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I used to post here under another account but I forgot the password. I'm a big NHL 11 fan and I was pretty good at it, at least I thought so. I have a pretty big review written about it on TGL (where I'm from) and I thought I'd post it here. No one there likes Hockey :S. Doesn't help that most of the site is from the south.
My post is pretty damn big and kind of article format. A little suck-up like. I didn't get into the stuff I really disliked. I do think the improvements are patch worthy and that they could have done 100x better. Looking forward to NHL 2K13 though. Anyways here it is and sorry if it's a long read...
The demo has officially been out for longer than 24 hours and I've played a hefty amount of games in the game modes. Having played NHL 11 a lot, I can see the contrast between the two games and will tell you what I like about the new additions. Let's get started.
The new animations will probably be the first thing you notice besides maybe the feel and/or speed of the game. They seem to have been greatly improved. The first thing I noticed was the movement of the player while skating. It seems more alive. Your stick is up in the air moving, the players actually pivot when turning, and the stick is generally in the right place instead of going every which way. Skating backwards is a lot more fluid too.
While skating looks better, it's a tad bit slow.
The shooting animations look great. If you have a guy crashing the net and you give him a one-timer, the animation is a lot more crisp and realistic looking instead of a weird tap like in NHL 11. Slapshots look a lot better too.
The hitting animations look cool at times but can be a little clunky. Last year they were extremely fluid but these hits look more realistic at times. When you hit someone you'll extend your arms and push the guy over. I like it.
Yes, I know that's a lot sexual innuendos but I couldn't describe it any other way. There will be more so please bare with me.
The offense has been noticeably tweaked and was one of the first things I noticed. The slap shots aren't as fast, can go wide, and feel much better. Wrist shots seems better too.
A lot of my scoring comes from just taking shots. Snipes are a lot more common and realistic. It looks like you'll be able to see a corner and go for it instead of see the goalie hug the net and nab it.
I've had no success with trying to score by crashing the net. I've gotten more goals taking shots, like I said above, and on the offensive rush crossing the crease if the pass is open. It usually goes in, like it should.
The passing is not as "for sure" like NHL 11. By that I mean the puck doesn't go to it's target perfectly every single time.
Speaking of passing, the computer passes a lot better in the offensive zone. In NHL 11 the computer would pass back and forth, back and forth...back...and...forth. Defender, wing, defender, wing, defender wing. It was as repetitive as NHL's commentary. They actually move around, work the zone, and take shots. It's great. It doesn't make playing as goalie super boring anymore.
The puck seems to be a lot more life-like. It bounces more often and does it's own thing -- I like it.
The deking seems to be toned down. It isn't as successful and slower; the same goes with manual dekes. It seems to put emphasis on the deke rating. In NHL 11 the dekes were easy to use if you knew when to use them, people use them in the same scenarios (always), and any player seemed to do them. Hopefully I won't see Zdeno Chara do a loose puck deke around my team.
With manual deking (moving the right joystick) being slower, it looks like the go-to strategies will be different. Different at least until glitch goals are found. In NHL 11 the quick backhand or left-right/right-left shot seemed to always trick the goalie. In this it seems to be too slow to do that and the goalie's A.I seems to respond a lot better to that, which I will get to later.
Deking seems to slow you down a little too. In NHL 11 players would just hold the right stick to their backhand side so the other team couldn't get it and they'd glide down the offensive zone while maintaining possession of the puck. It seems that it really slows you down now. Hopefully that means no more manually deking around the A.I and getting behind defenders. It will put more emphasis on puck protect now too. Using the real puck protect makes sense than manually puck protecting by deking...
The defense is improved to me. The first thing I noticed is the defenders manually waving their sticks while skating backwards Doesn't seem like much but I like that addition.
Another new addition I LOVE is Anticipation. While you're on D, your team will now anticipate passes instead of lay around until someone had the puck. In 11' it was like if you didn't have the puck, 100% defense and nothing else until you get the puck. That's how the Wingers and Center acted too. Now they will anticipate passes and will become offensive a lot quicker. I love it.
