NHL 13 DEMO Thoughts

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

- Similar to previous line but on a delayed penalty last year the puck seemed to need to be in full possession for the whistle even though it had been 'touched' by your team many times. More realistic timings this year.

That is inaccurate, though. Full possession is in line with the rulebook:

15.1 Calling a Penalty - Should an infraction of the rules which would call for a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct or match penalty be committed by a player or goalkeeper of the side in possession of the puck, the Referee shall immediately blow his whistle and penalize the offending player.
Should an infraction of the rules which would call for a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct or match penalty be committed by a player of the team not in possession of the puck, the Referee shall raise his arm to signal the delayed calling of a penalty. When the team to be penalized gains control of the puck, the Referee will blow his whistle to stop play and impose the penalty on the offending player or goalkeeper.

Across the rulebook, there's a distinction between 'control' of the puck and simply touching the puck.

[Russic]

Likes:

- Pennywise

- Skating feels great and actually requires a little strategy. A few times I missed the puck on a chase going full tilt and had to take a very long turn to get back in the play.

- Cutscenes feel very authentic. I notice they aren't so much canned animations as the camera just drops to ice level. I destroyed a guy shortly after the whistle just as the scene was cutting and the on-ice cutscene started with him falling into the boards.

- Very active sticks! It didn't feel like pucks were going through sticks which it often did in previous games. If you're passing through a lane it needs to be more clear than years past. Laying down to block a pass on a 2 on 1 seemed to actually be effective.

- It wasn't a break away bonanza like I was expecting. Easier to get a step on a Dman for sure, but I was worried it would be out of control.

Didn't Likes:

- Hitting at the default level still seems a little much. A guy standing still can be launched if hit properly, and they do still seem to fall in unrealistic fashion some of the time.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

That is inaccurate, though. Full possession is in line with the rulebook:

15.1 Calling a Penalty - Should an infraction of the rules which would call for a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct or match penalty be committed by a player or goalkeeper of the side in possession of the puck, the Referee shall immediately blow his whistle and penalize the offending player.
Should an infraction of the rules which would call for a minor, major, misconduct, game misconduct or match penalty be committed by a player of the team not in possession of the puck, the Referee shall raise his arm to signal the delayed calling of a penalty. When the team to be penalized gains control of the puck, the Referee will blow his whistle to stop play and impose the penalty on the offending player or goalkeeper.

Across the rulebook, there's a distinction between 'control' of the puck and simply touching the puck.

I guess I wasn't really clear in my comment. My issue with NHL12 was not the accuracy of the whistle but the realism of the player getting/not getting possession. Almost all the time the puck glides towards the stick of a player on your team and you have plenty of time for that player to take possession of the puck (then a whistle), however the puck would just be 'touched' and the play would stay live allowing you to be hit/checked/stick lifted.

[topfiverecords]

Wow is it easy to score on PHX in Moments Live. D lets everyone into the slot and a wrist shot top corner is a goal every time.

[Yamer]

Played through the HUT tournament (after finally being able to sustain my connection to the servers) and I've changed my tune a bit.

I'm not a big fan of the new skating system. I like the momentum stuff, and how it's harder to turn when you're going fast. However, I don't like how the burst system is now. It seems a little too random. My guy will burst into full stride at unpredictable times. I would like the option to engage it somehow, like how the hustle feature was in NHL 12. So you could just click in the analog stick and you would engage full stride, and as soon as you stopped pushing forward on the stick it would disengage. And even though I mentioned that it's realistic with the turning, it feels like I am controlling a team full of mid-60s Buicks.

Puck control when within a few feet of an opposing player, checking/poke checking or not, is pretty bad. All an opposing player has to do is be in my vicinity and the puck will pop off my stick. The little nudges I get from the CPU seem to have too large of an impact on my players too, and I will lose the puck despite the smallest shove.

Skill stick seems to have taken a hit. It's harder to deke.

Hitting animations are kind of ridiculous. Ok, very ridiculous. Same goes for the overly frequent desperation saves by the goaltenders (which also seem to work with extreme effectiveness). Some of the player movement animations seem to jump, like players kind of teleport forward in some instances. Hopefully that's just demo production quality.

One-timers are absurdly hard to pull off, even on Pro difficulty.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I feel the AI is still underwhelming. The lack of attention to this area of the game suggests to me that EA has geared this game to be played online with at least 3-4 people on each team. Probably a smart move due to the popularity of online gaming, but it leaves us loner offliners frustrated and in the dust.


Bottom line ratings out of 10:

Graphics/Appearance: 9 (Seems like such a massive improvement in visual quality from last year. Love the player models and game faces and the limited presentation and broadcast overhauls I have seen)

Sound: 8 (Always a good soundtrack and the in-game sounds and crowd noise feel very immersive. Recycled commentary keeps this from being a 9.)

Replayability: 9 (Duh, it's a sports game. It's meant to be played from one iteration to the next.)

Fun Factor: 7 (Complex learning curve and features, unless you want to play on rookie with NHL 94 controls, may drive away the casual gamer. This rating may not be fair considering I haven't had the opportunity to play all the modes yet, but these are ratings based on the demo.)


