72 replies to this topic

[Weezer]

Some details for the new EA sports NHL game are starting to emerge. The battles in front of the net and the goalie interactions look pretty sweet!
Article + video here

[MGreenberg]

Sadly for someone like me who likes to play the game for the EASHL, I think the stupid hitting is going to still be there by the looks of it then with the helmets popping off and the glass breaking will probably be over the top stopping the game even ten seconds. Also hope the refs are great so you don't have people smashing the goalie on purpose for an easy goal. Hope all my negativity is wrong but with it being EA, I am probably right.

[VM1138]

I love the idea of goalie interactions. That always struck me as dumb that you could never affect them.

Also think the new soundtrack is sorely, sorely needed. Sounds like they are on the right track, especially with the different kinds of players actually mattering.

I'd like to be able to sign players not just by their stats, but to expect certain kinds of play from them.

Edited by VM1138, 30 May 2011 - 04:18 PM.

[GMRwings1983]

Are Thorne and Clement the announcers for this game again?

[dobbles]

i really have low expectations for this years game. i had taken several years away from nhl in the mid 2000's and ended up playing nhl08 on pc. after finally getting with the program and getting a ps3 and nhl09 i was blown away. i was on a strong and active eashl team that year and logged hundreds of hours playing. i also got a good amount of joy out of gm mode. then nhl10 came out. there were some tweaks and improvements; still being 'new' to the series it held my interest pretty well. played less eashl and more gm mode that year though.

then last years game came out. it was a big disappointment for me. they added lots of cool stuff like chl, better gm features like future draft picks, but the gameplay continued to decline and they continued to turn eashl and HUT mode into giant cash grabs.

each year they add just enough tertiary features to the game to entice people to buy it. yet the soundtrack is stale, the physics are stale (the checking last year actually went backwards IMO. every hit was highlight reel quality) the glitches are too plentiful and never get truly fixed, and the AI continues to be brutal. (they still pass between 2 people in the offensive zone repeatedly)

its great that goalies are actually part of the game. thats been missing. however, i personally have the likelihood that it gets exploited online at 95%. it will take about 5 minutes for the cheesers to figure out how to slide the puck under the goalie as you run him over.

but as long as people keep buying the game, eashl boosts, and hut packs, EA will just continue to laugh all the way to the bank...

[Finnish Wing]

I really hate when they still don't do anything to the AI which is the biggest flaw in the game. Instead they bring small details like broken sticks and goalie contacts. I know some people play this only with friends or online but cmon? It's a video game - the main part of the game is usually spend playing against CPU. But the AI still sucks big time; not enough shots, too fancy passing, no mistakes etc.

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt]

I know some people play this only with friends or online but cmon? It's a video game - the main part of the game is usually spend playing against CPU.

What figure you talking about when you say some? Of all the people I talk to they never just play the CPU.

Also I would like to see blood on the high sticks, and if you hit the goalie aren't you gonna get called for it? Winter classic is kinda neat, probably play as Capitals all the time if I do WC.

Edited by HadThomasVokounOnFortSt, 31 May 2011 - 10:54 AM.

[dobbles]

i know quite a few people that play primarily gm mode and hence just play the ai.

additionally, unless you exclusively play 6's in eashl, every mode has a certain amount of ai to it.

[Finnish Wing]

What figure you talking about when you say some? Of all the people I talk to they never just play the CPU.

I did say "only in online", didn't I? I bet everyone plays the CPU at least sometimes. NHL is not supposed to be only an online game. They are marketing it with tons of offline game modes like Be a GM or Be a Pro for example. You think CPU's AI isn't a big factor here?

I play a lot online as well. NHL franchise is the leading hockey game franchise by a mile and one of the better sports games as well. I think it's time for EA to actually improve the game and not just change the music, main menu theme or add some broken sticks.

Broken sticks and goalie contact are nice little detail additions, but don't mean s*** in the big picture. AI does.

Edited by Finnish Wing, 01 June 2011 - 05:38 AM.

[Jusek]

Just play modded NHL 2004 for PC. The AI is great and people modify it all the time.

[Finnish Wing]

Just play modded NHL 2004 for PC. The AI is great and people modify it all the time.

That's probably the best NHL I've played as well. Had it be available on console, would feel even better. Although I could always plug my sixaxis on the PC.

Edited by Finnish Wing, 01 June 2011 - 10:18 AM.

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt]

I did say "only in online", didn't I? I bet everyone plays the CPU at least sometimes. NHL is not supposed to be only an online game. They are marketing it with tons of offline game modes like Be a GM or Be a Pro for example. You think CPU's AI isn't a big factor here?

All im saying is of the people I talk to, they never play the CPU.

[kylee]

i've played a whole lot online, and more recently, I worked through be a pro. There are a lot of small annoyances that I wonder if EA is going to improve on, but I doubt it.

somethings that need improvement in terms of AI, gameplay, etc:
-the hitting is still unrealistic
-it's way too easy to line someone up and destroy them
-if you're playing down low in the offensive zone, it's not uncommon to have a CPU controlled player skate to you and absolutely knock you on your ass
-once you figure out ways to score, they work almost 90% of the time

annoyances in Be a Pro:
-absolutely unrealistic expectations for a rookie contract. I mean really, score 35 goals in a season? most rookies don't touch that. Overall, the season expectations are asking too much. Can i reach them? Yes. But that's not really the point
-I believe you have to play every single game in your rookie contract(3 year span) to actually get big contracts offered your way. For example, I completed my 3 year deal with the Flames who drafted me, met my season expectations in 2/3 years, while the off year i met 3 out of 4, and my agent contacts me and says no one really wants my type of player, and only the Flames and Panthers offer me a 1 year deal. Wtf is that? I won the Calder and the Selke in 3 years, and my lowest goal total was 36.

