Latest Reviews of EA Vancouver Games
Review NHL 25 (PS5) - Another Season Mired in Mediocrity
Puck me up
In life, there are three certainties: death, taxes, and underwhelming, incremental upgrades to annual sports titles. Enter NHL 25, EA Vancouver’s latest iteration of the greatest game on ice. While EA’s hockey titles tend to fare better year-to-year than Madden or EA Sports FC, that doesn’t mean the title is always able to escape...
The same old blood Rush with a new touch
We’ve had more fun with EA Sports FC 25 than we have with any soccer sim for quite some time. Perhaps that’s because, outside of the review period, we largely abandoned EA Sports FC 24 – or perhaps, whisper it quietly, it’s because the footie franchise is in a good place. Either way, a ton of...
Review NHL 24 (PS5) - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Haven't we done this?
When it comes to reviewing sports titles, it can often feel like being trapped in a time loop. Much like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, you may find yourself feeling as if you’re playing the same thing over and over each time you pick up a game. This sensation of déjà vu is very much present when it comes to EA Vancouver’s...
Review EA Sports FC 24 (PS5) - Rebranded and Refined But Not Revolutionary
New era
The high-profile split between EA Sports and football’s governing body FIFA has resulted in a dramatic rebrand of one of gaming’s biggest franchises – but not an enormous amount has changed on the pitch. That’s not to say nothing is different in this refined soccer sim, however, which is ostensibly FIFA 24 in all but name. So,...
Review NHL 23 (PS5) – The Same as Last Year, with Small Changes
Stick it out
It’s the same thing every year, isn’t it? Annual sports titles get announced, highlight a few key features, and then hunker down for a few months, hoping any sort of pushback gets swept under the rug. It hits some series’ harder than others, Madden NFL being the most noteworthy franchise to endure a rough go of things. But some...
Review FIFA 23 (PS5) - Series Ends on a High, But Familiar Frustrations Remain
Touch grass
After an incredible 30-year run, FIFA 23 had to go out on a high – and to be fair, we reckon it just about has. Fans of EA Sports’ flagship football franchise will be familiar with the formula: this is more refinement than revolution, but FIFA 22 threaded through some of the best virtual soccer we’ve seen from the juggernaut...
Review FIFA 22 (PS5) - Football Sim Makes Meaningful Strides on the Pitch
Beautiful game
Republished on Wednesday 27th April 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The biggest compliment you can pay FIFA 22 is that it feels like real football for once. EA Sports’ soccer simulator still has its fair share of quirks,...
Review EA Sports UFC 4 (PS4) - A Strong Sequel That Knows What Players Want
Stand and bang
Republished on Wednesday 26th January, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. We suppose the biggest challenge that EA Sports has always faced with its line of officially branded UFC games is that players clearly prefer to box...
Review NHL 22 (PS5) - A New Shine Applied to a Familiar Experience
We've been here before
New console generations can prove rocky for sports franchises: performance issues, bugs, and a reduction in features are routinely guaranteed. Certainly, that's the fate that awaited EA's NHL series when it transitioned to the PlayStation 4 – after all, we still have nightmares about the abysmal NHL 15. Surprisingly, EA...
Review NHL 21 - The Best Iteration of the Generation
Bardown? More like bar up
Sports games bring with them a certain expectation from fans. The titles get churned out every year, with relatively little difference, except maybe a few new ways to try and pry some extra money out of your hands with microtransactions. But you keep coming back because if you love a particular sport, there aren't any...
Latest EA Vancouver Articles
News NHL 24 PS5, PS4 Gameplay Trailer Puckers Up with Improvements
The times are a changin'
Fresh off announcing the cover athlete for NHL 24, EA Vancouver has offered a glimpse at what to expect from this year’s hockey title with a breakdown trailer showing off changes as well as a peek at the gameplay. Annual sports titles in the industry have a tendency to fixate on changing three or four things per release,...
News NHL 24 Pulls Back The Curtain on PS5, PS4 Cover Athlete
All hail Cale
With the autumn approaching, it's time for information about this year's edition of the NHL franchise to start trickling in. And the first thing out of the gate is course the cover athlete. Last year, we saw not one, but two firsts, with Trevor Zegras making the first member of the Anaheim Ducks to appear on a cover, as well as...
News NHL 23 PS5, PS4 Cover Reveal Offers Up Some Surprising Firsts
Quack! Quack! Quack!
