08:38 AM - September 15, 2015 by Steve_OS
NHL 16 has officially launched for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Get a few games in and post your impressions!
On another note, NHL Legacy Edition is available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers.
NHL 16 News Post
08:38 AM - September 15, 2015 by Steve_OSNHL 16 has officially launched for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Get a few games in and post your impressions!
On another note, NHL Legacy Edition is available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers.
NHL 16 Videos
Member Comments
Played a few games last night after my PS4 digital copy went live and after hearing a lot of the negativity from the xbone crowd , I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Game looks, plays, and feels much better to me. I'm sure there are things that will pop up but I'm pretty confident that sliders and tuner settings will make this the best video hockey game we've seen yet.
Initial impressions are pretty good.
Visially it's mostly the same, may be slightly better. The arenas are more immersive, and the mascots and different crowd interactions are a wonderful touch.
The gameplay is different for the better. Passes are more about technique and distance now. Your less accurate on tape to tape passes. The puck is more lose and authentic to real hockey, but there are no stick collisions so you can still drag it a bit through traffic and in piles of people, but you're generally punished for it.
The players have more weight to their skating similar to past gen.
Poke checking is effective when timed right, but less effective when spammed.
Defense is a ton better, as pucks won't sail through sticks and skates for one timers. This might be a little too good, because there isn't much player interaction to it, just being in good position, which I'm fine with. That being said you should have less help at higher skill levels and online.
Shots are less laser accurate and you have to use slappers further out or the puck will lose velocity and be easier to stop.
Screening the goalie is more effective.
Goalies are overall improved and let in very few shots they're square too. You really have to move them around.
The AI is better but still not perfect. They tend to chase too much and are liable for cross crease passes if you don't block the passing lane yourself.
Penalties are hit and miss. After the tuner update you see a few a game with the max slider, but I'd like to see more without touching it.
Visially it's mostly the same, may be slightly better. The arenas are more immersive, and the mascots and different crowd interactions are a wonderful touch.
The gameplay is different for the better. Passes are more about technique and distance now. Your less accurate on tape to tape passes. The puck is more lose and authentic to real hockey, but there are no stick collisions so you can still drag it a bit through traffic and in piles of people, but you're generally punished for it.
The players have more weight to their skating similar to past gen.
Poke checking is effective when timed right, but less effective when spammed.
Defense is a ton better, as pucks won't sail through sticks and skates for one timers. This might be a little too good, because there isn't much player interaction to it, just being in good position, which I'm fine with. That being said you should have less help at higher skill levels and online.
Shots are less laser accurate and you have to use slappers further out or the puck will lose velocity and be easier to stop.
Screening the goalie is more effective.
Goalies are overall improved and let in very few shots they're square too. You really have to move them around.
The AI is better but still not perfect. They tend to chase too much and are liable for cross crease passes if you don't block the passing lane yourself.
Penalties are hit and miss. After the tuner update you see a few a game with the max slider, but I'd like to see more without touching it.
To give an example of improved goalie play, with Vancouver I let in only 1 goal on 22 shots when playing good D in front of Miller.
Playing bad D I got lit up 5 times on 24 shots with Markstrom. That's not quite as good, but he's far worse ratings wise, and I played horrible in front of him.
Playing bad D I got lit up 5 times on 24 shots with Markstrom. That's not quite as good, but he's far worse ratings wise, and I played horrible in front of him.
3 minutes of NHL 16 xbox one gameplay. Predators vs. Bluejackets.
This is on pro default. Nice short handed five hole goal.
This is on pro default. Nice short handed five hole goal.
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When you were controlling Eric Nystrom, it looked like he was about as quick and nimble as a cement truck with a full load.
Early in the clip, you also were controlling Bourque who looked as if he were way more agile and quick.
It’s nice to see the separation more clearly.
But I hope the same can be said for the CPU.
Couple of other little things;
The in-the-net cam has an amazing glaze on the lens from the melting ice spray. Just like it looks on tv
When you are the away team you will usually see a couple of your fans wearing throwback/classic sweaters
The higher up behind the netting camera angle is cool
Going into the 3rd period at san jose when I was the wild vs the sharks I was down 3-1. Before the faceoff the presentation camera did a sweep from high to low of the crowd, then did another high to low sweep from another angle. Everyone was sitting there complacently because their team was up 3-1. It looked scarily real.
I have seen a decent amount of broken sticks and they stay on the ice until a stoppage in play.
