One of the most common complaints surrounding the EA Sports' NHL franchise is that it's gotten pretty stale over the years. That's been especially true for some of their offline game modes, including Be-A-Pro.
While a lot of NHL's cross-sport competitors like "Madden," "NBA 2K," "FIFA" and "MLB The Show" have all featured these narrative-driven, sometimes theatrical career mode experiences over the past few years, NHL's Be-A-Pro mode has basically gathered dust. Essentially, NHL's career mode has simply consisted of the user making a player, getting drafted and then playing games with player lock on. It hasn't been immersive or unique experience... at all.
This year, with "NHL 21," Be-A-Pro is finally getting some much-needed attention. The mode is a big focus of this year's release -- even the cover athlete (Alex Ovechkin) and marketing campaign were chosen and designed around individual career-building.
This year, the goal for EA is to provide a deeper, more rewarding and more cohesive story elements around your Be-A-Pro. They let me spend a couple of days with it last week and, I gotta say, it's definitely better -- even if that's not saying a lot.
A number of cut scenes and narrative elements are added into the mix this year and they do an effective job of injecting some life into the game mode. EA has introduced conversations to the mode this year; players will interact with coaches, teammates, the media and an agent over the course of the game mode. Those conversations will force the user to make some decisions, both on and off the ice, that will have an effect on the player's career.
For example, a teammate may ask your player to go out on the town a night before a game. If you accept the invitation, it could negatively affect your player's rating and performance for the game but boost your locker room likability and team/line chemistry. These are the kinds of things that you'll have to balance in the mode this year. It adds more layers to the experience, and that's much needed.
I also have to mention that the gameplay is a little better this year, and that obviously makes Be-A-Pro more fun to play. It all flows a bit smoother and feels more unique on a game-to-game basis. There are more options for deking and getting around defenders, making it a bit easier to create offense -- especially in transition off the rush.
But the biggest improvement to gameplay comes with computer AI, as computer players actually seem to have functioning brains and more responsiveness to what's happening on the ice. Not only is that great for all areas of gameplay, but it's especially huge for Be-A-Pro. There's nothing worse than having to play on player lock and rely on computer teammates when your computer teammates are just being total idiots and basically playing like a chicken with their head cut off. While playing through Be-A-Pro, I was surprisingly impressed with the AI's ability to read specific situations and react accordingly. Controlling my playmaking forward was a lot of fun because my teammates actually worked to get to open space and it was possible to cycle the puck in the offensive zone without wanting to rip my hair out. And, as an added bonus, they actually finished when I set them up with golden opportunities.
Alright, so now that we've talked about some of the positives, what still needs work?
"NHL 21's" Be-A-Pro is a solid launching pad and jumping-off point for the future of the mode, but that's basically all it is. The narrative stuff probably isn't going to blow you away and it seems like a lot of the dialogue, prompts and player objectives can be pretty basic and repetitive. Most of the in-game cut scenes seem to follow the same conversation format-- either you can promise to be a team player and help your team get back in the game or protect a lead, or you can promise to be the star and score a goal yourself.
It doesn't seem like there's gonna be a ton of super unique cut scenes or interactions based on the team you're drafted by or anything. It would be cool to have different experiences when you're drafted by a contending team versus a team that's rebuilding and looking to you to be a savior, but it seems like the playthrough experience is going to be largely the same regardless of where you go -- at least straight out of the gate.
Also, I'm a bit skeptical about the longevity of the mode and its ability to keep things interesting and fresh if you were to play a long career in the mode. Again, I only got a few days to be hands-on with it but but it definitely seems like a lot of the narrative elements are shaped around the player's rookie year -- they basically treat winning the Calder Trophy like it's the Stanley Cup, which is a little weird -- and that's something that was essentially confirmed in a Q&A with the game's creative developers. But they also promised that there would continue to be narrative elements beyond the rookie year... I just don't know how deep those elements are going to get.
Overall, it's a step in the right direction for the franchise -- even if it's one that's long overdue and even if it's still lagging behind some of the competitors. At the very least, it's got a shiny new coat of paint and adds a little bit more depth to the game, but the big question here is whether they're going to continue this momentum and continuing building off a solid revamp, or if they're going to turn their attention to other areas and let Be-A-Pro get stale once again. Let's hope for the former.
