SAN JOSE- On Oct. 12, 2021 EA Sports released NHL 22, with mixed reviews coming from across the world. In the past nine years, the NHL video game series has received tons of controversy for not being updated enough, making the games stale and boring. Different modes, including career mode, franchise mode and HUT (Hockey Ultimate Team) haven’t been updated by 2014.

But there was a gigantic change this year that could prove to change this series forever. The next generation of consoles got released, and the new hardware introduced into them seemed like it would improve the game unspeakable amounts. But, is that actually the case?

These new consoles have a hefty price tag, and not a lot of stock, so it is hard for the average person to get their hands on them and experience the new and improved features of the game. Otherwise, on the older consoles, the game stays the same, with way less new 

animations or visual features to make the game more appealing. Unless you have a PS5 or a XBOX Series X, there is no point in getting the new game. 

With NHL 22 came a new game engine which goes by the name of Frostbite. This engine records real NHL players movements, and will mimic it back to the game for the cleanest and most accurate animations possible. According to engadget.com, with the addition of Frostbite, the game’s graphics will be overhauled, with better face design, jersey animations and uniform micro-details, which will be pictured in high resolutions to make every stitch visible to the eye. Good news comes with this, as these higher resolution animations and features are available on both the old generation consoles and new gen consoles. Out of 20 students at Silver Creek, only three say that they will buy the new game this year. 

The big edition of NHL 22 is X-Factors, something that is spreading to other sports games from its originator, the Madden Franchise. What is an X-Factor? It’s a player with a strong ability that can be activated by doing a certain goal. If they trigger the ability, nothing happens even though it’s supposed to. The biggest update of the entire year doesn’t do anything at all, which has caused a lot of controversy.

In total, I would recommend not purchasing the new edition of NHL, because it has all the same features as the previous NHL games.