NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

The problem with EA's brand of hockey (or any other sports for that matter) is that it's very superficial. The AI is so terrible with and without the puck, it's painful. It's as if their programmers watched nothing but 5 minute highlight clips on NHL.com and made a game. I mean it's action packed, sure. But every thing that makes hockey, y'know... HOCKEY... Is missing. Where are the teams vying for possession in each other's zone? Where are the fights for the puck along the boards, in the corners, in front of the net? Where are the PP or PK plays? Where are the blocked shots? Missed shots? Shots stopped by the goalies?

They've reduced offense to just shooting on net, defense is about hitting people and goalies are basically Goldberg from The Mighty Ducks movie tied to the posts: as long as you shoot on their chest or limbs, they'll make a save. It's pitiful.

I don't expect anything out of NHL 22 other than the game being dumb down even further. They're not interested in making a game that challenges the player's knowledge or skill. On top of it they're gonna be working with the new Frostbite Engine?

It's gonna be NHL 15 on PS4/XB1 all over again...

Yeah I've made so many slider adjustments and strategy adjustments and even CPU goalie global attribute changes to get an enjoyable game of hockey out of 21. I have it tuned to the point where I think taking smart shots and using screens, looking for tips is actually viable, but this isn't even remotely the case on default sliders/attributes.

The most frustrating part is, I think their skating and DSS and checking engines are all capable of producing really good hockey, but the AI is so incredibly bad + the goalies are not in the least bit realistic OOTB that nobody gets to experience it without slider edits.

All EA games are lifeless, superficial experiences as you said. PES blows FIFA out of the water when it comes to immersing the user and actually providing some realistic excitement/challenge to soccer. 2k8 football still provides a more realistic challenge and exactment to the game than Madden 21. NHL 2k8 (and even 2k10) still provide more realistic excitement/un-predictableness than NHL 21 OOTB.

Between their AI being incredibly useless and their OOTB tuner settings, they sure make a decent game look and feel a lot worse than it should. I've certainly tweaked it to the point where I can enjoy it in small doses, but I can still easily look back on NHL Hitz Pro, NHL 2k8, and NHL 2k10 for things that are done better in those respective games which is really disappointing considering we're talking about games 11, 13, and 17 years older respectively.

[Armor and Sword]

NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Well I DL this from EA play and having a lot of fun. Going to embark on a Panthers Franchise and give it a go and try and develop a Pro level slider set.

I am not a fan of the new presentation but it is not that bad and the game plays better on the ice then NHL 19 and has added line chemistry and coaching staffs and coach chemistry. Franchise is certainly deep on NHL.




Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[Armor and Sword]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

My last NHL game was 19. I was hesitant about 21 due to the turnover on the presentation package....but since it was available on EA Play I said let’s give it a shot.

So glad I did, while the presentation is not as good as 19, it is not nearly as bad as I have seen written about it. But the gameplay is certainly better. I am able to play on the boards a lot more, more sloppy hockey, still not nearly enough neutral zone hockey.....but the game is freaking fun. I mean really fun and intense. Defensive play by my teammates is a lot better on 21 than on 19.

I am no expert....I am a "Regular Joe” hockey video game guy. Pro level is perfect for me with adjusted sliders and we seem to have stumbled on a great penalty/gameplay set we are developing for “Regular Joe” players. I still need to tweak it as I go along as opening night in Tampa was a slug fest....then again it is a rival team and a physical team (we won 6-5 in a wild wild game in Tampa). Our second game vs the Blue Jackets (a thrilling 2-1 win) after making a few adjustments to the penalty sliders (especially tripping) still had very good penalty variety but a little more under control.

The franchise mode is even better now than on 19 with line chemistry and coaching staffs. IMO NHL has the deepest franchise mode in sports games available among the big 4. Blows me away MLB The Show can’t do a scouting system as robust as what we have on NHL. Really...no excuse anymore.

I love the Owner and GM responsibilities as well. But scouting is a game in of itself!!! So deep.

