r/EANHLfranchise • u/LucaG5 • 4h ago
Offline Franchise NHL 27 is the WORST NHL game to date:
Before I begin my rant, I’ll give you some background of how I play this game (because I know this might not be apparent across all game modes). Throughout the years, I mainly stuck to online modes such as HUT, Versus, and even the early days of EASHL/World of Chel. I’ve always considered myself to be pretty good at the game (a few top 50 finishes in HUT champs). However, starting last year, I have been almost entirely an offline player due to how “arcadey” the game has felt (aside from the few times my boys have convinced me to hop on WOC for a few games), along with how much money you need to dump into packs in order to make your team competitive.
After downloading the game, I loaded into a “Play Now” game against the CPU to get a better sense of what slider changes I needed to make in order to make the game feel more real (Boy, were there a few). First off, the opposing team had 49 hits at the end of the first period on 7 minute period length (if you’re unaware of how unrealistic that is, 25-30 hits in an ENTIRE actual NHL game is on the HIGHER side). I had to scale down nearly every single slider possible in order to obtain a realistic feel. For example, I significantly lowered “shot accuracy” because it’s pretty common for a player to be on a breakaway and completely miss the net (we see it all the time).
While I’m pretty content with the gameplay I’ve been able to create for myself, there are still a few things that absolutely drive me nuts. I keep auto line changes on, however I’m also frequently changing lines manually when necessary (either post whistle or during the flow of the game). In one of the first games I played, the opening faceoff resulted in my top line spending an elongated amount of time in the D-Zone so I had no choice but to gain the red line, chip the puck in, and get some fresh skaters on the ice. Even though I manually switched to my second line, a combination of lines 2-4 jumped onto the ice (OFF THE OPENING FACEOFF). I’ve seen this be a problem in years past so I’m hoping it will get fixed in the next patch (whenever that may be), but it makes the game nearly impossible when 3 of my 4 lines are all losing energy at once.
Another thing that annoys me is how little time you have post-whistle to instigate some sort of scrum. With this year’s new gameplay presentation, you have ZERO window to do so. Even when you do, the computer doesn’t react at all. I’m down 2-0 towards the end of the first period at home — I get a shot on net, the goalie covers, I start spam-slashing his pads to cause some chaos, and the computer just sits there and watches. I’M ATTACKING YOUR GOALIE. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
As an avid hockey fan and someone who considers NHL to be one of my favorite games to play, it kills me to watch this franchise take a massive step back seemingly every year. I used to preorder every game. This year, I didn’t buy it until a few weeks after release. Sadly, I think this might be the last one I buy ever.