As I play the demo more and more, I can already foresee how large of a learning curve this game will have. It will absolutely appeal to the realistic hungry and hardcore gamers. However, I'm a pretty casual gamer. I like to pick up the controller every now and again when I have a break from work/college and relax. I don't think I will get that experience with NHL 13. I think it will be a lot of work to learn, and will require more dedication than I may be able to give it in order to truly enjoy it. I understand this is the sort of trend good games are headed in these days as they become more realistic and complex. I just don't know whether I can be entertained by putting in more work when I have time off from paid work.

This is still the biggest step forward in hockey gaming that EA has made in years, and I'm sure it is going to sell like crazy. I wouldn't be surprised to see it get serious recognition in the gaming awards area. For me, based on the demo alone, it has quickly gone from a must-buy to a ponderable purchase.

[dobbles]

i am not liking the demo at all. i dislike it so much i will actually probably not buy nhl 13.

i find it incredibly arcady. i find that the skating is terrible unpredictable. i find the game kind of lags and then the puck just goes zipping off in a direction. i find hitting to still be way too powered as everyone hits like kronwall. the ai is still stupid as they will skate 2 guys in the same spot or right where the human player is skating. i still get sucked into the in front of the net animation. when you play as goalie, its still boring and frustrating watching the AI play against itself. they still have no clue how to run an offense. i hate that i have to avoid skating in a straight line of else my guy will automatically go into the faster skating and lose the ability to do anything useful.

[topfiverecords]

Could do without the Phoenix crowd going nuts waving their towels after their team gets knocked out of the playoffs in OT.

Yamer: Hustle still exists as L3.

[Baxter Renegade]

I like it! This is likely the most realistic build of NHL ever.

I played 3 periods of "Play Now" and failed to score a goal. It's going to take a while to get used to, but I think the game will reward players/teams that play a good cycling/passing/team game. It's certainly going to be a big, fat turn-off for the figure skating type of players that are so common, and that's a very good thing.

The puck and stick physics are vastly improved. The checking works well, and the skating, turning and stopping feel perfect. I can't wait for the full game!

[La Flames Fan]

I can't find the Demo on 360...what am I doing wrong?

[Yamer]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Could do without the Phoenix crowd going nuts waving their towels after their team gets knocked out of the playoffs in OT.

Yamer: Hustle still exists as L3.

Yeah, I thought I could still feel it working. Even so, I think that the way players take off when you skate in a straight line is highly unpredictable and should have some way to control it. Let me push a button to engage that sort of animation rather than have it just suddenly happen with no rhyme or reason.

Maybe instead of L3, they could use the quick tap of the Left Trigger - which used to be Push Puck - in order to initiate the high tempo skating. If they want to stick to the "true performance" thing then only allow the user to engage it after skating a certain distance and gaining a certain amount of momentum. I just don't like how it suddenly kicks in.

Another thing I noticed is the hard cuts are also seemingly random. My player can be skating at a slow to moderate speed and still do a long, hard cut instead of the sharper turn he should be doing at that pace.

Maybe it just requires more getting used to, or maybe it's following the pattern of EA implementing a new feature that still requires a lot of fine tuning. Either way, I don't like the new skating the way it currently is.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Love the new goalie movements! It's alot harder to score IMO.

The skating is very hard to get used to. How come when I press the "Hustle" button, some of the guys won't hustle? Does it have to do with their speed rating?

Love the presentation and the lighting.

The puck seems even heavier than last year when you shoot it. I like it.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by La Flames Fan

I can't find the Demo on 360...what am I doing wrong?

Game Marketplace > Demos > New Releases.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I see what you Yamer and I agree. It's difficult to get used to and I like everything except for how unpredictable the hustle button is.

As I mentioned in my post, I wonder if it has something to do with each players' individual acceleration or speed rating?

[La Flames Fan]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Game Marketplace > Demos > New Releases.

Thanks.

Weird I had to search just "NHL" and it finally showed up...and LIVE Marketplace is having problems so I can't download. Sigh.

[Baxter Renegade]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Love the new goalie movements! It's alot harder to score IMO.

The skating is very hard to get used to. How come when I press the "Hustle" button, some of the guys won't hustle? Does it have to do with their speed rating?

Love the presentation and the lighting.

The puck seems even heavier than last year when you shoot it. I like it.

It likely has something to do with their endurance rating.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Baxter Renegade

It likely has something to do with their endurance rating.

Ah, that's makes sense.

[Hockey_Ninja]

How much does it cost on Xbox live?

EDIT. nm i'll just look it up myself -_-

[calumniate]

This is a calumniate approved video game! I've never been great at nhl 12 or anything as I always have trouble on defence. But overall the AI is smarter and there are a lot of things you can do with the puck. The wrister has been the best way to score for me.

[secol]

ummm....wtf? just downloaded and installed. loaded PHX VS LA moments, lost the faceoff, retrieved CPU dump in with Doughty, passed up the wing to Carter then short side wrister GWG in less than 30 secs O.o

[Hockey_Ninja]

Well it's downloading now. Lets hope this demo is good!