Stick lifting was majorly nerfed and I liked it. After playing people who whore the tactic, it's good to see. It's not like it's impossible, but now you have to actually be lined up with the person and be in distance. In NHL 11 you could have your back to him and your guy would do a phantom stick lift from far away. Now you have to time it perfectly or you'll probably hit the dude in the face, thus resulting in a slashing or highsticking.
Poke checking seems to be a little less effective I think. I don't poke check much so I don't see a difference.
Fighting for the crease: This is a new feature that makes you feel like you have more control. For those who don't know it's a feature that allows the D to scuffle and fight for position in front of the net. It's kind of like press-coverage for those who don't know hockey well. I play defense in EASHL typically and this will be a new feature I'll like. If your Goalie is screened goals will go in more often so you'll need to push those guys out of the way. With a 6'9 Chara it seems pretty easy.
Checking: The new system is a little clunky. I'm not a fan. It looks pretty cool and feels good to get a huge hit, but most hits are big in the demo. The hits were tuned up for the demo though and I'm expecting there to be less hits and for the hits to not be as clunky.
The defense also seems to be tighter and hard to get around. You're forced to work the outsides and actually dump the puck as opposed to using every player like they're Pavel Datsyuk
Sticks aren't made of toothpicks so they don't break all the time. Helmets don't fall off too much either. Never broke the glass or hit someone into the bench yet now that you mention it.
Fighting still sucks and they need to fix it.
Last, but not least, Goalies! One of the new and exclusive features is the Goalie being in real time. You can now check the goalie. Be warned, if the Goalie wants, he can check you too. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBVdz6UO3U[/ame]
The goalie seems vastly improved. He seems to be moved up and is making a lot more realistic saves. I love how the Goalie plays now. He is saving goals at a better rate than last year and seems a lot more fluid. Taking shots, especially with screens, seem to be the best way to score. It's realistic. That doesn't mean it's easy to score on him. I don't think so at least. Lot more desperation saves too as it seems.
This is my review. I think the demo is lots of fun and is for sure an improvement from last year. Not a lot of new features and could be considered just one big patch as opposed to a whole new game. I really like it. I can't stop playing the demo and it's a must buy for me. Wish there were more improvements though. Still love the series.
My post is pretty damn big and kind of article format. A little suck-up like. I didn't get into the stuff I really disliked. I do think the improvements are patch worthy and that they could have done 100x better. Looking forward to NHL 2K13 though. Anyways here it is and sorry if it's a long read...
The demo has officially been out for longer than 24 hours and I've played a hefty amount of games in the game modes. Having played NHL 11 a lot, I can see the contrast between the two games and will tell you what I like about the new additions. Let's get started.
Animation:
The new animations will probably be the first thing you notice besides maybe the feel and/or speed of the game. They seem to have been greatly improved. The first thing I noticed was the movement of the player while skating. It seems more alive. Your stick is up in the air moving, the players actually pivot when turning, and the stick is generally in the right place instead of going every which way. Skating backwards is a lot more fluid too.
While skating looks better, it's a tad bit slow.
The shooting animations look great. If you have a guy crashing the net and you give him a one-timer, the animation is a lot more crisp and realistic looking instead of a weird tap like in NHL 11. Slapshots look a lot better too.
The hitting animations look cool at times but can be a little clunky. Last year they were extremely fluid but these hits look more realistic at times. When you hit someone you'll extend your arms and push the guy over. I like it.
Yes, I know that's a lot sexual innuendos but I couldn't describe it any other way. There will be more so please bare with me.
Offense:
The offense has been noticeably tweaked and was one of the first things I noticed. The slap shots aren't as fast, can go wide, and feel much better. Wrist shots seems better too.
A lot of my scoring comes from just taking shots. Snipes are a lot more common and realistic. It looks like you'll be able to see a corner and go for it instead of see the goalie hug the net and nab it.
I've had no success with trying to score by crashing the net. I've gotten more goals taking shots, like I said above, and on the offensive rush crossing the crease if the pass is open. It usually goes in, like it should.
The passing is not as "for sure" like NHL 11. By that I mean the puck doesn't go to it's target perfectly every single time.
