EA Sports 'NHL 25' brings new 'Ice-Q' technology to popular video game series

You may never be able to skate like Jack Hughes , Luke Hughes or Quinn Hughes in real life, but in just one more day you'll be as close as you'll ever get.

EA Sports' NHL 25 is set to hit stores everywhere Friday, with the Hughes brothers the cover players for the game (Jack is on the United States cover, Quinn on the Canada release and all three are featured on the deluxe edition) and it boasts the most realistic gameplay, sharpest AI teammates and detailed animations the series ever has seen thanks to the game's "Ice-Q" technology.

And that is definitely saying something.

"Ice-Q" means the video game version of the NHL is closer to the real thing than it has ever has been before. This season's upgrades feature "Next Gen Vision Control," "Empowered AI" and "Reactive Actions."

"Hockey is not played in a north/south/east/west manner, it's played in a lot of small circles. Inside edgework has become almost a staple of all players," said Mike Inglehart, senior creative director of the EA NHL series. "So when you enter the offensive zone and you engage vision control, your player will target the net. … As you rotate around the zone, the net will always remain the target."

But there are more than just user-controlled player upgrades. Enhanced AI teammates also lend to the feel of realism in terms of playing like an NHL team.

"We wanted to create more consistency with how your AI teammates would position themselves," Inglehart said. "Up until 'NHL 25,' our AI really struggled in consistently being in spots where you could rely on your teammates. … We took all of our strategies, created more consistency so that you can move the puck around the zone … but still ensured it wasn't robotic. We wanted to make sure that [AI] players still had the ability to improvise."

Pair these two new features with the new "Reactive Actions," which are improved offensive and defensive actions from AI players (gone are the "Keystone Cop" actions of games from the past, as Inglehart put it), and you have a game that flows more like a real NHL game than any of its predecessors.

"Those subtleties have never been there, so there will be those surprising moments where players are like, 'Wow that was great.' And the look is just phenomenal," he said.

Skill-based one-timers (which reward users for timing passes and shots perfectly), improved goalie work, new coach reactions, improved replay presentation with the "infinite camera system" to give multiple angles of plays, boosted "Grudge Match" ratings for heated NHL rivalries, handfuls of new online and community play opportunities, a deeper franchise mode complete with tougher player signing negotiations, a new "World of Chel" mode with different challenging events and a brand new Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) building mode all adds up to make "NHL 25" a must-have for any hockey or video game fan.

But despite all the changes and upgrades, the look of NHL 25, which is available on the PS5 and XBox Series X, will be as incredible as it always is.

"Needless to say, with all the [motion capture] we have this year, it looks incredibly authentic," Inglehart said. "I think if you've skated or played hockey at any level before, the idea is to give you the closest extension to what it feels like on the ice.

"Hockey is hockey, right? Hockey is not going to change astronomically as a sport year to year, but what I would say about '25' is, I would encourage people to play it because I think it plays more like hockey than it ever has," he said.