Had the net dislodge during a cpu offensive onslaught and one of the forwards skated by and quickly whacked the crossbar in frustration
San Jose players coming out of the shark mouth
I will say that I am having fun with NHL 16. 15 was ok but yeah we all know. 16 carried over a lot of the gameplay issues but last night it really played the best it's played in a long long time gameplay wise. What happened exactly was I tried to play a friend online, we could not get the connection to work so I backed out, when I backed out the game prompted me about a gameplay update. I said ok and played an offline match and it was CPU cheating free. There was none, zero. When I go look at the gameplay versions I have Latest and 1.00 which is not a change. It looked like that before last night.
So I am going to assume the previous Latest gameplay was a mistake, with the rampant cpu no look passing and your cpu skaters skating the wrong directions, and they updated it by overwriting "Latest" to a much better playing game.
The other thing is a who knows...the EA servers were disconnecting and reconnecting frequently last night. So did the gameplay improve because I wasn't always connected to the EA server?
I don't know. It's a complete mystery.
I just hope the gameplay I experienced last night stays around and is given a gameplay number when they add the next gameplay update so I can go back to it if necessary.
The in-the-net cam has an amazing glaze on the lens from the melting ice spray. Just like it looks on tv
When you are the away team you will usually see a couple of your fans wearing throwback/classic sweaters
The higher up behind the netting camera angle is cool
Going into the 3rd period at san jose when I was the wild vs the sharks I was down 3-1. Before the faceoff the presentation camera did a sweep from high to low of the crowd, then did another high to low sweep from another angle. Everyone was sitting there complacently because their team was up 3-1. It looked scarily real.
I have seen a decent amount of broken sticks and they stay on the ice until a stoppage in play.
Had the net dislodge during a cpu offensive onslaught and one of the forwards skated by and quickly whacked the crossbar in frustration
San Jose players coming out of the shark mouth
I will say that I am having fun with NHL 16. 15 was ok but yeah we all know. 16 carried over a lot of the gameplay issues but last night it really played the best it's played in a long long time gameplay wise. What happened exactly was I tried to play a friend online, we could not get the connection to work so I backed out, when I backed out the game prompted me about a gameplay update. I said ok and played an offline match and it was CPU cheating free. There was none, zero. When I go look at the gameplay versions I have Latest and 1.00 which is not a change. It looked like that before last night.
So I am going to assume the previous Latest gameplay was a mistake, with the rampant cpu no look passing and your cpu skaters skating the wrong directions, and they updated it by overwriting "Latest" to a much better playing game.
The other thing is a who knows...the EA servers were disconnecting and reconnecting frequently last night. So did the gameplay improve because I wasn't always connected to the EA server?
I don't know. It's a complete mystery.
I just hope the gameplay I experienced last night stays around and is given a gameplay number when they add the next gameplay update so I can go back to it if necessary.
Last 10 minutes or so of some Blues and Stars action and a little of the Scottrade atmosphere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvrpmF08kzY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvrpmF08kzY
Started my own thread before this one was available, so now re-posting in this, the official discussion thread....
So, my build up to NHL 16 consisted of playing a few games on NHL 15 so to better gauge the differences and contrast.
Upon jumping into my first NHL 16 game between Chicago and Tampa Bay, my initial reaction was that ice and players looked very similar to NHL 15. Yes, the graphics are a bit sharper and brighter (I am playing on PS4) but one is hard pressed to tell the difference after a glass of whiskey…
I chose Hard Core settings and All Star difficulty, True Broadcast camera.
Gameplay wise, everything feels a lot looser (in a good way). The puck is really lively and poke checks are a potent tool if well timed and well executed. This is valid for both CPU and human. This makes for some pretty unpredictable hockey, which is a breath of fresh air. The speed is not so fast, it feels good and what NHL 16 does better than NHL 15 is implementing different speeds. I felt NHL 15 always played at the same speed no matter who you were controlling or in what context. This year if you time a pass correctly, the momentum of the skater receiving the pass will typically take him past a defender. I like this a lot. It took me quite a bit to get grips with the passing as initially all my passes were under powered. At the beginning if feels frustrating but when you learn to work the various lengths of pressing the pass button, you will be able to zip some pretty long passes. With no assistance on the passing direction, you really have to be careful because the CPU will punish you. I was down 4-0 in my first 10 minutes of the first period, all goals resulting from turnovers.
