''NHL 20'' is an
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
simulation video game
Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...
developed by
EA Vancouver
EA Vancouver (formerly known as EA Burnaby, then EA Canada) is a Canadian video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia. The development studio opened as Distinctive Software in January 1983, and is also Electronic Arts's largest and ...
and published by
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...
. It was released globally on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on September 13, 2019. It is the 29th installment in the
NHL video game series and features
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...
center
Auston Matthews as the official and North American cover athlete, and would return as the cover athlete in
NHL 22
''NHL 22'' is an ice hockey simulation video game developed by EA Vancouver and published by EA Sports. It is the 31st installment in the ''NHL'' video game series and was released for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/ ...
.
Elias Pettersson
Elias Fredrik Pettersson (born 12 November 1998) is a Swedish professional ice hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Pettersson was selected fifth overall by the Canucks in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Nickname ...
of the
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...
was named the cover athlete for the Swedish cover, and
Patrik Laine
Patrik Laine (; born 19 April 1998) is a Finnish professional ice hockey winger who currently plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League. Laine formerly played in his native Finland with Tappara in the Finnish Liiga befor ...
of the
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...
was named the Finnish cover athlete for the second year in a row.
Features
''NHL 20'' introduces new game modes such as Squad Battles in Hockey Ultimate team. The game features a new commentary team of play-by-play man
James Cybulski and
Ray Ferraro
Raymond Vincent Ferraro (born August 23, 1964) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and currently broadcaster for ESPN/ ABC and formerly of TSN. He played for 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hartford Whaler ...
as the main color commentator at ice level. The pair replace the ''
NHL on NBC
The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States.
While NBC covered t ...
'' duo of
Mike Emrick and
Eddie Olczyk
Edward Walter Olczyk Jr. (; born August 16, 1966) is a former center in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. He ...
, whom Ferraro worked with on previous NHL video games. Consequently, the ''NHL on NBC'' graphics package and
score bugs have been removed and replaced with a generic EA Sports graphics package and score bug. Cybulski and Ferraro will be joined by other celebrity guests (i.e., rapper
Snoop Dogg) for certain games. Expansion Mode is also available, with the user adding a 32nd team to the league. Although the default team in this mode is named "Seattle 32nd Franchise" (to reflect the real-life
Seattle Kraken
The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...
that began play in 2021), any city and team name combination can be used, and the league will be realigned accordingly.
During the 2019
NHL Awards
The National Hockey League presents numerous annual awards and trophies to recognize its teams and players. The oldest, and most recognizable, is the Stanley Cup. First awarded in 1893, the Stanley Cup is awarded to the NHL's playoff champion. ...
, EA announced that ''NHL 20'' would be getting a new shooting engine powered by RPM to reflect signature shots of players such as
P. K. Subban and
Alexander Ovechkin
Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin ( rus, Александр Михайлович Овечкин, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐˈvʲetɕkʲɪn; born 17 September 1985) is a Russian professional ice hockey left winger and captain of the Washington Capital ...
. World of CHEL now has challenges, weekly in-game events and more.
Reception
''NHL 20'' received "generally favorable" reviews for the PS4
and Xbox One
versions of the game, according to
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
Accolades
The game was nominated for "Sports Game of the Year" at the
23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and won the award for "Game, Franchise Sports" at the NAVGTR Awards.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:NHL 20
EA Sports games
Electronic Arts games
PlayStation 4 games
2019 video games
Video games developed in Canada
Xbox One games
NHL (video game series)
Xbox One X enhanced games