NHL 14 Demo Available Now For 360, Later Today For PS3 - Post Your Impressions Here

[Fiddy]

alright...

just played a few 3rd periods and was free skating for about 20 minutes.

ill say this, its BETTER than NHL 13. which, i dont say that much from one game to another in this series.

colors, seems brighter, which is great.

NHL 14 has a better feel, more fluid when skating, everything seems to have been smoothed out.

speed, seems toned down, but feels very good.

net battles dont seem to be as annoying when in front, easier to get off of as well.

fighting, pretty cool. such a shame we had to deal with that 1st person fighting these last so many years. no option to turtle in a fight from what i seen. ive started fights, seen 2 started automatically after a hit i put on a player etc.

one touch dekes, hmm, i can see this being a problem online.. very easy to do and can do them very quickly. the other dekes seem to be the same, if you know how to do them, they work per usual, smoother as well.

poke checks, toned down a ton, i can see a ton of tripping calls in the future.

checking, seems like you have to have the player lined up even more so than in the past, which is a good thing. players not getting sucked into hits as much in years past.

breakaways, my same 3 breakaway moves still work at a high rate. a forehand move, backhand move, and one that really isn't a move lol. i scored on 18 of my first 20 attempts in the free skate. i dont skate around like a jag, right in on goalie, make move, score.

wrist shots, i scored 4 of my first 5 shots, all 5 hole.. same as last year from that spot!

if they dont know about those, then i dont know what to tell ya.

overall though, much better product than last year. even with the demo at an early build, its much much much better than NHL 13.

actually enjoyed the way it has played in the demo, which is shocking..

[The Visualizer]

i played for about an hour and here's what stood out:

OFFENSE

• biggest change seems that slapshots are now lethal, you can get goals from unscreened slapshots a lot, scored a clean 5 hole slapshot goal
• the reverse spin-o-rama move is different, faster and more fluid. It might be really useful this year
• You can't fake a wrist shot while you have it curled, click the right-stick does nothing, like you are locked into that animation now
• Backhand forehand move is hit or miss, you still fake them out just as much but even when it feels like you have them beat clean if the puck isnt lifted their pad will stop it more than not now
• you only lose windup fake slapshots moving side to side. Moving forwards and holding it down for awhile you now pick it up seemingly 100% of the time
• there is now a short windup fake slapshot that works consistently well, this works well for D-men at the point not getting locked into the long windup fake and turning it over
• shot power in general seems a lot higher for all shots, saw an unscreened wrist shot go in for just inside the blueline top shelf
• juicy rebounds are still there on most weak shots
• full charged passes are received 100%, no bobbles
• fully charged pass power seems lower
• no more accidentally hitting people when trying to shoot on rebounds because right-stick isnt body check anymore (despite what the controls diagram says when you load the game up)
• quick deke toe drag is pretty nasty and useful

DEFENSE/FIGHTING

• weird pivoting is gone
• hitting feels really good, you have to commit most times and build up a little momentum but when you catch someone, as long as its not someone tough like Chara or Lucic they go down. Because you need to drive at someone to take them down there is a lot more nudging and bumping if you dont build up the momentum needed to knock them down especially in close corners along the boards and in corners which feels/looks good. which means a power forward might be able to control/protect the puck now along the boards without getting dumped as easy
• ive hit tons of guys REALLLY late and not 1 penalty has been called, chimp tactics look to be legal still
• you can deflect slapshots during a players windup or as they are following thru even if you are late closing players down, last year there was some invulnerability to this and they could shoot thru you
• no more autoaim poke check that works while skating the wrong way
• guys stumble sometimes after getting up from being knocked out in fights
• they show replays of the fights
• goalie throws the puck out in traffic a lot more
• chop takes getting used to but works good now that the game doesnt pick and choose for you, still some wonky times where you miss when you shouldnt
• lots of grabbing after the whistle, looks good, should prevent chimps from trying to knock you down all the time

[Fiddy]

there is also an option in the control settings to turn off left stick hitting..

edit -

NHL 94 Mode.. have to use NHL 94 controls right?

wrong.. go to controller select, select skill stick, boom. now NHL 94 mode is just "casual" or "high impact" mode, skate speed/acc boosted, shot acc boosted etc.

it plays exactly like i have had set up on NHL 13 when this mode was announced. i wanted to see if thats what it was going to be and i was right. siiiiiiiiiiiigh!

edit 2 -

i just looked at the sliders in game in NHL 94 mode.. other than 3 sliders, i had them set EXACTLY the way they do in my NHL 94 Mode NHL 13 season.. HILARIOUS!

[Qb]

Wait... Is checking a contextual animation that we initiate by simply running into people? Is the right stick now free-poke?

[nunogomes]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiddy

breakaways, my same 3 breakaway moves still work at a high rate. a forehand move, backhand move, and one that really isn't a move lol. i scored on 18 of my first 20 attempts in the free skate. i dont skate around like a jag, right in on goalie, make move, score. wrist shots, i scored 4 of my first 5 shots, all 5 hole.. same as last year from that spot! if they dont know about those, then i dont know what to tell ya.

Was waiting for your impressions on the demo Fiddy! Unfortunately i was hoping not to have to read this... the game might be better as you said but this 90% sure goals kills it (kills every game that has it really)

Maybe it will receive an update. They did got a few ones out last year...

[JezFranco]

How's the poke chop" working out (R1/RB + Right stick)?

[Al_Tito13]

I played 6 periods of play now and two full HUT tournaments so far and I have to say that I loved how the game felt. I played on Hardcore Simulation. However, it's still way too early to be able to have a good judgement on the game.

What I Like About the NHL 14 Demo:
- Hitting: more realistic, with accidental contacts and some big hits.
- Skating: more fluid, pivoting is better and strafing is a great addition.
- Passing: more responsive, cycling and team play are better, one-timers too.
- Fighting: so much fun.

What I Want to See Improved or Changed:
- No penalties for shooting or hitting after the wistle, which always starts a fight. It will get abused.
- Even if they are fun, fights happen way too often in the demo. And we should always have the choice to start or decline a fight.
- Faceoff spamming is still possible.
- Game pace is too fast.
- Goalies rebound control is still not that good.

To me, the main problem with NHL 13 was superhuman goalies, so I'll have to play more games with 14 to see if goalies were tuned down enough. So far, it seems better, but I may even have to wait for the real game to make a final idea. I'm also not sure that I like the changes made to poke checks, I will have to play more games for this too.

[Fiddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiddy

there is also an option in the control settings to turn off left stick hitting.. edit - NHL 94 Mode.. have to use NHL 94 controls right? wrong.. go to controller select, select skill stick, boom. now NHL 94 mode is just "casual" or "high impact" mode, skate speed/acc boosted, shot acc boosted etc. it plays exactly like i have had set up on NHL 13 when this mode was announced. i wanted to see if thats what it was going to be and i was right. siiiiiiiiiiiigh! edit 2 - i just looked at the sliders in game in NHL 94 mode.. other than 3 sliders, i had them set EXACTLY the way they do in my NHL 94 Mode NHL 13 season.. HILARIOUS!

l also want to add, even though the user can use skill stick controls in the NHL 94 Mode, the CPU does not use any advance controls. no dekes, no nothing!