NHL 16: Be A Pro Mode's Biggest Problems

Feature Article

Submitted on: 10/28/2015 by Jayson Young

After last year's game inexplicably omitted the ability to simulate to your next shift, NHL 16 at least brought that feature back from last gen's Be A Pro mode. But EA Canada still has not improved the series' annoyingly long loading times between shifts. You can expect to waste 10 seconds staring at a black screen every time you step off the ice, which adds up to about 3.5 minutes of in-match loading per game if your coach is giving you 20 shifts a night. I don't understand how a game like NBA 2K16 can get my character out of his seat and onto the court in only a second or two, while EA Canada's hockey title continues to trip over the same technical hurdle.

The transition from a first-person perspective (while sitting on the bench) to whatever third-person camera you're using during gameplay is also very disorienting for your first couple of strides coming onto the ice. EA should include an option to keep the camera locked into a third-person view for the entire game to make line changes more seamless.

The AI Suffers From the Same Issues in Every Mode

I've already written a lot about the AI problems that make all of NHL 16's offline modes a pain to play, but for Be A Pro, specifically:

-Your AI teammates will only look to create one-timers on offense, and since the CPU is terrible at turning their bodies and setting their sticks to receive passes, most of their one-timers will have no power and will fly way off target due to poor pre-shot preparation.

-Your teammates rarely win one-on-one battles for the puck, and will frequently make poor decisions whenever they are pinned against the boards or stuck behind the net, leading to lots of unnecessary turnovers.

-Trying to play offense in NHL 16's Be A Pro mode feels more like an adventure in babysitting than a hockey night in Canada. You'll need to dominate the puck and take most of the shots yourself because no one else on the ice can be trusted to make winning plays.

-Defending the CPU's attack isn't much fun, either, since all they do is spam one-timer passes into the slot until they finally luck out and squeak one through multiple sticks/skates/limbs/bodies for a goal. The inability to tie up opposing forwards and take away their stick (a feature that still has not been transplanted from last gen) makes it frustratingly difficult to defend the CPU's go-to scoring tactic.

There's Nothing Beyond the Ice

Aside from the 20 seconds it takes to simulate your weekly off-ice training and read the latest two-sentence performance report from your bosses, there's nothing in NHL 16's Be A Pro mode to break up the monotony of grinding through 82 regular season games. You can't even play the All-Star Game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One if you happen to be selected (again, you could last gen).

The training sessions could have been interesting if they were actual mini-games that you could pass/fail instead of being simulated events. A live practice mode like in NBA 2K16's MyCareer would also be a welcome addition, as it would give players an opportunity to work on their moves and explore their skills/limitations in a pressure-free environment.

EA Canada's dormant Fight Night franchise proved that the company is capable of creating a compelling story mode for high-definition consoles, yet the career modes in their NHL games remain stuck in the 1990s design style of boring text bubbles and stat spreadsheets. Most single-player video games coming from major publishers these days are essentially interactive movies. Twenty three months past the PlayStation 4's and Xbox One's launch, Visual Concepts shouldn't be the only sports developer whose career mode is built around cutscenes and storylines. This should be the standard for all career modes, like it has become for most other triple-A gaming genres.

The Entry Draft Logic Is Buggy

If you can endure the mental torment of playing alongside minor league teammates who can't skate, shoot, pass, or defend -- and you miraculously manage to win the Memorial Cup while recording league-leading numbers -- your created character could still get drafted in a late round, or not get drafted at all due to a bug in Be A Pro's performance report logic. You can post the most goals, assists, and points in the minors, but your own coach and general manager will still think poorly of you. And for some unknown (and still unpatched reason) so will all the other NHL teams looking to draft you.

You Can't Scan Your Face Into the Game

NBA Live, FIFA, and UFC all give gamers some way to put their real face onto their created character, either via EA's Game Face website, or by downloading a free mobile application. NHL 16 doesn't support either option, forcing gamers to choose from a few pre-built faces, heads and haircuts. If you want to make a woman, you'll only get to pick from a paltry two(!) female models, plus you'll have zero control over your hair and facial features.

Commentators Use Male Pronouns To Describe Female Skaters

Be A Pro players have had the option to create female characters since NHL 12. But even after changing the commentary team last season, NHL 16 is still referring to female skaters as "he" instead of "she" during gameplay. Hearing "He skates it into the slot!" or "He shoots; he scores!" when the person with the puck is clearly not a "he" significantly limits this mode's appeal for female hockey fans.

So how about it, moving forward what do you want to see changed in NHL's Be a Pro mode?

