NHL 15 on the 360/PS3 Appears To Be A Minor Update

[Bayharbourhoody]

Honestly, can anyone truly be that shocked at this? This game series gets worse with every update involving authenticity. It is a bad game from a bad company that has been allowed to limp on and even win undeserved awards because it is basically the only game in its category. Guess what, if I make the only car in existence, guess who will be winning all the car awards? Backdraft decisions have been made for years with this franchise....let's examine why. It's really no fault of the debs whatsoever. Ea just put the wrong people at the wheel. Period. Like who you might ask... Rammer or rambler or whatever he's been dubbed. Have you seen this guy? I'm almost certain if you even asked him to describe what physical activity looks like, he would stare at you blankly....and this is the guy considered the great oz of hockey....right. Even still he can't be blamed. So who's the pappy, the grand puba? Littman. Ever wonder why all those glitches and easy soft goals are incredibly frequent? Watch some of his games and it becomes clear the game was built on his Hal journeyman perspective. This guy is arguably one of the worst goaltenders in nhl history and he's the end all be all in ea hockey knowledge? Really? I mean don't you think if you were making an nhl game you would want a Stanley cup winner as the guy in charge of creativity? How about even somebody who has won a single nhl game before? Seem unreasonable? It is for ea. the blame however still lies elsewhere..... It's the business aspect combined with a crappy community and washy washy dev teams that have made this series bad. It starts with the community. Ridiculous demands in 50 different directions made at people who never should have been in charge in the first place. I mean c'mon, they had the great one at their fingertips...the guy most modern day hockey is based on.....did they pick apart his brain like madden did with jimmy Johnson and aikman. Nope . They asked him what it was like to score a bunch of goals. Good job... Pffft

[bad_philanthropy]

So, uh, I'm actually pretty pleased with the 360 version. The stuff on ice, with slider adjustments, feels good.

-I like the improvements to skating and puck physics. The puck seems to have appropriate weight. There are still some instances on rebounds where it doesn't seem to react with proper weight, but I think overall puck physics are much improved.

-Manual passing seems sharper, and improved for the first time in years

-Saw some decent things from the cpu like using the boards to pass, and cycling the puck by chipping the puck along the boards to get it down low.

-CPU bs defensive moves like the ability to use physics-defying nudges from behind to dispossess human players seems gone. CPU seems to have a better sense of defending with body position and stick work.

-Teammate AI feels better to me. Feels like the have a better sense of how to get open, and even time getting off a check to receive a pass in the open.

The game will get a lot of flak for the recycled front end, but I'm quite pleased with the under the hood stuff, in addition to having the game modes that give the game longevity over the year.

[Yundtder]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

So, uh, I'm actually pretty pleased with the 360 version. The stuff on ice, with slider adjustments, feels good. -I like the improvements to skating and puck physics. The puck seems to have appropriate weight. There are still some instances on rebounds where it doesn't seem to react with proper weight, but I think overall puck physics are much improved. -Manual passing seems sharper, and improved for the first time in years -Saw some decent things from the cpu like using the boards to pass, and cycling the puck by chipping the puck along the boards to get it down low. -CPU bs defensive moves like the ability to use physics-defying nudges from behind to dispossess human players seems gone. CPU seems to have a better sense of defending with body position and stick work. -Teammate AI feels better to me. Feels like the have a better sense of how to get open, and even time getting off a check to receive a pass in the open. The game will get a lot of flak for the recycled front end, but I'm quite pleased with the under the hood stuff, in addition to having the game modes that give the game longevity over the year.

This is the type of notes I am looking for.
I would accept an improved version of 14, I enjoyed it minus the hair pulling stupid glitches like bouncing puck, cheating CPU and no penalties called in High Impact except tripping and slashing...

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yundtder

This is the type of notes I am looking for. I would accept an improved version of 14, I enjoyed it minus the hair pulling stupid glitches like bouncing puck, cheating CPU and no penalties called in High Impact except tripping and slashing...

There do seem to be a few more penalties if with the slider on the highest setting due to new collision types. It's not perfect.