Speaking of passing, the computer passes a lot better in the offensive zone. In NHL 11 the computer would pass back and forth, back and forth...back...and...forth. Defender, wing, defender, wing, defender wing. It was as repetitive as NHL's commentary. They actually move around, work the zone, and take shots. It's great. It doesn't make playing as goalie super boring anymore.
The puck seems to be a lot more life-like. It bounces more often and does it's own thing -- I like it.
The deking seems to be toned down. It isn't as successful and slower; the same goes with manual dekes. It seems to put emphasis on the deke rating. In NHL 11 the dekes were easy to use if you knew when to use them, people use them in the same scenarios (always), and any player seemed to do them. Hopefully I won't see Zdeno Chara do a loose puck deke around my team.
With manual deking (moving the right joystick) being slower, it looks like the go-to strategies will be different. Different at least until glitch goals are found. In NHL 11 the quick backhand or left-right/right-left shot seemed to always trick the goalie. In this it seems to be too slow to do that and the goalie's A.I seems to respond a lot better to that, which I will get to later.
Deking seems to slow you down a little too. In NHL 11 players would just hold the right stick to their backhand side so the other team couldn't get it and they'd glide down the offensive zone while maintaining possession of the puck. It seems that it really slows you down now. Hopefully that means no more manually deking around the A.I and getting behind defenders. It will put more emphasis on puck protect now too. Using the real puck protect makes sense than manually puck protecting by deking...
Defense:
The defense is improved to me. The first thing I noticed is the defenders manually waving their sticks while skating backwards Doesn't seem like much but I like that addition.
Another new addition I LOVE is Anticipation. While you're on D, your team will now anticipate passes instead of lay around until someone had the puck. In 11' it was like if you didn't have the puck, 100% defense and nothing else until you get the puck. That's how the Wingers and Center acted too. Now they will anticipate passes and will become offensive a lot quicker. I love it.
Stick lifting was majorly nerfed and I liked it. After playing people who whore the tactic, it's good to see. It's not like it's impossible, but now you have to actually be lined up with the person and be in distance. In NHL 11 you could have your back to him and your guy would do a phantom stick lift from far away. Now you have to time it perfectly or you'll probably hit the dude in the face, thus resulting in a slashing or highsticking.
Poke checking seems to be a little less effective I think. I don't poke check much so I don't see a difference.
Fighting for the crease: This is a new feature that makes you feel like you have more control. For those who don't know it's a feature that allows the D to scuffle and fight for position in front of the net. It's kind of like press-coverage for those who don't know hockey well. I play defense in EASHL typically and this will be a new feature I'll like. If your Goalie is screened goals will go in more often so you'll need to push those guys out of the way. With a 6'9 Chara it seems pretty easy.
Checking: The new system is a little clunky. I'm not a fan. It looks pretty cool and feels good to get a huge hit, but most hits are big in the demo. The hits were tuned up for the demo though and I'm expecting there to be less hits and for the hits to not be as clunky.
The defense also seems to be tighter and hard to get around. You're forced to work the outsides and actually dump the puck as opposed to using every player like they're Pavel Datsyuk
Sticks aren't made of toothpicks so they don't break all the time. Helmets don't fall off too much either. Never broke the glass or hit someone into the bench yet now that you mention it.
Fighting still sucks and they need to fix it.
Goalies
Last, but not least, Goalies! One of the new and exclusive features is the Goalie being in real time. You can now check the goalie. Be warned, if the Goalie wants, he can check you too. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBVdz6UO3U[/ame]
The goalie seems vastly improved. He seems to be moved up and is making a lot more realistic saves. I love how the Goalie plays now. He is saving goals at a better rate than last year and seems a lot more fluid. Taking shots, especially with screens, seem to be the best way to score. It's realistic. That doesn't mean it's easy to score on him. I don't think so at least. Lot more desperation saves too as it seems.
This is my review. I think the demo is lots of fun and is for sure an improvement from last year. Not a lot of new features and could be considered just one big patch as opposed to a whole new game. I really like it. I can't stop playing the demo and it's a must buy for me. Wish there were more improvements though. Still love the series.
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