NHL 15 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions (Xbox One, PS4)

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gerg04

I just wish my teammates actually forechecked and attempted to play loose pucks. Its stomach wrenching when they skate away from the puck that's loose and up for grabs. That alone makes me want to just turn the game off.

This may not completely alleviate the problem, but have you changed the forechecking strategy for your team? For some dumb reason EA puts basically every teams forechecking strategy on 1-4. Basically this causes the issue you are having. I saw the exact same problem a couple years ago and realized that was it. If you haven't adjusted the strategy slider do it. I'd say either to 2-3 or go with an aggressive one. It will give you a better forecheck.

[hooah212002]

Quote: Originally Posted by Madwolf

I actually think the game is closer to real hockey than it's ever been. You can dump the puck into the zone realistically, and the AI plays a lot smarter. It's harder to score cross crease on the move, but easier to score cross crease to a player whose setup. Cycling the puck feels more important than ever, and the puck doesn't magically sail through skates any longer. Of course the game isn't perfect. The board play leaves a lot to be desired, the goalies are far from perfect, and the AI still makes bone head moves, but the game feels better than it ever has.

I agree. At least here in the demo, when I am skating up ice an dpull up at the slot, the opposing AI is all over me (as they should be) instead of just giving me an open chance at a clean slot or the ability to cut across.

[hooah212002]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gagnon39

I don't think there's any doubt I'll be turning the commentary completely off. I love Doc and Eddie-O but the play-by-play in the demo is simply horrible.

They gimped both of them. Doc simply isn't Doc. I need a few more "for all you young hockey players out there" from Edzo and some more "SCAAARRS!" from Doc. Doc is way too mellow here and Eddie doesn't say enough.

[iaxy]

Finally downloaded the demo on PS4.

Incidentally this was also my first experience on PS4, as I recently upgraded from PS3 (mainly because of FIFA and PES, but also with consideration for NHL).
I played NHL 14 on PS3 extensively - mainly online and had some real fun. I always play on True Broadcast as I believe that is the closest representation of the real sport.

Personally, playing the demo was two novelties in one - firstly it was the first experience with a new game and secondly a new experience with a next gen platform. Consequently, my views are compounded as a combination of these two changes.

From a visual perspective, the game looks impressive. The ice (especially) is like real. The arenas also look fantastic and the crowd has undergone some noticeable improvement in models, variety and behavior. Not the same can be said about the players and the chosen colour palette. There is still a bit of an arcade-ish feel. They are not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I guess I was expecting a little more from a next gen platform. The new camera angles are also a welcome addition, a much overdue refreshment to what has been a really stale offering in the camera department for years.

I am also not impressed with the fluidity of movements. Players skate well and fluidly when in full stride and when skating forward, but backward skating leaves a lot to be desired and sharp changes of directions still feel and look extremely robotic. The game fails to capture the gracefulness of the sport and the explosive momentum and inertia of players burning a flatfooted defender.

Board play is another area where I don't see any improvements. Seeing sticks going through boards is just sloppy. The animation of a player approaching the boards and colliding with the boards is still missing and looks very tired.

Onto gameplay. I have to say I have lukewarm impressions of the game. For most parts if plays and feels very much like NHL 14 and 13 and 12 and 11... It's just very familiar and samey... Which may not be a bad thing if you enjoyed previous installments, but again - I judge this from a next gen perspective and to me there are not enough additions / improvements to make this game feel amazing. My biggest gripe for years with the NHL series has been the lack of excitement, especially when being at the receiving end of a CPU attack. I just don't feel the scare / panic factor. I want to be paying for my mistakes and risky cross crease passes. But the game does not punish you for throwing the puck with your goalie midst a bunch of CPU players, the CPU does not score on clear chances, yet it scores on some low-percentage shots from outside. It just feels arcady.

The same is valid when on attack. Very rarely you get that wow moment of excitement.

Body checks look good, but somehow don't feel the same when delivering them. It just feels a bit meek.

What else? Menus look better, cleaner and slicker. The presentation is for sure beautiful and the commentary is a welcome change from years of the same commentary.

Overall, a decent effort, but in my opinion a game with a very short fun longevity. I can't help but feel that this is what NHL 14 should have been for next gen. For this year I really think they should have upped the game considerably. Sure, people will still buy the game, but that's just a reflection of the absence of competition in this sport.

I should also mention that after downloading the demo of NHL 15 on the PS4 I also downloaded FIFA 14 on the PS4 and even though that is still last year's game, it feels and looks miles ahead of NHL 15. It also looks miles ahead than the PS3 version of FIFA 14. It truly feels and plays like a much improved game and you can feel / see the difference in every department. That is what should have happened with NHL 15 and sadly it has not materialised. But we know FIFA has competition in PES and I think that has helped EA stay on their toes and really push the envelope on the development of the game. I fear that until a developer introduces a competition to EA in the ice hockey platform, EA will continue making half steps instead of the full steps it takes with FIFA.

My 2 cents worth

[Gerg04]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

This may not completely alleviate the problem, but have you changed the forechecking strategy for your team? For some dumb reason EA puts basically every teams forechecking strategy on 1-4. Basically this causes the issue you are having. I saw the exact same problem a couple years ago and realized that was it. If you haven't adjusted the strategy slider do it. I'd say either to 2-3 or go with an aggressive one. It will give you a better forecheck.

Yea and it did help a little with the forecheck down low. However there is zero sense of awareness by my AI teammates on where the puck is. They just skate around as of they couldn't care less about the single most important part of the game. It's kind of silly.

[Earl1963]

This game is not impressive looking at all, why so many think that? This is next gen and to me NHL 15 looks way too washed out.

[lockjaw333]

Quote: Originally Posted by Earl1963

This game is not impressive looking at all, why so many think that? This is next gen and to me NHL 15 looks way too washed out.

Outside of the TV style presentation I don't think this game is impressive visually at all for a next gen title. The first problem is that its obviously low resolution, seems to be 720pish, which frankly is extremely jarring now that most if not all of the other sports games are 1080p. There's also a considerable amount of blur, not sure where that is coming from, possibly a post-process AA solution, but it makes the whole game seem blurry. Also the player models look mostly identical to last gen, unlike a game like Madden where this is a huge step up in player models for '15. I'm not sure why the visuals are so meh, and why the game seemingly is having a difficult time displaying them...

[2kguy]

Quote: Originally Posted by lockjaw333

Outside of the TV style presentation I don't think this game is impressive visually at all for a next gen title. The first problem is that its obviously low resolution, seems to be 720pish, which frankly is extremely jarring now that most if not all of the other sports games are 1080p. There's also a considerable amount of blur, not sure where that is coming from, possibly a post-process AA solution, but it makes the whole game seem blurry. Also the player models look mostly identical to last gen, unlike a game like Madden where this is a huge step up in player models for '15. I'm not sure why the visuals are so meh, and why the game seemingly is having a difficult time displaying them...

I agree completely with this. Resolution-wise it looks far below the standards of all other PS4 games I have played and as you said it looks washed out. I was coming here to see if there was any additional information from the developer on this. Any chances this is just because it is a demo and the final version will be much improved? I will not be purchasing the game if this is how it looks - ruins the experience for me.