NHL 12 News Post

NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

05:52 AM - August 23, 2011 by Steve_OS

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NHL 12 demo is available now, please play a few games and post your impressions here. The demo weighs in at 1.34 GB. Available now for 360, later this afternoon for PS3.

UPDATE: PS3 demo is available now.

What's included in the demo? Check out the NHL 12 demo announcement blog.

Game: NHL 12Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 26 - View All

NHL 12 Videos

Member Comments

# 41 adayinthelife @ 08/23/11 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikey88


	Well, we can't change any of the sliders so im pretty sure when you increase "attribute effects" slider things will be way better

One would hope. Previously that slider hasn't been extremely effective however.

# 42 goosedennis @ 08/23/11 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skabatula


	The comment about this being NHL 11.5 looks pretty accurate. Wouldn't be such a bad thing if NHL 11 wasn't NHL 10.5.

Last sentence:

You have to be kidding.

# 43 Fiddy @ 08/23/11 10:35 AM

another pro i just noticed.. when you deke out to left or right, it seems as if you loose speed and dont coast full speed anymore.. if so, thats great.. will make some moves tougher to pull off unlike last year.. but with that said, its just with the NHL guys, who knows how the boosted players etc will act in those situations..

# 44 Money99 @ 08/23/11 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mondoguitar


	Hopefully the hitting is something they tweak with sliders, they did it last year. I think if more "slot goals" are scored legit, then people might feel the need to glitch less. If the only way you can score on the goalie is with a glitch move, guess what, people will do that. It was the goaltending that needed fixing the most. When you have a 5ft shot in the slot, it should go in half the time, not 1% of the time.

Very true. Most guys, even 3rd liners will bury that opportunity more than 50% of the time.
That's why making the D smarter and more effective is the answer.

Again, I only played 2 games, but I found the D harder to penetrate than last years.
But I also stink at these games.

# 45 adayinthelife @ 08/23/11 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skabatula


	The comment about this being NHL 11.5 looks pretty accurate. Wouldn't be such a bad thing if NHL 11 wasn't NHL 10.5.

See that I disagree with, which is why me thinking that this game feels 11.5ish is not a good thing.

To me NHL 11 was leaps and bounds better than 10 (which was probably my least favourite in the series this gen), and the differences were quite noticeable.

This time around however, the "300 gameplay improvements" just feel like they're either a) too small to notice after only playing a couple games (this could be good) or b) total bull****.

# 46 theglory @ 08/23/11 10:45 AM

I am sure I will love this game like every year.
but...

If you graze people with the hip check they still go flying...how can they claim momentum and weight matter when these kinda things happen. You can toss people into the bench fairly easy to.

Goalies are still fairly stupid, same old clunky covering up issues, and now they seem more inclined to pass the puck out in very dangerous situations.

I am not digging the cut to crowd after goal, feels odd.. it is nice when they cut to the goalie tho and he looks all sad.

Puck physics are nearly spot on. I have not run into a situation where the puck gets stuck on the goalies back yet.

Skating feels better, not sure if it is just due to it being slower tho.

Shots feel like a shot, not the puck just zooming off the stick.

Anyone notice the individual personalities tho? Sedins did not really ever try to cycle low on me, they actually shot off the rush most of the time from poor angles.

# 47 Fiddy @ 08/23/11 10:51 AM

yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!!

they brought back being able to use any camera while being locked on the goalie.. woo!! i was so heated last year when you had to use either low or high.

for those that dont know, prior to playing a play now game, hit edit lineups, use the X button to position lock..

# 48 MiNiDiTkA @ 08/23/11 10:52 AM

Another vid. I'll have some videos of HUT and BAP later on.

# 49 Mike Smoove @ 08/23/11 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by F1Maniac2008


	Can someone with gold upload the demo somewhere so silver users can test the demo too? It's killing me if I have go wait another week

Not sure if this is legally allowed, that is distributing it without consent. Just saying.

# 50 adayinthelife @ 08/23/11 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	Sliders are locked? really? /facepalm

Yep. It's a good thing because it means that there's a 99% chance you can make the retail game play better, but a bad thing because we'll have to wait to see if the sliders are effective in the least bit.

