It is that time of year where the weather gets colder, the leafs on the your favorite tree in the front yard start going brown and your loved ones starting wondering why you have not surfaced from the basement. Hockey season is around the corner and until the puck drops on the new NHL season you will be tucked away in your gaming domain playing NHL 18, well at least I will be.

Clearly by now everyone knows I am a die-hard sports video game fan and the NHL franchise has always been my favorite. NHL 18 is a great game but I must admit not a lot has changed from NHL 17 but I am fine with that. I enjoyed NHL 17 a lot and the franchise has continued to improve over its last few titles since it burst onto next-gen consoles.

One element of NHL 18 that stands out a lot to me is the new menu setup. Now you have the option of pinning 3 of your favorite modes to your main screen load out. I placed my 3 favorite modes right on my dashboard and I was off to the races. Now the extended menu is fantastic as well as you can see below so I gotta give credit to EA on this one.

Digging deeper into the game modes I want to highlight some of the new modes/existing that have got a boost this year. The drop down menu above will show you all possible game modes in NHL 18 this year.

We first got to play NHL Threes in the beta and we couldn’t put the game down. If you are as old as me you will remember NHL Hitz which was an arcade over the top style hockey game. Now NHL Threes mimic’s NHL Hitz but has its own little twists to it. You can set various rules like how many goals to score or if you want to include the “money puck” in your games. Now NHL Threes is fun because of the “money puck” with this special puck you either gain 2-3 goals or it can turn in minus goals. You could be up 4-0 but all of a sudden your opponent hits the money puck and drops you down 3 goals and they are now winning the game. Those are the little things that make this mode a lot of fun and not to mention it takes literally a minute to set up the game and play. Great addition to NHL 18 and a lot of fun to play with friends.

Franchise mode stood out for me this year as well which is rare. The mode feels realistic and with the expansion of the league to Vegas you have the option of playing as them or you can actually build your own team from scratch which I found to be a real cool and realistic feature as well. Not a lot on the customization side but overall a great step in the right direction for this mode

Hockey Ultimate Team in NHL 18 has some minor changes with a new feature called HUT Challenges. HUT challenges are objectives that you can either play against the CPU or with friends to help you unlock special rewards to build your team. HUT Challenges will be updated with dynamic content and feature new rewards making this a more fun experience.

140 challenges to start when you enter this game mode. below EA has listed the challenges into sections for you to complete and gain rewards. This is a great addition to an already popular game mode.

Team Challenges

Progress your way through all the teams in leagues like the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and the NHL, unlocking better teams as you complete challenges. The harder the competition, the better the rewards.

3-Star Challenges

3-Star Challenges put your entire NHL® 18 skill set to the test. These HUT Challenges will have objectives that will require you to adjust your play style to complete objectives offensively, defensively and on the power play and penalty kill!

Synergy Challenges

Complete these HUT Challenges to earn a player item for each of the HUT Syngeries in game!

NHL Journey Challenges

Embark on a journey from the Memorial Cup all the way to the NHL with your HUT team in these HUT Challenges!

Co-op Challenges

Invite a friend through online or local play to complete these co-op exclusive HUT Challenges!

New this year are the creative attack dekes and the defensive skill stick. With the new deke system you have more control to pull off some awesome dekes. New dekes like the one-handed goal are awesome to pull off if you can do it and you can also string together a few dekes together. I really like this feature and it makes the skill stick more responsive when dangling your opponent.

The defensive skill gives you more control for poke checking and keeping your stick in passing and shooting lanes as well. You can now sweep your stick better to cover the one time pass across or break up shots as well.

They seemed to have upgraded the A.I in this game as well but to be honest they say this every year and they continue to dumb down the goalie A.I and it drives me nuts! the goalies are still too easy to score on and sometimes ruin a great game going on with a goal that trickles in from the blue line. I know they will never change the goalie A.I which is such a shame as they keep improving everything else. MAKE IT HARDER FOR US TO SCORE!!!!

NHL 18 takes some big steps in the right direction this year which is great but more could have been done. NHL Threes will carry NHL 18 this year as this mode is way over the top and so much fun. HUT will always be a fantastic mode and with the addition of HUT Challenges it will have people playing more and more. The visuals are great with player likeness and the gameplay is still great. Overall NHL 18 is a must have for the fans of this series or for anyone who loves hockey.

Cheers Folks!