[number9]

theres alot of things they need to retool in gm mode.

1. player growth is unrealistic. u get guys who turn out to be all 90s offensively, but then are 50s and 60s defensively and athletically. and vice-versa or whatever. its especially bad with goalies. there attributes always turn out to be lopsided, for example insanely good puck control but terrible reflexes and athletics.

2. trading is ridiculous. i kno that some players are franchise players and teams would never trade them, but when u offer a team an 83 overall player and 5 future first round picks for one 85 overall player, its getting ridiculous.

3. simulation is terrible. i have no idea why they even included the option to simulate games, because no matter what u do u lose the better portion of ur games simulated and players like zetty and dats always do terrible statistically. ive spent ridiculous amounts of time trying to get good results from simulated games so that i can move through seasons faster, but no avail. simulation in be a pro is terrible as well. ur guy does terrible and barely earns XP while moving down the lines to 4th or eventually AHL.

they need to make the game better for the hockey die hards who actually r interested in gm mode and be a pro and s*** like that. they seem to only wanna attract people who just play there friends once in a while and wanna see a few big hits and glass break and crap. stupid EA

[Dimaline312000]

I definetly will buy the game as I have every year but I hope at some point EA Sports will realize how hard it is to trade and how the goalies hold the puck and stop the play way to much. A bunch of other little things that I would love to see involving the business side of hockey in the Be A GM Mode but I won't go into all of that. I hope eventually things will get better for these games. They focus so much on making the game play better but they forget about the little stuff and all the behind the scenes stuff that I think should be freatured in the game.

[GMRwings1983]

What I want is a new camera view, that puts you more into the game and closer to the ice. Kind of like NHL 2000, which had the rotating camera that followed the play around and zoomed towards the puck.

I know some people had a problem with not being able to see the whole ice, but that's how hockey is in real life. It should at least be put in as an alternate camera option.

I'm just tired of the overhead, two-dimensional camera that has been used for the last 10 years. It feels boring and doesn't engage me in the game as much as a camera that goes where the puck goes and rotates 360 degrees.

Hockey shouldn't be so two-dimensional. This isn't Nintendo.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 08 August 2011 - 09:47 PM.

[DatsyukianDangles122]

theres alot of things they need to retool in gm mode.

1. player growth is unrealistic. u get guys who turn out to be all 90s offensively, but then are 50s and 60s defensively and athletically. and vice-versa or whatever. its especially bad with goalies. there attributes always turn out to be lopsided, for example insanely good puck control but terrible reflexes and athletics.

2. trading is ridiculous. i kno that some players are franchise players and teams would never trade them, but when u offer a team an 83 overall player and 5 future first round picks for one 85 overall player, its getting ridiculous.

3. simulation is terrible. i have no idea why they even included the option to simulate games, because no matter what u do u lose the better portion of ur games simulated and players like zetty and dats always do terrible statistically. ive spent ridiculous amounts of time trying to get good results from simulated games so that i can move through seasons faster, but no avail. simulation in be a pro is terrible as well. ur guy does terrible and barely earns XP while moving down the lines to 4th or eventually AHL.

they need to make the game better for the hockey die hards who actually r interested in gm mode and be a pro and s*** like that. they seem to only wanna attract people who just play there friends once in a while and wanna see a few big hits and glass break and crap. stupid EA

No it's not. If your roster doesn't suck, then you will win a good portion of your games. In my third season, I simmed every single game except for one against San Jose (16-1) and my team went 63-17-2 with Zetterberg winning the Art Ross and Stamkos with the Rocket Richard. All I did was trade the usual Hudler + Kindl + 1st for Stamkos
EDIT: I also snatched Doughty off of LA through an offer sheet after Lids retired following my first season
What they do need to fix is the stupid trading system (but then I can't rob all the other teams of talent ) and especially fix the contracts. Average rookies ask for way too much money. Brendan Smith only played 40 games in his first season as a Wing and scored 15 points, he was an 80 overall at the end of the season and wanted $3.2M

Edited by DatsyukianDangles122, 15 August 2011 - 07:38 PM.

[Kage5691]

So just noticed today they added a new feature, Legends.

http://www.ea.com/nhl/1/nhl-legends

Yzerman is included

[wingfan1991]

where do you see Yzerman included? That link says nothing about Yzerman.

[number9]

No it's not. If your roster doesn't suck, then you will win a good portion of your games. In my third season, I simmed every single game except for one against San Jose (16-1) and my team went 63-17-2 with Zetterberg winning the Art Ross and Stamkos with the Rocket Richard. All I did was trade the usual Hudler + Kindl + 1st for Stamkos
EDIT: I also snatched Doughty off of LA through an offer sheet after Lids retired following my first season
What they do need to fix is the stupid trading system (but then I can't rob all the other teams of talent ) and especially fix the contracts. Average rookies ask for way too much money. Brendan Smith only played 40 games in his first season as a Wing and scored 15 points, he was an 80 overall at the end of the season and wanted $3.2M

Well then the wings 2010 and current roster must suck. any advice on strategies or lines?

ps brendan smith is in the game???