[MC Fatigue]

I'll just post my 2khockey.net post here:

Quote:

The demo feels pretty good. There are some issues - but there are some really great things too. I saw some great goals off rebounds and nice passes. The computer finally feels dangerous, as when I gave up a 2-1, they actually scored pretty easily. There wasn't the feeling that every 2k game has had of "oh - no worries, the computer can't score." There were, however, some pretty bad goals too. It seemed the majority of blocker side goals were scored not because they were nice shots, but because the goalie constantly went into butterfly instead of half-butterfly with his blocker out - so the puck simply went into open net. I really hope it's just an issue of low difficulty, so the goalies are just not using all their animations. On the other hand - I saw some killer reaching/stretching/diving saves that looked great - and some goals that went past them that looked great. I actually had an amazing one-timer, that actually looked like it was was snapped in (instead of where the previous games only seemed to have slap-shot one timers) that dinged the post, and hit the back of a sprawling Luongo and went in. Now - speaking of Luongo - I did have an issue with his play style. It looked absolutely nothing like him, and it played absolutely nothing like him. I actually thought I was playing against Johan Hedburg the entire time. He had his distinctly annoying style of play. Overall it seemed scoring was a little too easy, but mostly just because of those bad animation goals. There were quite a few really nice goals, too. And I hope that boosting the difficulty takes away the poor ones, while still allowing some of the nicer ones I scored. To focus on shooting, the controls felt strange to me. I had gotten used to 2k8 where I could have so much control, and now I don't feel that any more - but I think it's a matter of learning the controls. Now, I should mention that shooting felt really weak. During the replays things looked fast, and shots looks like they had mustard behind them - but during the actual game play shots felt weak and slow. The wrist shots seem to float at the net - and the slapshots just felt a little off. I should mention, too, that there were some great goalie deflections. I had one go over the glass off the blocker (and I hope I see more), and I saw quite a few get deflected into the boards off the pads or blocker. I really liked that - instead of all the rebounds dropping in front of the goalie. I'd shoot, and actually cheat to the boards a little in anticipation of that deflection. Goal celebrations were both good and bad. I had one where my player actually spun around (and quite realistically, it wasn't like some elastic sling around due to a poor animation - he smoothly twisted his body and pivoted on his skates) and knocked a rebound in on Luongo before he could recover from the previous save, and then the player smoothly transitioned into one of those "archer" celebrations and it looked quite good. On the other hand, there were a few that kind of sucked - as shows on the preview videos. There were also no group celebrations and players often looked like they had no life in them. They just kind of skated around with some weird mouth animation that made it look like they were chewing gum. Skating feels pretty good. It really does feel smooth like a lot of people have been saying. Speed boost feels interesting. In previous games it seemed that hitting speed burst would shoot you ahead of the CPU most of the time, but now it seems to actually just keep you on pace with them. It doesn't seem to add rockets to your players skates, it just kind of gives them that extra little push. It felt strange, and after a few games I'm not quite used to it. Checking was ridiculous at times. If you held back, it was good as the computer didn't go crazy - but if you just went for it, people were just all over the ice. And for some reason the developers felt the need to add in a ridiculously annoying screen shake. There was seriously a 30 second point in time where the screen just keep shaking and I would have thought there was an earthquake in game. There was some board pinning, but maybe only once or twice in the 4 periods I played. And there were quite a few hits that really just jarred a player, instead of sending him to the ice. CPU offense... I'd say it's pretty good in terms of shooting and passing. They actually made some really nice offensive plays that beat me. And I felt a sense of danger when I screwed up on defense. However there's a problem that's bothered me in every hockey game (except NHL 08, strangely), why does the computer never dump the puck in? I can't tell you how many times I knocked the cpu down at the blue line and skated off with the puck. Why do the developers seem to be so keen on making the CPU try to skate the puck in all day long. It's been an issue of mine since 2k3, and it's been 6 years now with no development in this area. Dump and chase is a big part of hockey. Not giving up the puck at the offensive blue line is a big part of hockey. I just wish they'd finally do something about this. Like I said - it just makes it so easy to hit the computer at the line, and skate back up the ice every time. Anyway - that's all I can think of now. There are some great things about the game, and there are some iffy things that maybe will have solutions in the final game. It is just a demo - so who knows what's changed, and what options are in the full game. Perhaps the CPU in the final game does dump and chase, and perhaps the hitting isn't going to be so crazy - but I have to base this post purely on the demo, as it's a demo review. This will certainly be a buy for me.

And to add to that - I'm relieved that 2k seems to have kept up the good work and at least have tried to keep that SIM feeling. EA's games are great if you liked arcade hockey, but I just don't enjoy it at all, and I was worried 2k was going to go in that direction since all the developers seem to talk about is how "fun" it is to drive a zamboni around and hit people.