HUT Needs This One Game Mode

Every NHL season is full of historical moments, highlight reel goals, and plays that make your jaw drop. All you have to do is watch Steve Dangle's Dang-its series to see just how many amazing plays are pulled off every day. Players like McDavid, Mackinnon, Makar, and Tkachuk frequently fill these videos with their elite level plays, but it's not just them. It's the milestone moments like Ovechkin scoring his 800th goal and reaching 2nd all time on the NHL goal scorers list, or even the fun, good hearted moments like when an emergency backup goalie gets to play in a NHL game. How cool would it be if you could relive these moments in Chel?

Believe it or not, 10+ years ago you could actually relive these iconic moments, and it was amazing. NHL Moments Live was released in NHL 13, and it allowed fans to replay some of the biggest moments in recent NHL history. When the game launched, you were able to play some of the top moments from last year's season. Then as moments happened in real time, the game mode would update with those recent events that you could replay. It was a great way to blend the real world of NHL with the video game, and fans loved it. The only downside was there was no real "benefit" to playing the mode besides just experiencing those moments, as you we're often rewarded with a few hundred EA pucks, the virtual currency used to buy packs and cards in HUT.

However, there is an ultimate team that has laid a solid foundation of how EA could implement this into NHL 24, while also making it worth playing and enjoyable for players. MLB The Show 23 has incorporated real life moments into their programs, and they're a major component of how players work to get the best cards in MLB's Diamond Dynasty, the equivalent of Hockey Ultimate Team. If EA we're to implement something similar into their Hockey Ultimate Team game mode, they might just have a home run with this.

In MLB The Show 23, programs often come out every one to two weeks. Some of them are related to the real MLB, such as monthly awards that often have a high overall card of a player who has performed well that month, or they can be related to non MLB events, such as Fathers Day. Programs are released with a "path" that you progress on that path by gaining stars to push further and unlock new cards, packs, and stubs (or coins). There are multiple ways to gain stars, playing games on a specific online game mode, completing missions or tasks, or playing moments. 

For moments, players can play and attempt to complete the objective in order to gain progress on the path. Some moments can be short, such as recreating Elly De La Cruz's iconic moment where he stole second base, third base, and eventually home. Others can be much longer, and require you to play multiple innings to recreate a pitcher's impressive performance. Loading in and out of a moment is quick, and you can typically rifle off a handful of them in a short time, gaining progress on your path for that specific program. One of the more enjoyable moments in a program is the monthly Topps Now programs, which highlight specifically exciting and entertaining moments that have happened recently, often no less than two weeks from when they actually happened, keeping the moment relevant to sports fans. 

Here's the thing, sports games are often at their best when they can connect the real world sport to the video game. When MLB The Show has programs tied to events like the Home Run Derby or All Star Game, when EA FC tied in the World Cup with an actual World Cup game mode, or when NHL releases their Fantasy Hockey event where cards level up based on the players performance in real life. All of these are often some of if not the most popular events in each individual game. Fans of a sports game are fans of the sport, and if you can find a way to incorporate both together, while making it rewarding for the player, then you've achieved the goal of sports video games: connecting fans and the sport together.