Again, I am playing with adjusted sliders on SS, and hitting tuned way down. I'm pretty satisfied, and will see where the next-gen effort is at next year.

[johnnydrum]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

So, uh, I'm actually pretty pleased with the 360 version. The stuff on ice, with slider adjustments, feels good. -I like the improvements to skating and puck physics. The puck seems to have appropriate weight. There are still some instances on rebounds where it doesn't seem to react with proper weight, but I think overall puck physics are much improved. -Manual passing seems sharper, and improved for the first time in years -Saw some decent things from the cpu like using the boards to pass, and cycling the puck by chipping the puck along the boards to get it down low. -CPU bs defensive moves like the ability to use physics-defying nudges from behind to dispossess human players seems gone. CPU seems to have a better sense of defending with body position and stick work. -Teammate AI feels better to me. Feels like the have a better sense of how to get open, and even time getting off a check to receive a pass in the open. The game will get a lot of flak for the recycled front end, but I'm quite pleased with the under the hood stuff, in addition to having the game modes that give the game longevity over the year.

Oh well done mate.
After the initial disappointment and shock of the missing features on NEXT GEN, I decided to see how things look on the XBOX360 and am left buoyant by your findings.
Can you please confirm that there is a SEASON MODE in it?
(where you can select all 30 Teams?)
Its out here in the UK on Friday, so I appreciate the feedback.

[bad_philanthropy]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnnydrum

Oh well done mate. After the initial disappointment and shock of the missing features on NEXT GEN, I decided to see how things look on the XBOX360 and am left buoyant by your findings. Can you please confirm that there is a SEASON MODE in it? (where you can select all 30 Teams?) Its out here in the UK on Friday, so I appreciate the feedback.

Keep in mind, this is still very much the NHL series we've been playing for eight years. I just happen to think it has some nice little upgrades in gameplay—especially if you use sliders to tweak your game.

A couple more observations:

-some nice new little animations that make things work better. I had a player lift one leg to let a puck travel past him to the man I had targeted on the cycle around the net. Only avoidance stuff I've seen before was the complete jump on low shots on net.

-Have seen some nice instances of multiple player collisions, and neat chain reactions like a guy going down and sliding and taking out another player not looking.

-goalies seem to have more momentum and weight to them. Seems to cause more instances of them being realistically out of position on some goals I've scored.

-I think goalie reaction is a bit too low on default, but bumped up one notch on the slider is a sweet spot for me so far. Had a 4-2 win with Buffalo against Montreal when I bumped it up and Price made some nice saves but he wasn't unbeatable, and I scored three greasers and a pure snipe against him.

-Still too easy to enter the zone, but the game feels a little messier overall.

-seems easier for the user to take penalties, but the cpu still isn't taking enough penalties.

-Feels like there is a better sense of player differentiation between ratings.

-It isn't revolutionary by any means, but I do feel like this is an improvement on 14. Is it worth it's price? For me it is since I've enjoyed every iteration of the series on gen 3 other than '12. If you haven't liked the series on gen 3 I don't think 15 is going to change that.

[johnnydrum]

Brilliant...Im enthused!
Last season I edited every player DOWN in every attribute and ended up with a great, gritty game...It took weeks to edit every player, but well worth it in the end.
Thanks again

[Yundtder]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

There do seem to be a few more penalties if with the slider on the highest setting due to new collision types. It's not perfect. Again, I am playing with adjusted sliders on SS, and hitting tuned way down. I'm pretty satisfied, and will see where the next-gen effort is at next year.

I dont have a problem with penalties that dont happen, I have a big one with the ones that happen, and arent called.
In 14, under the High Impact setting, my players get knocked down in front of the CPU net all the time, with no interference call... Now I can do the same thing to be fair, with no call, but I want these to be calls for and against.

I can make penalties happen against me, like trip or slash ones, they happen enough and I take enough of them myself, its the ones that make the game cheat and kill the experience that bugged me about 14.

So if this is fixed for 15, I will put that in the pro column