NHL 21
NHL 21 Cover Athlete is Alex Ovechkin - Trailer, Screenshots and Details Revealed
EA has announced Alex Ovechkin as the NHL 21 cover athlete, which is scheduled to release on October 16 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This is the second time Ovi has been on the cover of an EA NHL game, as he was also the cover athlete for NHL 07.
Ovechkin has been one of the most influential and impactful players in hockey and has become something of a muse for the development team, mapping the game’s innovation against the game-changing impact he has had on the sport. This iteration of the franchise brings to life a revamped Be A Pro experience, expanded creative gameplay, the new Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) RUSH, and World of CHEL additions offering players the opportunity to create an Ovechkin-esque style and legacy.
NHL 21 delivers a fresh feel to the franchise with an overhauled Be A Pro mode. The brand new Be A Pro experience enhances the game’s narrative and quality of life, giving players the chance to live the life of an NHL star, both on and off the ice. Impress the front office, go early on draft day, and chase greatness as players earn a spot on the first line, compete for the Stanley Cup, and become the league’s next best. Players can work their way from a chippy bottom six forward to a must-see superstar.
Gameplay in NHL 21 has also gotten smarter, faster and a whole lot flashier with innovative moves and massive improvements on both sides of the puck. Players now have more options than ever before to take control of the game and impose their playstyle on opponents. Players can dazzle with slips, banks and chips, while pulling off some of the most recognizable superstar-inspired moves. However, players will also have to deal with improved goalie positioning and control, as netminders are adapting to the game’s skill level faster than ever before with brand-new desperation moves and animations.
This year’s iteration also takes HUT, the game mode that allows players to create their fantasy lineup of NHL players, alumni, and icons, and compete with them online, to the next level with HUT RUSH. HUT RUSH is a streamlined version of HUT that lets players jump into HUT games quickly, rack up achievements, and unlock rewards by scoring with style. With a scoring system that rewards skill and creativity, HUT RUSH will provide plenty of cannot miss moments.
In World of CHEL, the new Ranked Seasons allow players to compete across each of the four modes – ONES, THREES, Drop-In or Clubs – to earn rewards and play in the new EASHL Club Finals. Player and team success will be rewarded with unique gear, items and vanity sets to flaunt domination.
Additionally, Franchise Mode adds an exciting experience for one of the marquee events of every season: the Trade Deadline. Players will feel the pressure of the approaching deadline with real-time updates that lead to important decisions on which players to target and trade for. Just like the real trade deadline, the market value of players will fluctuate as the day goes on, and live trade alerts will move rapidly via the trade deadline ticker.
As far as the EA NHL game itself? New dekes and cutscenes...great, pass for me.
https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2020/08/24/the-biggest-changes-coming-to-nhl-21?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Still far from hyped but at least it's something regarding what's actually new.
I'm sorry, but that video was terrible.
As far as the EA NHL game itself? New dekes and cutscenes...great, pass for me.
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https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2020/08/24/the-biggest-changes-coming-to-nhl-21?amp&__twitter_impression=true
Still far from hyped but at least it's something regarding what's actually new.
That Franchise mode update sure is...something...
It's a shame, because there was a similar "Trade deadline" function a couple of years back. This *sounds* like it'll be a bit more, but dear lord...it's one day of the season. If that's it, it's hard to imagine considering purchasing this until it goes on sale.
Be a pro looks like it'll be fun, but it's hard to get excited about a mode like that when the other franchises who went in the "story mode" direction failed fairly miserably in their first go around. Fingers crossed, I guess.
What about the defense?
I'm honestly surprised with how lackluster and pathetic this 'trailer' was. Even for EA's standards.
What happened to this company?
It's a shame, because there was a similar "Trade deadline" function a couple of years back. This *sounds* like it'll be a bit more, but dear lord...it's one day of the season. If that's it, it's hard to imagine considering purchasing this until it goes on sale.
Be a pro looks like it'll be fun, but it's hard to get excited about a mode like that when the other franchises who went in the "story mode" direction failed fairly miserably in their first go around. Fingers crossed, I guess.
The minigame may be a good idea if well implemented.
I hope they do it fror the first day of Free agency as well because it's pretty unrealistic as it is right now .
As a franchise mode only player, hopefully there is more but right now I'm definitely disappointed.
I dearly miss the days when we also had 2k hockey to look forward to.
NHL 22 on PS5/XSX is a huge opportunity to move this series forward. I'll gladly save my money and wait (at least) another year.
Ya, I'm sure there will be one or two rappers scanned and added again Lol
As for the trailer, don't know what to say really, it's like they don't even try anymore :( The trailer itself is also very low quality.
Never thought I would ever say this, but I miss the days when Littman was in charge of this game.
BAP has languished for this entire hardware generation, so you had to think it was fish or cut bait on the entire mode this year. EA decided to cast out a line, and I might just give it a nibble.
At the *very* least, EA will have seen, by now, all the different ways to go outside the lines in a career mode. There's a silver lining to being fashionably late: they've seen what works, and what doesn't, by now. Too much scripting, and there's not enough user freedom; too much freedom, and the user might break the narrative guardrails.
I think the industry's figured out that the trick to splitting the difference, is to get the user to engage their own emotions, without leading them around by the nose. So, shorter but more frequent and varied vignettes, beat overly long and detailed set pieces. And it does sound like that's what they're aiming for.
Put me down as guardedly hopeful. This is the first time in half a decade that the reveal trailer wasn't an instant hard pass. Starting a career in Europe is now apparently an option, too; that by itself ought to move the proverbial intrigue-o-meter.
They didn't lose me at the reveal, which, for this franchise, is actually progress.
Its sad how clueless this dev team is.
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Oh, wait...
Svechnikov's stick smacked David Rittich in the face. No goal!! 2 minute penalty for highsticking
As for the trailer, don't know what to say really, it's like they don't even try anymore :( The trailer itself is also very low quality.
Never thought I would ever say this, but I miss the days when Littman was in charge of this game.
Everybody loved to rag on Littman when he was around, but he's the best community manager the game has ever had. Is still remember the personal youtube videos he would upload showing off the new features and how they impacted the game.
Has anybody ever even seen Rammer play the game?
Would be nice though, if they didn't go offside so much..that never seems to improve.
Has anybody ever even seen Rammer play the game?
Yeah, to be honest, my feeling about Dave were that he's better in talking than in actually delivering good simulation experience, but where Rammer is openly taking this series is way behind my expectations, even at the time I left the Gamechanger program. I never thought it can be this bad.
To be fair, it not only a hockey game, its the company as a whole, where quality standards have gone awfully downhill at some point. It's all about people, it always is, any way you stretch it.
I was watching this video last night. It's very well done (way better than this "trailer") and very informative, so I thought it might give some answers or at least raise some valid questions.
We are already suffering for 7 years of this mediocre game, NHL 14 was the last acceptable version of the game.
It’s nice that I can play on the PC also, thanks to RPCS3
EA has become really good at making me never want to be a customer each year
New Be a Pro seems interesting. Trade deadline means franchise is an upgrade, even if small. I am fortunate enough to have $60 to spend on luxuries like slight improvements of a game I play a lot. (and by play I mean, I mostly sim all the games because I haven't enjoyed playing it this whole gen LOL)