The AI is hit and miss. There are many improvements in the way AI makes decisions – from forechecking to sending teammates forward on a break. Then again on a few occasions I had a 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 developing and one of my skaters would choose to go for a line change, thus wasting the numerical advantage.
Shooting feels much better – more realistic somehow. What I also like is that if you pass to a skater who is not facing the goal and you attempt to shoot with said skater, he will not do that silly wind up and the back stick shot of years past. It’s almost as if the AI overrules your poor choice to shoot whilst facing your own goal. I am not sure if this happens always, but I am sure it happened at least twice.
Setting up when on a player play feels amazing. It strikes the perfect balance between cycling and danger risk in terms should you lose the puck at the blue line. On one occasion I witnessed a defenseman make a “desperation” move to try and keep the puck in the zone. Not only it served a purpose but the animation looked great too.
There is weight to the players some how, much more so than NHL 15. Hits feel good and being hit also feels authentic somehow. Still, I wish there was even more weight. It still has that hovering over the ice feel.
I saw some new goalie saves, which looked good.
There is still a lot of clustering of players in one spot, frequently resulting in players bumping into each other, falling down, etc. I don’t know – may be EA calls that authenticity, but I find it arcady and silly.
Kudos to EA for introducing some subtle visual options – such as size of player icon and scoreboard size. Certainly not game braking, but I do like the option and I immediately felt that the smaller sizes add to authenticity.
Also the trainer aids are a welcome addition – whilst I can see how they can help a newcomer to the series, I also think they give an insight into how EA believe the game should be played, thus explaining when a pass should be along the line of attack as opposed to across, etc. I have to spend some more time understanding the logic and see if it yields results when applied.
I mentioned passing and poke checking. Other controls feel generally the same as NHL 15. I am not sure about what the precision skating does when attacking. Unless I am doing it wrong, it simply seems to turn the player 180 degrees. I need to experiment the various degrees of pressure on the L2 button.
To summarise, I feel the visuals of the game look marginally better (I was expecting more). Gameplay feels much improved with some subtle but welcome additions. The puck is much looser and there are some nice new animations. I can’t help but feel that this is what NHL 15 should have been. I wish there was a customizable True Broadcast camera or at least have the option to swivel a bit more. Yes, I will play it and probably enjoy it for a month or two, but I feel the franchise has that stale feel to it and it’s about time it gets a complete overhaul for next year.
So, my build up to NHL 16 consisted of playing a few games on NHL 15 so to better gauge the differences and contrast.
Upon jumping into my first NHL 16 game between Chicago and Tampa Bay, my initial reaction was that ice and players looked very similar to NHL 15. Yes, the graphics are a bit sharper and brighter (I am playing on PS4) but one is hard pressed to tell the difference after a glass of whiskey…
I chose Hard Core settings and All Star difficulty, True Broadcast camera.
Gameplay wise, everything feels a lot looser (in a good way). The puck is really lively and poke checks are a potent tool if well timed and well executed. This is valid for both CPU and human. This makes for some pretty unpredictable hockey, which is a breath of fresh air. The speed is not so fast, it feels good and what NHL 16 does better than NHL 15 is implementing different speeds. I felt NHL 15 always played at the same speed no matter who you were controlling or in what context. This year if you time a pass correctly, the momentum of the skater receiving the pass will typically take him past a defender. I like this a lot. It took me quite a bit to get grips with the passing as initially all my passes were under powered. At the beginning if feels frustrating but when you learn to work the various lengths of pressing the pass button, you will be able to zip some pretty long passes. With no assistance on the passing direction, you really have to be careful because the CPU will punish you. I was down 4-0 in my first 10 minutes of the first period, all goals resulting from turnovers.
The AI is hit and miss. There are many improvements in the way AI makes decisions – from forechecking to sending teammates forward on a break. Then again on a few occasions I had a 3 on 2 or 2 on 1 developing and one of my skaters would choose to go for a line change, thus wasting the numerical advantage.
Shooting feels much better – more realistic somehow. What I also like is that if you pass to a skater who is not facing the goal and you attempt to shoot with said skater, he will not do that silly wind up and the back stick shot of years past. It’s almost as if the AI overrules your poor choice to shoot whilst facing your own goal. I am not sure if this happens always, but I am sure it happened at least twice.
Setting up when on a player play feels amazing. It strikes the perfect balance between cycling and danger risk in terms should you lose the puck at the blue line. On one occasion I witnessed a defenseman make a “desperation” move to try and keep the puck in the zone. Not only it served a purpose but the animation looked great too.