# 51 FBeaule04 @ 08/23/11 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	another pro i just noticed.. when you deke out to left or right, it seems as if you loose speed and dont coast full speed anymore.. if so, thats great.. will make some moves tougher to pull off unlike last year.. but with that said, its just with the NHL guys, who knows how the boosted players etc will act in those situations..

If that's the case, it's going to be a blessing for D-Man that we're unable to follow as soon they made a move reacting to a forward making a deke. There's no way a D pokecheking a guy trying to make a deke should been thrown out immediately off the play and the guy making a crazy deke still full speed!

# 52 FBeaule04 @ 08/23/11 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!! they brought back being able to use any camera while being locked on the goalie.. woo!! i was so heated last year when you had to use either low or high. for those that dont know, prior to playing a play now game, hit edit lineups, use the X button to position lock..

Much needed, and quite honestly, I never understood whey they got rid of it in NHL 11.

Looks like my BaP goalie can make a return with the classic cam on. Yes!

# 53 bad_philanthropy @ 08/23/11 11:05 AM

The changes I've noticed so far are subtle, but I like them. As others have mentioned, puck physics are improved and skating feels a bit better. Manual passing seems a touch quicker, but I didn't have a problem with how it was before.

One thing though, of all the demos released for NHL this gen, I've had the least difficulty adjusting to this one. I was able to put it on SS HC mode and felt completely comfortable. In fact, my overall feel was that I couldn't really tell if I was playing NHL 11 or a new game.

I like the game, and I like the under the hood improvements, and I'll definitely buy.

Last point. It hurts to say this, but in an age when NCAA, Madden, FIFA, and even Side's Rugby Challenge are implementing all sorts of new lighting mechanisms and visual polish, I feel like the look of EA's NHL series is a bit dated. Presentation upgrades are nice, and I know hockey is different that an outdoor sport, but I just feel like it might be time for a bit of a visual overhaul for the series -- this is the fifth edition since going to 60fps, and the look has differed little over that span.

# 54 stew514 @ 08/23/11 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mondoguitar


	Hopefully the hitting is something they tweak with sliders, they did it last year. I think if more "slot goals" are scored legit, then people might feel the need to glitch less. If the only way you can score on the goalie is with a glitch move, guess what, people will do that. It was the goaltending that needed fixing the most. When you have a 5ft shot in the slot, it should go in half the time, not 1% of the time.

This is exactly how I feel, if they made the slot a dangerous area to score that's where teams would attack. Teams are going to do whatever is the easiest way to score and it's up to the developers to try and balance that.

# 55 FBeaule04 @ 08/23/11 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiNiDiTkA


	Another vid. I'll have some videos of HUT and BAP later on.

The more I see, the more I like it. There was one odd thing in the video, Chara going to the corner while Thomas was holding the puck after a save. Never seen that in real life, but it's not that problematic.

I was laughing out loud when I saw you bump Thomas with Burrows 10 times in a row after a whistle without Chara and Boychuk not even coming to rip your head off!

On the PP goal you had, it was a nice tribute to net battle as Boychuk takes Burrows out of the front of the net, and Thomas moving forward to take the shot. Bieksa blast it through, but that's happening in the game too, so it's fine.

What I would like to see is if the slightest breakaway moves are working like crazy. Seems like in NHL 11, the only sure way to score is the simple move or the glitch wrister. Would be curious to see if the CPU goalies are bitting like NHL 11.

After 2-3 footage, didn't see any pinning or backing off from the D as well as a winger going to the corner on a 2 on 1. That's pleasing me a lot.

So far, good job EA. Can't wait to dowload it and play a few games at home tonight!

# 56 Mikey88 @ 08/23/11 11:09 AM

I like the demo so far. I couldn't say the same thing for last years.

First things first - I change difficulty to All-Star. Some random notes follow
-The first BIG thing i noticed was CPU AI. WAY BETTER IMO. Daniel Sedin is skating down the wing crossing the blue line, i try to line him up with Chara, he dekes me out lol so i completely miss the hit.

-CPU passes are better.

-CPU shoots a LOT MORE.

-I skated over to make a hit with Kaberle, but only got a piece of Torres, the physics of the collision looked really believable. Kaberle bounced off Torres and stumbed but kept going, Torres stumbled a bit too.