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Member Comments

# 1 JP7555 @ 10/29/15 12:06 AM

These points are all very valid. I'm in my 2nd CHL season and leading the league in goals and overall points. I play roughly 30 games a season and sim the rest. I'm being told by a potential agent I'm being lazy (not playing enough) and that I might not be drafted. Again, I'm leading the league in goals and points.

As for game play, the article is right. If you want to score, you have to mostly take it upon yourself.

The AI of your teammates on defense is just short of being totally inept. The AI of the opponent isn't much better.

Off the ice stuff, like any kind of story line, to the way attributes are improved on, just needs to be re-done totally. It's not very good, period.

Hopefully some of this is addressed this year, like the game play stuff and how/if you're drafted and evaluated. Currently, it's basically broken.

I probably won't play the mode any longer............. which is too bad, because I like that kind of mode.

# 2 ChiTownBluesFan @ 10/30/15 12:36 PM

I really don't have a problem with the gameplay itself - my teammates score plenty often (although this is at the NHL level). The biggest problem is the in-game stuff related to attributes. From having absolutely *no* idea what improves 'team play', to having a weird penalty called on you in a blowout that reduces y 'team play' score by 25% (really? I've gone from a B+ to C because of a penalty in the last 5 minutes in a game we're winning by 6?), to losing 25% of my 'defense' score because while boxing out an opposing player, the goalie has a shot hit him right in the glove that still falls in, but somehow I get dinged for 'bad line play'. Getting knocked down once in a game means a negative score for attributes. As an offensive D-man, I can't body check for crap - even with hitting assistance turned all the way up - so the physical attributes never go up. Ugh. And, you can't turn off coach assistance on training once it's on, so you can't concentrate on the stuff the game stupidly dings you on.

The gameplay is great as far as I'm concerned. But this attribute stuff needs to be fixed. Even NHL14/15 on the 360 was better with this stuff.

# 3 SevenTwentyNine @ 10/30/15 11:57 PM

What drives me nuts is all the minus' you take from playing. Between the goalie and defense blocking my shots, my slap shot accuracy to a -280 hit. Nothing is really explained either. What raises poise for the love of god? Or aggression? Also, if you're slow then your speed will take forever to raise to decent levels, same with strength. I've noticed by messing around, that you get the same amount of points whether you shoot 3 goals or 6, like there's a cap on the amount you can get per game. The sleepwalking defense and automatic goals against are aggravating.

# 4 AdamJones113 @ 10/31/15 07:48 PM

Yep. Gameplay once again is the key thing, because in a mode so barebones as this is, where the only thing to do is play games, that's the key feature.

Whether or not you like the gameplay or not, there needs to be some incentive for me to play this mode. Currently there is no such incentive. I won't deign to suggest anything at this moment—I'm sure heavier BAP players have better ideas than I do—but the incentive, not just stale gameplay, is what's needed to get me into this mode.

BAP is essentially BAGM, with player lock on and fewer options.

# 5 schlitz73 @ 11/05/15 01:48 AM

A lot of very valid points.

You forgot to mention the stat bugs where goalies wins and losses are not counted correctly. Some people seem to think that is tied to shutouts but it's not. I have only one game left in my regular season and only managed about 5-6 shutouts and less than 10 overtime games yet my goalies have a combined win-loss record totaling only about 35 games. Roughly half don't get counted.

The coaching suggestions are also messed up. I play as RW and have had the suggestion to get faceoff tie-ups stuck there for the last 6 games. I can only take a faceoff when the game goes to OT so I'm stuck with that suggestion for ages apparently since I can't even figure out how to do a tie up and win.

Let's also not forget the your AI defensemen being incapable of starting a breakout. They pass the puck backward or circle back too much, often pinning themselves against the boards or running into your own net. The amount of turnovers here is staggering.

Calling for passes isn't great either. Your teammates often pause a bit before passing so the open lane closes and you get a bad call for pass. And why have the block shot feature if you are going to get called for tripping 50% of the time when you try to lay down to block a shot. Watch those replays when it happens and it's usually your own guy getting tripped up first yet YOU get the penalty.

BaP classic mode is bugged so you always get called for long shifts, it changes to authentic randomly and won't let you switch back, you can't play the prospects game or at least I didn't get selected to it despite leading the league in nearly every category...

Basically, every mode in this game has major issues. I can tell you right now I will NOT be buying NHL 17. I'm amazed and disgusted that they could release such a buggy version of this game. I knew better than to buy it at release yet I did it anyway and this is what we get. It's shameful.