While we're set to get our first glimpse at the gameplay of NHL 23 very soon, in the meantime, the cover athlete has been revealed. Or should we say, athletes. The cover athlete for any given sports title always generates interest, but they usually wind up feeling like safe, or unsurprising choices. It makes sense to put the...
News NHL 22 Pulls Back the Curtain with 27 Minutes of Gameplay
Plus commentary
In the second of a four-part series of videos offering a deep-dive look into NHL 22 — the first being a long look at World of CHEL — we get an absolutely massive twenty-seven-minute gameplay breakdown. It's about the equivalent of sitting down and getting to see a game played straight through. This of course includes running...
News NHL 22 Shows First Proper Look at Gameplay with New Trailer
It definitely looks like a hockey game
After NHL 22’s reveal trailer last week, it was only a matter of time before we got a proper look at how the frozen sports next-gen debut would play. Today, we get our first real glimpse at the game, with a pretty extensive gameplay trailer with commentary that highlights the new features coming to this...
News NHL 22 Reveal Trailer Shows Off a New Look for the Franchise on PS5, PS4
NHL joins the Frostbite family in October
Things are certainly shaping up nicely for NHL 22, aren't they? While normally a generational transition for a sports title is something to be feared — we still haven't forgotten NHL 15 — NHL 22 seems poised to buck that trend. The last of EA's sports franchises to make the leap to the Frostbite engine,...
Hands On NHL 21 Is Looking a Lot Like a Hockey Game
Déjà vu
Alright, stop us if you’ve heard this one before: NHL 21 feels a lot like last year’s game. Between all the modes on offer and the actual presentation of the game, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any key differences between last year’s product and EA Vancouver’s newest entry in the chilled sports franchise. Now, in fairness to...
News NHL 24 PS5, PS4 Gameplay Trailer Puckers Up with Improvements
The times are a changin'
Fresh off announcing the cover athlete for NHL 24, EA Vancouver has offered a glimpse at what to expect from this year’s hockey title with a breakdown trailer showing off changes as well as a peek at the gameplay. Annual sports titles in the industry have a tendency to fixate on changing three or four things per release,...
News NHL 24 Pulls Back The Curtain on PS5, PS4 Cover Athlete
All hail Cale
With the autumn approaching, it's time for information about this year's edition of the NHL franchise to start trickling in. And the first thing out of the gate is course the cover athlete. Last year, we saw not one, but two firsts, with Trevor Zegras making the first member of the Anaheim Ducks to appear on a cover, as well as...
News NHL 23 PS5, PS4 Cover Reveal Offers Up Some Surprising Firsts
Quack! Quack! Quack!
While we're set to get our first glimpse at the gameplay of NHL 23 very soon, in the meantime, the cover athlete has been revealed. Or should we say, athletes. The cover athlete for any given sports title always generates interest, but they usually wind up feeling like safe, or unsurprising choices. It makes sense to put the...
News NHL 22 Pulls Back the Curtain with 27 Minutes of Gameplay
Plus commentary
In the second of a four-part series of videos offering a deep-dive look into NHL 22 — the first being a long look at World of CHEL — we get an absolutely massive twenty-seven-minute gameplay breakdown. It's about the equivalent of sitting down and getting to see a game played straight through. This of course includes running...
News NHL 22 Shows First Proper Look at Gameplay with New Trailer
It definitely looks like a hockey game
After NHL 22’s reveal trailer last week, it was only a matter of time before we got a proper look at how the frozen sports next-gen debut would play. Today, we get our first real glimpse at the game, with a pretty extensive gameplay trailer with commentary that highlights the new features coming to this...
News NHL 22 Reveal Trailer Shows Off a New Look for the Franchise on PS5, PS4
NHL joins the Frostbite family in October
Things are certainly shaping up nicely for NHL 22, aren't they? While normally a generational transition for a sports title is something to be feared — we still haven't forgotten NHL 15 — NHL 22 seems poised to buck that trend. The last of EA's sports franchises to make the leap to the Frostbite engine,...
Hands On NHL 21 Is Looking a Lot Like a Hockey Game
Déjà vu
Alright, stop us if you’ve heard this one before: NHL 21 feels a lot like last year’s game. Between all the modes on offer and the actual presentation of the game, you’d be hard-pressed to notice any key differences between last year’s product and EA Vancouver’s newest entry in the chilled sports franchise. Now, in fairness to...