NHL 19 Reviews
Don't let NHL 19's slick menus and new skating animations fool you: the same NHL game you've been playing for five years is still here. If you already know the series well, this is unquestionably the best iteration of the title, but it comes with the added caveat that it's hindered by many of the same problems from years past. The reduced significance of poke check, and smaller changes like new skating animations, definitely help elevate the general presentation of the title – but it could and should be so much better than it is.
NHL 19 is hardly an improvement on the traditional hockey formula and opens up some potentially exploitative avenues.
NHL 19 is vastly better than its predecessors in terms of value and pushing the franchise forward, but it still falls short of a significant upgrade in many areas. If you haven't purchased an NHL title in a while, this is a good year to jump back in and experience one of the better NHL games in recent memory.
EA has an impressive sports line-up, but this year's NHL entry clearly got a bit less love than some of the more universally adored sports.
With NHL 19, hockey fans get a glimpse of how much fun these games COULD be.
EA Vancouver increased the realistic motion effect experience in NHL 19, and implemented a diversity of changes in the game modes.
Review in French | Read full review
NHL 19 takes some interesting risks with World of Chel while bringing badly-needed improvements to the gameplay. Its modes are customarily solid, but the faster, tighter action on the ice is what makes it possible to recommend NHL 19 to newcomers and lapsed hockey fans alike.
NHL 19 offers an enjoyable offline hockey simulation, with highly customizable franchise and offbeat modes. Online, the new World of CHEL tilts the ice to the casual side of things, which not everyone will appreciate. Various technical issues also linger, so this year's edition is best suited for fans of single player.
Outside of a couple of minor tweaks that most players won't notice, things are mostly the same, which is odd when you consider that both One and Pro-Am could work well offline and that this game's servers will shut off one day. Yearly players who stay offline should heavily consider whether the few small changes there make NHL 19 worth picking up, but I have no problem recommending it to the multiplayer die-hards or those who want to jump into the games for the first time.
NHL 19 is basically a very good sports game, but the HUT-mode microtransactions are a scandal.
Review in German | Read full review
The new entry in the NHL series has once again brought several new features to the table, such as the new collision system, improved player movements, and the World Of Chel pond mode, that can properly entertain and keep the fans from getting tired. NHL 19 is without a doubt the best hockey game on the market, but to be fair, it doesn't have any competition.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
NHL 19 offers minimum changes, but it is still a great hockey which, unfortunately, does not have competition.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
NHL 19 is somehow both great and a bit disappointing. Sure, this is the best hockey game yet, with an almost impossible amount of depth. This is the kind of game you can play all year and still not feel like having even really scratched the surface. It is good sit down and play for a couple of hours or just jump in for one game and then head out to do something else, but at the same time, this barely feels like an upgrade over last year's version or the year before that. It's the same iteration of game over and over again, each slightly superior to the one before it. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but at the same time this might be a hard purchase to justify for new rosters and a couple different modes. It is still a great title, but one that has definitely been seen before.
NHL 19 is not a perfect game - but for hockey fans it is pretty darned close.
It's not without its flaws, but NHL 19 is finally a game that any hockey fan would be better off picking up than skipping.
There is a lot of difference between 18 and 19 — an improvement on the relative holding pattern that the franchise went into last year — but when you boil it right down, 5v5 hockey remains largely the same.
NHL 19 is really good, especially compared to the previous year, now feels much more accessible, more fun and generally more complete
Review in Spanish | Read full review
NHL 19 stands strong with the other EA Sports offerings this year. Its inclusion of a myriad of different modes and customization add a depth that past installments were missing. Whether you play NHL for its online competitive nature, or you just like to play against your friends on the couch, NHL 19 is a great pickup for any fan of hockey.
NHL 19 is a solid game and one that packs plenty of ways to enjoy its core mechanics.
There are still things that need addressing, but NHL 19 is the best hockey experience I've had with the NHL franchise in the PS4 era.