# 6 SevenTwentyNine @ 11/05/15 05:09 PM

One thing that is driving me nuts is the the hits you take to your Discipline. God forbid you should commit a penalty because the minus to your rating are gargantuan. Especially in comparison to the fact that you get no bonus to your Discipline when you don't commit penalty, unless you don't commit one for two games and even then it's so small that it would take several games of committing no penalties just to off-set it. There's no way to lower penalties or simply turn it off and getting a penalty is extremely easy. I got one for simply passing gas by a defender. The after-effect to all this is that you get to watch your rating plummet like an unflushable tvrd down a broken toilet. I hate Be A Pro this year and I'm struggling through it. It's the only mode I play and this is the last time I buy this game for a long-long time regardless of what's promised and sure to be not delivered. Nothing like having no choices.

# 7 srenaud11 @ 01/30/16 05:47 PM

This is a nice glitch. I started out by picking the NHL team I wanted to play for instead of working my way through the minors. I settled on the Flyers. After the preseason my player was to be sent down but an injury kept him in the NHL. (Although I was averaging a goal and 3 assists per game). My player was leading the league in goals 58, assists 109, and points 167. With 20 games left in the regular season my player was rewarded by being sent down to the minors. Other than that I really love this game.

# 8 LLH777 @ 02/01/16 08:10 PM

This is a very long post, folks, much to cover. I love Be a Pro, it's the only mode I play. It was great fun in NHL 16, at least in the beginning. I still play it, but it's kind of stale now. It think it's because this mode feels incomplete to me. I kept thinking as I played this year's installment how this mode could have been so much better.

Below is a rundown of problems I noticed and ideas for improvements that came to me while I played through this year's iteration. I didn't list these in any particular order. I just wrote them out as I thought of them.

I'm curious what my fellow Be A Pro enthusiasts would add to this list in terms of how this mode could be greatly improved in the future:

Give me the incentive to want to play for 20 seasons in the NHL. Right now, it feels as if I am playing a "single player" mode as opposed to a "career" mode. In the beginning, improving my players attributes kept me interested. Once my player gained a respectable level in all his attributes (upper 80s or lower 90s overall), I felt there was no reason to keep playing. It became a grind. There was nothing to play for. Winning the cup and my player reaching milestones in his career didn't feel very rewarding (see below).

Bring back the ability to adjust strategies on the fly. For instance, give me the option to increase or decrease my team's defensive pressure. This could be done in NHL 14 via the D-pad. I miss not having this option in 16.

Give my player the option to ask for a trade.

Give me some competent AI. This is a big one! If only I could rely on my teammates to make responsible decisions on the ice. Instead, I found myself having to compensate for and baby-sit my teammates, especially on defense. This is the NHL, for goodness sakes. These players are supposed to be the cream of the crop, but they don't play like it sometimes.

A few examples: 1) My defensemen oftentimes circle behind the net when they should be passing the puck up the ice for a breakout. This especially infuriates me when my team is on the power play, because they are wasting precious time. And I can't count how many times they lost the puck behind the net or passed it to an opposing player from behind the net. 2) My teammates don't play the body and are not nearly as aggressive in our defensive zone as they should be. They hang back and allow the offense all kinds of time and space to set up plays. By contrast, the opposing team is all over me and my teammates when we enter their defensive zone. 3) I can't count how many times my player was left on an island by himself in the offensive zone, trying to generate on an effective forecheck. His teammates were hanging back in the neutral zone, or worse, they had skated all the way back in my defensive zone. It's nuts! I can't help but wonder how any of this got past QA.

Add female pronouns. As a woman in real life, I would LOVE to play as woman in the game but, aside from having very few faces to choose from, the use of male pronouns ruins it for me. I cannot become immersed in the game as a female player when I'm constantly being referred to as "He."

Bring back "Play as a Legend." I wouldn't mind playing as Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, but give me the option to play as some of the greats of old. The one and only Ray Bourque, for instance. Or the incomparable Ron Francis. And let's not forget the ladies! Bring back Cammi Granato, Hayley Wickenheiser and add Hilary Knight to this mode!

Bring back the All-Star Game. This one's a no brainer!

It would add a great deal to this mode if your pro's accomplishments are acknowledged and documented throughout his career. Otherwise, it feels like a single player mode where you are just playing an endless schedule of games. Some ideas:

Announce it when my player reaches milestones in his career. Make mention of the fact my player has reached 50 goals in a season. When my player wins his first Stanley Cup and his first Conn Smyth, announce it! When my player plays his first game in the NHL, announce it!

