Parents' Guide to

NHL 16

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Despite flaws, franchise hits ice with stellar hockey sim.

Game PlayStation 4, Xbox One 2015
NHL 16 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • NHL 16 Game: Screenshot #1
  • NHL 16 Game: Screenshot #2
  • NHL 16 Game: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 8+

Based on 1 parent review

Hendo H. U.
Hendo H. U. Parent of 10, 12 and 15-year-old
December 27, 2017
age 8+
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

NHL 16 lets you play as or against your favorite NHL team, while adding a number of solo and multiplayer features to provide more breadth and depth. Along with many new modes to sink your skates into, this includes new skating mechanics and controls, a new progression system, improved graphics and animation, and better commentary to get you pumped up while you play. This game also marks the 25th installment of the NHL series.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (1):

Despite a few bugs and missing features at launch (fixed with a downloadable patch), this is a fun and frantic hockey sim that delivers the goods. Along with more fluid and intuitive controls, single-player tweaks include new modes and numerous enhancements to the Be a Pro and Be a GM modes. Multiplayer also has been bolstered considerably with a new six-vs.-six Online Team Play (or Online Couch Co-op) mode. The EA Sports Hockey League (EASHL) has been reimagined as well, with specialized player classes, better balancing, and drop-in support (with friend invitations) and player badges with the Day 1 patch.

Also added with the downloadable update: an online and offline Shootout mode, team practices, new arenas, and rules options. This version even includes a new on-ice trainer that helps you master the game, as well as new visuals (which look fantastic) and better sound than in previous games, which helps with the overall immersion factor. You’ll want to hit the ice with NHL 16 -- especially if you haven’t played an NHL game in a while.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether it's worth it to buy an annual sports game. If the developers release a free downloadable update to account for changing team rosters, do you really need to buy one every year? Can you skip a year or two, or do the new features and better graphics justify the purchase?

  • Talk about how commercialized sports games are becoming. Is the pursuit of realistic gameplay worth the in-game commercials, ad placement, and messages that are constantly bombarding players, or is that just part of sports today?

Game Details

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