There is weight to the players some how, much more so than NHL 15. Hits feel good and being hit also feels authentic somehow. Still, I wish there was even more weight. It still has that hovering over the ice feel.
I saw some new goalie saves, which looked good.
There is still a lot of clustering of players in one spot, frequently resulting in players bumping into each other, falling down, etc. I don’t know – may be EA calls that authenticity, but I find it arcady and silly.
Kudos to EA for introducing some subtle visual options – such as size of player icon and scoreboard size. Certainly not game braking, but I do like the option and I immediately felt that the smaller sizes add to authenticity.
Also the trainer aids are a welcome addition – whilst I can see how they can help a newcomer to the series, I also think they give an insight into how EA believe the game should be played, thus explaining when a pass should be along the line of attack as opposed to across, etc. I have to spend some more time understanding the logic and see if it yields results when applied.
I mentioned passing and poke checking. Other controls feel generally the same as NHL 15. I am not sure about what the precision skating does when attacking. Unless I am doing it wrong, it simply seems to turn the player 180 degrees. I need to experiment the various degrees of pressure on the L2 button.
To summarise, I feel the visuals of the game look marginally better (I was expecting more). Gameplay feels much improved with some subtle but welcome additions. The puck is much looser and there are some nice new animations. I can’t help but feel that this is what NHL 15 should have been. I wish there was a customizable True Broadcast camera or at least have the option to swivel a bit more. Yes, I will play it and probably enjoy it for a month or two, but I feel the franchise has that stale feel to it and it’s about time it gets a complete overhaul for next year.
Yeah,i'm enjoying 16 too. I was able to slow the imo, too rapid a gameplay pace by setting game speed to 2 (without frame rate issues) and acc at 1. PS4. I also saw that a gameplay update had been downloaded. But just have 1.00 and Lastest as options. However after the update?? the game did seem to play more evenly. Maybe just imagination? Overall, i am seeing some improved ai User and cpu. So that's nice to experience so far.
# 11
csamuelsvt @ 09/15/15 11:45 AM
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Thanks!
Didn't see a glitch thread, and not sure if this would even be considered a glitch as I'm not sure how they'd fix, but in the NHL Moments if a goalie has switched teams (Talbot) he wears his current teams mask with the old teams jersey. Other than that I really love the game. The on ice stuff feels organic to me.
In most of the video clips im seeing, correct me if i am wrong, but I dont see CPU/AI dumping the puck. Do they dump the puck or just waiting to cross the zone? Thanks.
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I think that same issue has been patched before in previous versions of the game if I remember correctly...so if it is an issue in NHL 16 and enough people bring it to EA's attention, I bet they could fix it.
# 15
sweetjones @ 09/15/15 12:55 PM
How is the sound effects in 16? Last year the sound effects were really low except if you watch recorded gameplay.
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They sound great on a 5.1 or higher home stereo system.
They also sound great through the Xbox one stereo headset.
Balance wise it would definitely be nice if they raised the goal horns. Everything is at max default with the sound so you could lower everything but the goalhorns to increase their volume.
If anyone wants to see video of any particular team let me know and I will make a video of gameplay with them.
I won't be able to do it until later tonight but I will be happy to oblige any game matchup requests.
I won't be able to do it until later tonight but I will be happy to oblige any game matchup requests.
Good game. Still needs work however it's heading I the right direction. Problem is I'm enjoying madden so much (first time in years) that I'm not overly interested in NHL at the moment
Picked up NHL 16 on Xbox One last night. Have been playing offline. Have not played NHL 15, mainly comparing to NHL 14/PS3.
Hardcore Pro seemed really easy, but Hardcore All-Star seemed ridiculous with computer firing tape to tape to tape passes all over the ice. Touched a couple sliders to slow the game down a bit, feels a bit better.
Current gripes:
Turning down game speed slider makes game choppy. This one is really really bad. ~Unplayable.
AI is still unrealistic and somewhat frustrating to play against. Offensive zone entry for you is still easy, offensive zone entry for them is pass back and forth in neutral zone repeatedly until something opens up. Create a Play is gone, customizing AI (stuff like dump/carry or pinch from blue line/back off)seems to only be possible for your team? The AI does use some dekes and some offensive creativity. Mainly constantly trying to set up a one-timer on the backdoor. Unfortunately this takes some effort to defend, because the usually AI fires off perfect passes from any angle, even to people behind them at odd angles. This appeared to be made up for by making goalies stop a lot of one-timers and well-aimed shots from high scoring areas. Need to tweak and see, and also play online to compare though.
