NHL 18 Beta Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here!

[seasprite]

NHL Threes is so much fun lol. Club feels very similar to 17, but I do notice as a defensive defensemen that my agility feels much better. Only a couple games in to really have an opinion.

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[Inflict]

Online lobbies are a huge improvement. You select your team and edit your lines/strategies before you search for a game. Love that you can now do online co-op on different consoles.

Played one game so far online, but the defensive skill stick is very good and extremely effective. Have not noticed any improvement to puck pick ups in close with an opposing player. Passing seems to have a very minor delay that needs to be fixed. Players also seem to have more mobility. The creative dekes controls are confusing at the moment. Still don't know how to puck chop properly. The R3 control scheme for chops/dekes needs to be changed, IMO. They seemed to have added a lot of new skating animations including one where a player will move laterally to pick up a won face off instead of letting the puck glide past them.

Threes seems like fun, but I liked the version they released a few years ago better where they had power ups.

Other minor issues are face-off lag at centre ice (PS4) and rosters are not up to date. So far, I like the way the game plays, but won't know for sure until I play more.

[duffman]

Couple impressions from one online vs game:

-So the puck feels looser in online versus, which is nice. But at some points it took some weird bounces and went into what I can only describe as tennis ball mode where it bounced around like crazy for a bit.

-Don't use classic camera as the away team in Pittsburgh, looks like the cup banners maybe are blocking part of the view when the puck is in the offensive zone. Had to change to the dynamic high camera.

-The idea of not seeing the other team selected for online versus is horrible. I used to just back out if someone selected Allstar teams, but now you have no choice until you get in game. I would usually just randomize my team choice pregame a couple times and pick a closely matched team, but now you have no idea what you're up against.

-Defensive skill stick is great and has been needed for a while, but it still doesn't feel quite as smooth to me as the one in 2k from years past.

-Changing the chop puck control is gonna take some getting used to.

-There was actually a few minutes where it was hard for either team to get through the neutral zone. Could just be due to lack of skill on both me and my opponents part though haha.

All in all, it's nhl. We all know what we're gonna get at this point. It'll be better than 17 in at least a few areas and I'll end up playing it a ton like I do every year going back to 93 cause I love hockey, but it could be so much better at this point.


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[BJNT]

NHL Threes was fun. Too bad we'll have to wait until the actual game comes out to try the expansion mode.

[ddhex27]

Threes is a blast, so much fun. EA nailed the arcade stuff perfectly. I could see that as a fleshed out standalone product, easily. TheY should just go full arcade in my opinion. Stoked on it.

The sim stuff in the regular 5 on 5 plays almost identical to 17 and is lost somewhere between arcade and sim (like the many last years). The defensive skill stick is a great add on this year, but otherwise it sounds and feels like the exact same game as 17.

The arcade threes stuff is so good that it makes me think they should just be going what they are good at and let someone else make a sim game.

[PsnHitman17]

Where is las vegas?

[Södy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Inflict

Online lobbies are a huge improvement. You select your team and edit your lines/strategies before you search for a game. Love that you can now do online co-op on different consoles.

Is your lineup saved like in FIFA?

[Honni]

Am I the only one who thinks that it's pretty dubious that EA only gave us the option to play either online where the AI (and all the 'awesome' changes they tell us) doesn't really matter that much or the 3 vs 3 mode which is completely different from the standard gameplay?

I directly downloaded the beta and was so disappointed when I saw this. I never play online because I'm fed up by all those kids who are not playing real hockey and just try to cheese all the time. The best was indeed the 3 vs 3 mode which says a lot about what's to come for guys who really would like to see a solid offline hockey game.

I'm on one side pretty much scared about the final product but on the other hand it's nothing new on this point. Really thinking about passing this iteration, also because they STILL haven't said anything about roster sharing as well. It's just sad.