-Skating down the wing, I had Horton cross the blue line and fire a slap shot, only to have it blocked by a defender who dove in front of it!

-I just ran into Luongo accidentally while trying to get at a rebound, bumped into him and got 2 for interference. It looked cool too, as i bumped Lou when he was down, he slid to the side a bit.

-Haven't had 1 shot hit a post yet... kinda nice not to hear - "OH HE HIT HEAVY METAL" every 2 seconds lol

-CPU dumps the puck in when theres nowhere to go in the neutral zone

-1 really cool thing i noticed: i had a tired line out, got stuck in my end but finally I was able to get the puck over my blue line, but I was alone.. trying to get to center to dump and change with 2 defenders in front of me - 1 of em charges at me before i get to the line, knocks me off the puck lol awesome

....more to come

# 57 adayinthelife @ 08/23/11 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealmK


	They weren't locked last year, which gave a good idea for how the game would play on SS with realistic sliders. It makes zero sense to me that they would lock them this year. Hiding something EA? /sigh

Who knows. There's a lot about this game that comes off as half-assed this year, so just add this to the list I suppose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy


	The changes I've noticed so far are subtle, but I like them. As others have mentioned, puck physics are improved and skating feels a bit better. Manual passing seems a touch quicker, but I didn't have a problem with how it was before. One thing though, of all the demos released for NHL this gen, I've had the least difficulty adjusting to this one. I was able to put it on SS HC mode and felt completely comfortable. In fact, my overall feel was that I couldn't really tell if I was playing NHL 11 or a new game. I like the game, and I like the under the hood improvements, and I'll definitely buy. Last point. It hurts to say this, but in an age when NCAA, Madden, FIFA, and even Side's Rugby Challenge are implementing all sorts of new lighting mechanisms and visual polish, I feel like the look of EA's NHL series is a bit dated. Presentation upgrades are nice, and I know hockey is different that an outdoor sport, but I just feel like it might be time for a bit of a visual overhaul for the series -- this is the fifth edition since going to 60fps, and the look has differed little over that span.

This is exactly what I was trying to explain. I play the hell out of this series every year, so when it's demo time I'm usually floored by just how different certain aspects of the game are. I just haven't had that feeling with it thus far.

The worst part is I'm still going to buy the game. It just feels like EA knows that already this year.

# 58 Money99 @ 08/23/11 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theglory


	I am sure I will love this game like every year. but... If you graze people with the hip check they still go flying...how can they claim momentum and weight matter when these kinda things happen. You can toss people into the bench fairly easy to.

Not saying you're wrong, but the next time you play pay attention to who's doing the hitting and who's the hittee.
It might be that one has great balance while the other has a great checking attribute.
Again, I'm not accusing you of anything, I'm geinuinly curious to know if that plays a part in the 'over hitting'.
I remember seeing some nice hits (both big and small) but can't remember who was doing the hitting.
I do know that I wasn't that crazy about seeing H.Sedin go flying from a Savard hit.
But Savard hit him from behind, so who knows. It could also be that the hitting is a bit juiced for the demo too?

Quote:


	I am not digging the cut to crowd after goal, feels odd.. it is nice when they cut to the goalie tho and he looks all sad.

I agree. While I like that EA is trying to spruce it up, it's still not exactly right.
The sequence should go:
1. Goal scored.
2. Players celebrate together.
3. Shot of crowd (or if it's a road team goal, show home team dejection, etc)>
4. Replays.
5. Maybe close up of goal scorer on bench or at face off circle.

# 59 Fiddy @ 08/23/11 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FBeaule04


	Much needed, and quite honestly, I never understood whey they got rid of it in NHL 11. Looks like my BaP goalie can make a return with the classic cam on. Yes!

i loved playing as a goalie in 09 and 10, but in 11 the camera being locked into low or high made me go away from it. glad its back!!

# 60 Fiddy @ 08/23/11 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	I agree. While I like that EA is trying to spruce it up, it's still not exactly right. The sequence should go: 1. Goal scored. 2. Players celebrate together. 3. Shot of crowd (or if it's a road team goal, show home team dejection, etc)> 4. Replays. 5. Maybe close up of goal scorer on bench or at face off circle.

this.

after the goal is scored, not much time to celebrate (which isnt bad) but takes away from scoring a bit..

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NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)