NHL 17 cover art

NHL 17

Tests stick-skill execution and reading a human defender's commitments.

Here's the argument for where this game sits - disagree freely.
Match your experience?
EXECUTION7 /10READS6 /10VARIANCE2 /10OPTIMIZATION4 /10

the cheat-test profile

The four axes - the argument

Each axis is rated on its own - how far one cheat would trivialize the game here. They don't trade off; low on all four means the game is an experience, not a contest.

  1. Execution

    cheat: Aimbot - perfect inputs

    7/10

    Stick control, deking and shot timing decide possessions

  2. Reads

    cheat: Out-predict an adaptive opponent

    6/10

    Versus humans, baiting poke checks and reading rushes is constant

  3. Variance

    cheat: See what's hidden / map the RNG

    2/10

    Bounces and deflections add hockey's natural chaos

  4. Optimization

    cheat: A perfect solver / coach

    4/10

    Line strategies and meta plays are learnable systems

How to read this

Each axis is named by the cheat that would break the game along it. Execution is the hands. Reads is out-thinking an adaptive opponent. Variance is hidden information & RNG. Optimization is the solvable systems layer. A game's region is the top one or two axes.

These four aren't one rating split four ways - they're independent 0-10 questions. A 9 on one axis takes nothing from the others, and a game low on all four isn't missing data: it's telling you there's no skill here to cheat.

The basis is how the majority actually plays this game - not a niche mode or a personal run. For a game with very different modes (a story campaign versus ranked multiplayer), that's the version most people mean.

Game details

Released
2016
Developer
EA Canada
Franchise
NHL
Platforms
PS4, XONE
Modes
Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Split screen
IGDB critics
80/100
IGDB users
79/100
SportNon-fiction