NHL 18 Beta Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here!

[Nickflyers]

There's some new cutscenes
Defensive Skill Stick is awesome!

Rosters(granted not final) look promising
Check out @FlyersBagm's Tweet: https://twitter.com/FlyersBagm/statu...163699201?s=09

[don28]

I played one game of Online Versus and 2 games of 3's. Not sure yet if defensive AI is improved; I'll need to play a few more games. I didn't have any cheesy goals either way in a 4-3 loss.

3's is sort of fun, but not my cup of tea. Moneypuck is definitely something I'm not a fan. On the other hand, I can see how 3's could be addicting. I may change my opinion on this in time.

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[Stormyhog]

Played an EASHL game & some 3's offline. I really like the feel of the game plus I haven't had any of those fanning on shot's which were an issue off & online last year. Graphics while not a major upgrade look more sharp to me. Previous game had a softer look to it. I'm on the PS4 Pro so not sure if that has any effect on it. I do like putting your stick in lanes but still getting used to doing it. I do like how you can play 3's the way you want with arcade settings or just traditional periods & goals. Nets come off as well which never happened last game. I'm a big hockey fan & will be getting this for sure like I do every year.

[TheBuddyHobbs]

Quote: Originally Posted by onac22

Same game. Oh well, for me this is an easy pass until it is on sale for the first time since nhl93. Spent five minutes on beta got bored deleted it. Back to the show diamond dynasty, so much more effort put into it than any EA game ever. Was hoping they had something going with the skill sticks and all. Guess not. Also they locked vegas on the beta which means arding a team is a selling point to make up for the lack of change.

Seems like a huge waste of a beta code... I don't know how you can come away with a legit impression in that amount of time. Yes, I know you're being hyperbolic, but still.

[Al_Tito13]

I played a few online versus games so far and the first thing I noticed when I went to edit my lines for the first game was the lowered player ratings. It was about time! After going through almost all teams, 90's players are pretty rare and 85+ ratings are reserved only for stars players now. There are way more players in the 70's too, which is a great thing. Bigger player separation was long overdue, hope it will translate well in the game and we will be able to actually see a real difference between them in gameplay.

There are some new cutscenes and there is now a lobby before online versus games to select your team, change lines or strategies, invite friends to play with you or against you. Seems like a good addition. Only problem is that we don't seem to be able to see opponent's connection status anymore before starting the game.

As for the actual gameplay, it's a similar game to NHL 17, no doubt about it, but there are a few details that made the game play a bit differently. And for me, the details are really important, so I wasn't disappointed like some others.

First of all, I loved the new defensive skill stick. We can sweep the stick left and right, covering passing lanes or extend it while skating, it's great. With that, stick check really works, there are stick on stick collisions and the poke check is way more consistent now. If we hit the puck with our stick or our skate, it seems to come loose consistently, which is pretty important. The defensive game seems to be working well on the default online setting, so really good thing. Only hope the gameplay won't be altered too much now, after getting a few complaints that poke checking or defensive skill stick is overpowered... It's not, it's simply working well.

To me, the game feels smoother in general. Puck pickups, pass interceptions/deflections and hits also seemed a little bit different and tighter, but will have to play more to be sure. Didn't get mad about the AI so far either, so it's a good thing, positioning seems at least a bit better offensively, but it's way too early to say whether the promised improvements to AI positioning offensively and defensively are actually working or not.

As for NHL Threes, for me it's totally pointless, and I hate arcade games, so I won't even touch it.

So far, like I said, I'm having fun and I like NHL 18 for the new little details gameplay wise compared to 17, but there are not huge improvements either. The defensive skill stick is definitely the best addition for me, along with the bigger player separation in ratings.

[HenryClay1844]

3's mode on sim is pretty fun, just not interested in the other modes. A shame you can't test GM mode. *

[tjung0831]

Well...shocker at all the complaints. The 3 on 3 is great...fun stuff. Have probably played 12 games so far and not tired of it yet. If that's what I'm paying $60 for than so be it but it's a day one purchase for me.

[oilersfan99]

People will bash like mad she ea releases something. Well, when anyone releases something really. That's the way of the internet. Do I think it's great? No but I'm at least having fun

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