NHL 16 Available Today For Xbox One & PlayStation 4, Post Your Impressions

[Capfan11]

Just my humble 50 year old opinion but I believe this is the best video hockey game to date. Thoroughly enjoying it and I haven't even gone into The online modes yet. First game was with the Sens vs Buds and Cpt K netted a pair in a tight win. Got thoroughly trounced with the Buds vs Sabres 7-2. Caps took out Philthy, isles and Pens in tight affairs. OV got my first hat trick.

Have not touched any sliders and just playing on Pro. Awesome right out of the box.

Play on 60" with 7.1 audio. Those having issues with goal horn being too low turn down the commentary to half and then up the volume so you can hear them. Sounds pretty damn good. Tried Columbus hoping for a rocking cannon but it gets drowned out by horn and music.

IMO sports game of the year material.

[BL8001]

Default sliders on pro

I played this matchup a few times last night and could not beat the Jets with the Devils.

There seems to be some home and away logic even in play now. I like that.

Went on the powerplay early and could not break them down but back at full strength the story changes.

[BL8001]

Frustrations boil over. After this 3-3ot and then I lost in the shootout. Closest I got to beating the Jets on the road.

[Qb]

Had a chance to play my first offline game, play now Pens/Stars in Dallas. I tinkered with the sliders before and a little during the game, mostly trying to slow down the pace of play. I didn't touch gamespeed, but dropped acceleration and pass speeds; these make for a noticeable improvement. I also moved a few other things a click or two, like raising aggression & fatigue.

It was enjoyable game overall and I'll likely continue to mess around with offline. I lost in the shootout and is it just me or is the CPU goalie pokechecking way too quick & powerful? IRL it's a very high risk move and can leave the goalie hung out to dry, but it's so quick and contained I don't get that sense at all 1v1.

I also played a few EASHL games on release night and things were way too scrambly and with too much float & glide in the skating. Players aren't punished nearly enough for taking risks or chasing because it's too easy to recover your position. Also, the skating feels a lot more fluid & deliberate with less acceleration offline, although some of the online feel could be lag related I guess.

[jake19ny]

Totally nit picking here because there are things way more important, but why is this game always a year behind with goalie equipment? Even a few pads from last year are not there. I know they cant have everything ready by release but patch it in....I think they patched one set of pads in last year. I'm one of those anal guys who does his rosters up to par and also like to edit the goalie gear to the real counterparts I have found a site that posts the new goalie gear sightings but just 10 goalies in and I cannot do 5 of them and 4 of the 5 done are not 100% because we cant allocate the colors properly. Again I know its low on the list of priorities but I also know I'm not the only anal roster guy here.....


UPDATE: Make that 7 out 12 cannot have the actual pads they use.
at this rate about 60% or more goalies will be wearing the wrong pads and the same crappy masks for 5 years.....

[T5063]

Best hockey game that I can remember. Sure, it has its share of problems in all areas but nothing 'game breaking' in my opinion. Mind you, I'm a "hardcore casual" fan/player, I don't pay attention to some of the details that a lot of people on this site seem to do so I probably miss a lot.

I play on allstar hardcore 5 min periods. Tried 7 mins at first but the games took too long. Took my a while to get my first goal but I'm slowly getting used to it. I feel like I have to play smart, make smart passes and look for chances on bouncing pucks and rebounds. Gone is the stuff from previous gen where I pretty much had a few go-to maneuvers for goal scoring.

My last game I beat the bruins 2-1 in a very even game. They had 35 shots vs my 27 with pretty even TOA.

I'm just waiting for regular season rosters to drop (hopefully with Eichel and Hanafin in them) to start my GM mode.

Also hoping some minor missing stuff gets patched in along the way.

[bad_philanthropy]

Tuning up the poke check slider has definitely made the game better imo. Made it a lot less back and forth, and actually feels like there is less of the stick clipping and not just applying an overpowered mechanic.

[bad_philanthropy]

Video of an example of how great the physics can be in this game. Attempted shoot in hits the curved part of the glass at the end of the bench. Love detail like this.