Speaking of the latter...I thought Eddie and Doc were announcing my player during the game intro of his first NHL game, only to find out they were talking about someone else. I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing and it was such a letdown for me! (*See the end of this post for a detailed account of what I experienced.*)

Include my player in the group shot when his team wins the cup. Allow him to hoist the cup. My player won three Memorial Cups and one Stanley Cup and in every instance he was nowhere to be seen in the group photo (there was an empty space where I believe he was supposed to be) nor was he available to raise the Stanley Cup. He raised the Memorial Cup during his third season in the CHL because he was the captain, but in the other two seasons he was absent, even though he led his team and the entire OHL in virtually every category.

Add a trophy case where every award you win throughout your career (in the minors and the NHL) is displayed.

Add ways to make it feel as if my player is making a name for himself in the NHL. Akin to NHL 14 - a player's likeness on a billboard at the beginning of his career, his likeness on the cover of an NHL video game.

Display season stats for my player throughout his career, during the regular season and in the playoffs. Did my player score as many goals this season than he did last season? In NHL 16, I cannot make season to season comparisons because the stats are reset at the beginning of each new season.

Display in-game how many goals my player has scored so far in the season. This should have been a given across the board in all modes. I can't believe this wasn't included.

More customization options in terms of appearance. The ability to change hair color, for instance.

Allow us to import our face into the game.

Bring back season and in-game expectations and award XP if my player meets them.

As a coach, don't just tell me to do something, tell me HOW to achieve it. The On-Ice trainer isn't sufficient, imo. And there's no in-game manual to refer to. If I want to refresh my memory about what button or skill stick to use, I have to look it up online.

Create a more robust off-ice training system. Do you remember the instructional content available when you fired up NHL 10 and played it for the first time? Show me how to deke, how to win faceoffs, how stick lift and then allow me to try my hand at it. Why not incorporate something like this into Be a Pro's off-ice training? Give my player the option to choose and participate in drills every week to improve various aspects of his gameplay. The current system leaves a lot to be desired and if I am new to this franchise it teaches me nothing.

Allow ALL my player's attributes to be increased or decreased by on-ice play. With the exception of Endurance, all my player's skating abilities (Speed, Agility, Balance and Acceleration) can only be raised through off-ice training and the increases are paltry in comparison to how much XP my player is able to accrue in-game in all other areas. And just like coach's expectations, tell me how these attributes can be raised. How does one raise Poise and Aggression? There's nothing in the game telling you how to do this.

Allow more ways for my player to increase Offense, Defense and Team Play. Defense is especially hard to raise. I will play sound positional hockey, my team will earn a shutout and yet my Defensive Expectations score is C+ or B- at game's end. There aren't enough ways to raise this expectation's score. I rarely poke check or stick lift, because they are so ineffective and oftentimes result in penalties. Shot blocks are nearly impossible to accomplish. When my player is in his defensive zone, award him for getting the puck out of the zone, for winning faceoffs in that zone (if he's a center) and for playing sound positional hockey in front of his goalie.

Make simulating between shifts more realistic. Case in point: My player wins a face-off in the offensive zone, the puck goes back to my defenseman, he shoots the puck at the net and the goalie catches or freezes the puck. In that space of time, my player is on the ice for 3 or 4 seconds. He's got all kinds of energy left, his meter is almost fully green. If I play a game where I don't simulate in between shifts, my player is allowed to stay on the ice, take another face-off and play until his energy meter bleeds down to yellow. But, when I simulate between shifts in a game, he's called back to the bench immediately after the goalie freezes the puck (after spending three or four seconds on the ice). It makes no sense and doesn't take full advantage of my player's skills and abilities during crucial points in the game.

This also applies to simulating between shifts... Make it so everyone on my team scores, not just players on my line. If I don't sim between shifts, other players on my team will score. Otherwise, virtually all the scoring comes from my player's line.

What would you like to see added to (or removed from) Be A Pro Mode in the future?
__________________________________________________ _____

This is a detailed account of what I experienced when my pro took to the ice to play his first game in the NHL.

A bit of background: My player started out as a 15-year old and played three seasons in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit. He didn't miss a single game (none were simulated). He lead the league in virtually every category possible (most goals, most assists, most hits, best plus/minus) through all three seasons. He won every award imaginable in the league, led the Spirit to three consecutive Memorial Cup wins, and was poised to enter the league with an overall rating of 91. Suffice to say a lot of time and effort went into getting my player to this point.

Much to my delight, he was drafted by the Washington Capitals, 22nd overall in the first round. I was so pleased! Aside from having the opportunity to play alongside Ovie, I thought it was pretty cool my player played for the Spirit and then was picked up by the Capitals - two teams with the same theme! It seemed as if destiny had smiled upon him.

