Quick Look: NHL 19

i dunno guys, i think this franchise is on... thin ice

I'd deal with a disappointing NHL game if they released it on PC.

I’m here for professional sports coverage

Hahahahaha! Puck U!

NHL 19 plays a 100 times better than NHL 18 as far as the game play goes. Just my hot take. That for me goes a long way haha. *Also don't spam the poke check and you won't get as many tripping penalties. Pro tip.*

Disappointing or not, bring it to PC and I'll happily play it. It's the only proper sports game I've ever really enjoyed... until the PC version was dropped. Which was entirely too long ago.

Always look forward to this video. Nice to see Alex notch a few points with EK65

"World of Chel" is a really dumb name, and not in a good way (apparently it's a reference to the fact that the initialism of the league is pronounced "en-ait-chel")

TIL “goaltender” is an old timey word.

Al

Why you gotta do Phil Kessel dirty like that?

I feel the same as Alex about the franchise mode scouting stuff. I like the idea of a more in-depth scouting system, but the process in doing it takes such a long time to get through the whole process and not all that fun.

Thanks for pointing that out. Here I was thinking it was a Portal reference.

Wayne Gretzky

@splodge: pucks

Thanks for having an actual informative Quick Look with people who know what they're talking about with Alex, Jeff and Abby asking questions. As a fan of NHL, once again EA mucks it up with garbage "CHEL" and Ultimate Team modes. Sure the gameplay is better but it's not night and day.

Let me choose a season length like you used to many moons ago so I can actually USE the new franchise feature even if it's disappointing.

you must have a sufficiently high Devils Budget in order to enter the World of Chel

@ybbaaabby in answer to your question about sport specific team names similar to the Nets, in the WHL (one of the junior leagues that are to hockey what the NCAA is to basketball or football) there are the Saskatoon Blades and Kootenay Ice. And a final name to add, especially if you like puns, is the Florida Everblades in the minor league ECHL.

Ah, I love the annual Bakalar Quick Look.

Hell yeah! Fun on the ice as I can see... brought to you by Jeff B!

Love the Bakalar.

@spencero said:

Same here. It's ridiculous that there isn't one, there's clearly a demand for it.

15 minutes to gameplay, was Brad running this QL?

Alex "Forgotten Franco" Navarro

Jesus Bakalar, coming right out of the gates scorching eh?

Also, do people actually call it "chel"? I only ever heard it said by Steve Dangle.

I you want to play a good hockey game, just play Rocket League.

Naw, people get mad at you if you play goalie in Rocket League.

@phished0ne: I have friends way into the NHL games and they definitely call it “chel.”

I feel for Jeff. I had to give up on MLB The Show because each year felt like diminishing returns.

There are superficial changes each iteration to persuade the masses, but many gameplay/presentation flaws still exist for years because they aren't worth the time tweaking in development.

@milkman: It makes sense, its just really weird seeing it directly referenced in the game i guess.

Kinda thinking about picking this up. I follow the NHL really closely but just haven't bought an NHL game since like...the 2K $20 days. My team just got Karlsson so I kind of want to play the game just to play the Sharks lol.

@pxbart said:

Why you gotta do Phil Kessel dirty like that?

Because he's from Madison but went to play for those filthy Rodents. :)

I think EA should make a college hockey game instead. Heavens knows it could use the attention. Plus if the NHL weren't involved maybe they could get back to having fights with meaningful game-play. It would have to be old-school college hockey, though. None of this stupid new age Big10 hockey garbage.

Get ESPN on board. Call it "John Buccigross' Old-Timey Cawlidge Hockey" I'm telling you, it'll be bigger than Madden. You could even have fights as a meaningful part of gameplay again. Of course, they'd have to go big or go home on that score:

Now this is some Bombin' Chel, bruh

This is my favorite GB tradition.

Only here to drop the most glorious picture of the Phil:

Jeff, for what it's worth that non-icing call at 42:57 was a good no call because that defenseman could have played it but didn't.

Otherwise, I feel like your critiques of this game are the same that I've been saying of the series for years now. They've never really felt like a hockey game.

I looove @ybbaaabby's participation in sports game QLs! She asks all the important questions and has the best reactions.

Maybe it's because I'm rewatching Breaking Bad, but both the announcer for that Battle Royale mode and J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man sound like Bryan Cranston...

@spencero: Best pc hockey game is that eastside hockey manager

I love Phil Kessel and, as a Leafs fan, think he deserved far better treatment from them on his way out. Also, there’s a simply amazing GIF that I’m not sure how to properly link to here of Phil and his teammates going through what I think is fitness testing using stationary bikes. I don’t want to spoil it, so if you’re curious and/or need a good laugh from an honest-to-god professional athlete, Google “Phil Kessel Stationary Bike” and enjoy.

I've played 200 hours or so of NHL18, and while subtle (and hard to notice if you don't play a lot), the changes this year are really good. Skating is way more fluid and fast, definitely makes both the pace of play and the feeling much better. Poke checks needed a nerf, so I like that they give penalties unless you poke into an exposed stick. Hitting is maybe a bit silly, but functionally much better. Also some good UI improvements in HUT.

All in all definitely not a huge revamp, but very good changes all around.

The fact that this wasn't the response to Abby asking what is icing makes me question Bakalar's so called love of hockey.

Oh look, another EA game that is still all about style over substance. I'm guessing they have that written on the wall somewhere there. Oh well.

Did they pull the goal songs out of the game? The game audio was down but it sound just like a horn, without the actual song.

My love/hate relationship with the NHL series feels like a curse. The Leafs just got John Tavares and will be stacked, which makes me want to play but I refuse to pay full price like I have every other year. Last year, the price dropped by $35 a month after release on a sale. I'm more excited about hockey than I've ever been but the least excited for this franchise. Year after year, I feel like EA just doesn't care but there are no other options.

It would make me so happy to finally see an NHL game come out that gets Jeff excited. Every year is the same old story at this point.

Maybe next year!

"Al"?

Also, the guy in the 4th row at 47:23 is a better Alex than the one provided by the create-a-player mode.

Well that's kind of a bummer. Aside from the main menu this looks exactly the same as last year. I'd love for them to include some sort of Madden style story mode into the be a pro mode because currently I don't give half a thin shit about any mode outside of franchise.

I'll still probably get it when it goes on sale for like $20 in a few months because I'm a huge idiot.

Phil kessel loves hockey, hot dogs, and giantbomb.com.

Booo Devils. Go Penguins!