - which is the only way you can play a season of hockey outside of Be a Pro - there’s no way of drafting players, since the CPU does it all for you. You can’t kick off the game with a fantasy draft. Heck, you can’t even play preseason games to see how your offseason trades are going to fit into your lineup.

 

I’ll admit, after playing the game on my Xbox One, the graphics and gameplay are literally something out of this world (pun intended). Even the audience members are unique and have their own personalities. None of them look the same, and when the home team is winning, you can see the shift in morale in their happy facial expressions. When losing, you can see the frustration on their faces. Hall of fame announcer Mike (“Doc”) Emerick and Eddie Olczyk have replaced Gary Thorne and Bill Clement as the game’s commentators. Any change would have been welcome by most gamers, but EA has really made a statement by signing these two to replace them.

 

Hockey NHL 16 Ultimate Team is obviously going to be back, as it was really the only fleshed out mode to make it into NHL 16, but will see the return of popular options such as the ability to play a friend, and much more focus on single player aspects like playing a full offline season before jumping online, much of HUT 16 will look and play as it does now, but these changes are welcomed regardless. You can still name your player and customize his look, but EA has retired player progression. This is largely due to users exploiting the system to create seven foot tall danglers who couldn't get knocked off the puck and the vast delta between newcomers and the longtime players who had fully maxed characters with boost enhancements to boot. To rectify these shortcomings, EA is introducing character classes built around certain play styles - playmakers, danglers, grinders, power forwards, defensive defensemen, offensive defensemen, etc.

 

Be a GM mode, which takes you into the seat of a general manager of whichever hockey club you want, there you can make trades, sign free agents, and put together the best team you can under the salary cap, while you try to win the ultimate prize in hockey, The Stanley Cup. This mode has been stripped down, it’s slow, clunky and it’s menus are hard to navigate, player progression sometimes makes no sense, a player can be 24, have 92 points in 82 games and still drop in overall the next year. There was no entry draft when this game was released it was all done via computer simulation. When the New York Islanders score the crowd will chant, "Yes Yes Yes!" and Chelsea Dagger will play when the Blackhawks score a goal. NHL 16 delivers a new way to control goalies which adds to the realism and there are new options to be a better goalie. Ross explains some of the major upgrades to goalies in NHL 16.