I was so pumped when he was about to play his first regular season game in the NHL. During the introduction, I heard Doc and Eddie talk about "a player who is playing his first game in the NHL" and I thought, "Oh, boy, they are talking about MY player!" Instead, when the camera cut to ice level, it was someone else who didn't have nearly the rating my player had (he had 70 or something) and most likely didn't have the distinguished career my player had in the minors.

I was so disappointed my player wasn't acknowledged during one of the most important moments of his career. I couldn't believe it! If there was thing I will remember many years from now about this year's installment of the series, it will be this moment...

# 9 jhawk826 @ 02/10/16 08:23 PM

To keep it short, everything the RTTS mode of the MLB: The Show does right, this game does a complete 180. It isn't fun and there isn't an incentive to play an entire season much less a month.

# 10 ChiTownBluesFan @ 02/25/16 02:23 PM

Three more things that contribute to wrecking your in-game Defensive score for 'bad-line play' due to clearly being programmed by someone who's never actually played a game of hockey (all this happened in one game):

* A goal scored during the second period (long change) just after you step on the ice? Bad line defense.
* A SHG given up when the other team shoots the puck down the ice from their own zone, takes an odd bounce to come in front of the net, and the goalie - with no one around them - stick handles the puck into his own net. Bad line defense.
* A missed pass along the ice from the other teams own zone that somehow gets through the five hole. Bad line defense.

Look - I realize these kinds of things happen during an actual game. But I don't think anyone in their right minds would describe the problem on these goals as 'bad line defense'. Well, OK, maybe the first one, but that'd really be the previous line, or 'bad line change' issue for the previous line.

They really REALLY need to fix how ratings are done in-game.

# 11 Bach Patu @ 02/28/16 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schlitz73


	I can only take a faceoff when the game goes to OT so I'm stuck with that suggestion for ages apparently since I can't even figure out how to do a tie up and win.

What I do with ALL my players is take off AT THE DROP OF THE PUCK !!!

The drawback is TIMING IS CRITICAL here because if the center loses the faceoff completely, you've GOT to get back in position & focus on (In your case) the LWer & do whatever you have to do to get the puck away from HIM should it be passed to him

THEN there's also the risk of taking the body on someone & getting them hurt (Which might result in either you getting in a fight AND/OR getting a GM & thrown out by the ref)

Hope this helps

Cheers

# 12 Bach Patu @ 02/28/16 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srenaud11


	With 20 games left in the regular season my player was rewarded by being sent down to the minors. Other than that I really love this game.

Think THAT is weird ??

My Capitals LW (Admittedly a female) was sent down to Hershey IN THE MIDDLE OF POSTSEASON !!!

She finished er Rookie season there when Hershey took home the title

I didn't think that could be done.....

I'm PRETTY SURE it IS NOT in the REAL game EA !!!

Cheers

# 13 Mitchrapp @ 04/16/16 09:28 PM

Playing well on offense and getting 3 assists but only a b+ so essentially you fail (need a-). What real life coach or GM gets upset after a 3 point game.

Needing a 'B' on offense as a defensive defenseman but only needing a C+ on defense. Makes zero sense.

With 8 minute periods it's just too hard to get those offensive grades.

# 14 Fiddy @ 04/17/16 07:19 AM

Last few years (except this one) I would create my player just like my EASHL one and add myself to the main roster. Basically would create my player as a borderline 2nd liner, but mainly as a 3rd liner. Insert myself on the Pens 3rd line and start a franchise. I would player lock the position my player plays (yes you control the others at that position). I just found it more interesting having control of what goes on and not get sent down because of how the game is programed.

# 15 JoseTheDonkey @ 04/29/16 12:32 AM

There's a huge problem for goalie pros too. I wanted something different so I chose goalie and it's pretty fun if you're decent at goalie. However, playing through preseason I won all 5 games I started but had a GAA around 1.8ish. Which wouldn't get me a B+ for the saves with my coach. Even though I was clutch and made big saves I was still sent down even though I won every game. That's reasonable though, but you don't get slack for your teammates mistakes, if your defense gives up a 2 or 3 on 0 and you get scored on (which is almost always) its 100% your fault, granted you are the goalie but you get all the heat when you couldn't do anything. Your team could let the entire other team in your zone alone and it'd still be 100% your fault that you can't stop 5 guys. They need to fix so much about this games be a pro mode.

# 16 Mongo14 @ 04/29/16 01:05 PM

LET US CHANGE OUR PLAYER'S NUMBERS

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