It's really hard to defend. Every game is raking up shot totals. Positional defense isn't easy, poke check and stick lift are somewhat useful. You lose agility still though so missing pokes and stick lifts costs you positioning. It's hard enough to stay with people as is. Trying to use the awful sweep stick mechanic is tripping people up often. Hitting is toned down, seems okish? Trying to deny or limit shots on goal overall is really difficult.
In Be A Pro, the play-by-play calls me Backes instead of "Andrews" half the time. Go figure.
There was some issue with menus skipping around? Conveniently caused my be a pro to not get saved when I pressed up from cancel to go to exit without saving instead of save and exit. This also happened in other places, even the main menu.
Dump and chase still seems pointless, it's still hard to create pressure on puck carriers with their instant reaction passing plays. Similarly, the AI dumping the puck in was a turnover unless I overskated it or made a bad pass somehow.
Stuff I liked:
The on screen pops give some useful feedback on aiming, faceoff strategy/timing. Passing indicator is kind of useful, helped me line a few passes that would have gone wayward since i'm not laser precise with them. It's nicely customizable so you can turn them off though. The player indicator is really large with some of the tips, but thats scalable with some options off.
Presentation is fairly good. As I mentioned I'm jumping to NHL 16 from NHL 14, so I didn't see a lot of how things were last year. The commentary is overly generic, but sports game commentary is really really difficult to keep fresh, so I'm not going to complain too much. Intro cinematic, arenas, mascots, even fans, all look alright.
Framerate was pretty consistent it felt like. (Other than lower the gamespeed slider)
Animations definitely smoother than NHL 14.
Need to dive into EASHL and online VS soon and see how that is.
Hardcore Pro seemed really easy, but Hardcore All-Star seemed ridiculous with computer firing tape to tape to tape passes all over the ice. Touched a couple sliders to slow the game down a bit, feels a bit better.
Current gripes:
Turning down game speed slider makes game choppy. This one is really really bad. ~Unplayable.
AI is still unrealistic and somewhat frustrating to play against. Offensive zone entry for you is still easy, offensive zone entry for them is pass back and forth in neutral zone repeatedly until something opens up. Create a Play is gone, customizing AI (stuff like dump/carry or pinch from blue line/back off)seems to only be possible for your team? The AI does use some dekes and some offensive creativity. Mainly constantly trying to set up a one-timer on the backdoor. Unfortunately this takes some effort to defend, because the usually AI fires off perfect passes from any angle, even to people behind them at odd angles. This appeared to be made up for by making goalies stop a lot of one-timers and well-aimed shots from high scoring areas. Need to tweak and see, and also play online to compare though.
It's really hard to defend. Every game is raking up shot totals. Positional defense isn't easy, poke check and stick lift are somewhat useful. You lose agility still though so missing pokes and stick lifts costs you positioning. It's hard enough to stay with people as is. Trying to use the awful sweep stick mechanic is tripping people up often. Hitting is toned down, seems okish? Trying to deny or limit shots on goal overall is really difficult.
In Be A Pro, the play-by-play calls me Backes instead of "Andrews" half the time. Go figure.
There was some issue with menus skipping around? Conveniently caused my be a pro to not get saved when I pressed up from cancel to go to exit without saving instead of save and exit. This also happened in other places, even the main menu.
Dump and chase still seems pointless, it's still hard to create pressure on puck carriers with their instant reaction passing plays. Similarly, the AI dumping the puck in was a turnover unless I overskated it or made a bad pass somehow.
Stuff I liked:
The on screen pops give some useful feedback on aiming, faceoff strategy/timing. Passing indicator is kind of useful, helped me line a few passes that would have gone wayward since i'm not laser precise with them. It's nicely customizable so you can turn them off though. The player indicator is really large with some of the tips, but thats scalable with some options off.
Presentation is fairly good. As I mentioned I'm jumping to NHL 16 from NHL 14, so I didn't see a lot of how things were last year. The commentary is overly generic, but sports game commentary is really really difficult to keep fresh, so I'm not going to complain too much. Intro cinematic, arenas, mascots, even fans, all look alright.
Framerate was pretty consistent it felt like. (Other than lower the gamespeed slider)
Animations definitely smoother than NHL 14.
Need to dive into EASHL and online VS soon and see how that is.
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