I am very excited as you can see and very late to the game.....but NHL 21 will be played a lot here moving forward. And now I am really anticipating NHL 22 for the PS5....I really hope they take it another step higher and deeper. I am very excited to see if the gameplay and teammate AI can be taken to higher highs.....and franchise mode can be made even more robust in regards to news around the league and I hope they install a new network presentation package (ESPN) since the NHL is no longer going to be on NBC. Now I can see why the NBA package was dropped (I loved it BTW but they never expanded on it too much) as the NHL is no longer associated with NBC after this season?

I give the game the following ratings:

Gameplay - 7/10
Fun Factor - 10/10
Franchise Mode - 9/10
Controls - 10/10
Visuals - 9/10

A nice surprise for me.


Also I do notice the NHL Forum is pretty dead. And that is a shame. Also they really really need to have a roster vault. Classic rosters would be a no brainer to share on this series and take it to heights unseen. Also custom edited modern day rosters would take the game to new levels of immersion and realism as well. Maybe for the PS5/X1 they will finally implement that?

[packmanuk]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Just wondering what sliders you were using ?

My last NHL game was 19. I was hesitant about 21 due to the turnover on the presentation package....but since it was available on EA Play I said let’s give it a shot.

So glad I did, while the presentation is not as good as 19, it is not nearly as bad as I have seen written about it. But the gameplay is certainly better. I am able to play on the boards a lot more, more sloppy hockey, still not nearly enough neutral zone hockey.....but the game is freaking fun. I mean really fun and intense. Defensive play by my teammates is a lot better on 21 than on 19.

I am no expert....I am a "Regular Joe” hockey video game guy. Pro level is perfect for me with adjusted sliders and we seem to have stumbled on a great penalty/gameplay set we are developing for “Regular Joe” players. I still need to tweak it as I go along as opening night in Tampa was a slug fest....then again it is a rival team and a physical team (we won 6-5 in a wild wild game in Tampa). Our second game vs the Blue Jackets (a thrilling 2-1 win) after making a few adjustments to the penalty sliders (especially tripping) still had very good penalty variety but a little more under control.

The franchise mode is even better now than on 19 with line chemistry and coaching staffs. IMO NHL has the deepest franchise mode in sports games available among the big 4. Blows me away MLB The Show can’t do a scouting system as robust as what we have on NHL. Really...no excuse anymore.

I love the Owner and GM responsibilities as well. But scouting is a game in of itself!!! So deep.

I am very excited as you can see and very late to the game.....but NHL 21 will be played a lot here moving forward. And now I am really anticipating NHL 22 for the PS5....I really hope they take it another step higher and deeper. I am very excited to see if the gameplay and teammate AI can be taken to higher highs.....and franchise mode can be made even more robust in regards to news around the league and I hope they install a new network presentation package (ESPN) since the NHL is no longer going to be on NBC. Now I can see why the NBA package was dropped (I loved it BTW but they never expanded on it too much) as the NHL is no longer associated with NBC after this season?

I give the game the following ratings:

Gameplay - 7/10
Fun Factor - 10/10
Franchise Mode - 9/10
Controls - 10/10
Visuals - 9/10

A nice surprise for me.


Also I do notice the NHL Forum is pretty dead. And that is a shame. Also they really really need to have a roster vault. Classic rosters would be a no brainer to share on this series and take it to heights unseen. Also custom edited modern day rosters would take the game to new levels of immersion and realism as well. Maybe for the PS5/X1 they will finally implement that?

[Armor and Sword]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Just wondering what sliders you were using ?

I am creating my own set.....but I used Altito’s as my base and started adjusting from there for the Pro level and my own skill level.




Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[packmanuk]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Hopefully you'll post them sometime I'd love to try them out.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I am creating my own set.....but I used Altito’s as my base and started adjusting from there for the Pro level and my own skill level.




Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

Tito has a pretty good set to build a base off of no matter your skill level. Glad to see you're liking the game. With my sliders + strategy adjustments, I have seen the neutral zone being much tighter contested area than in any previous year. I think the only other game to get the NZ play this good in a hockey game is NHL Hitz Pro with sliders believe it or not lol. I think the biggest culprit is the acceleration slider. It's way way way too high on by default, makes the game play like pong. I think I have mine around 15 for both with AE at 10 and I find the NZ to be very respectable. There's obviously always way to game/cheat the CPU, but if you do just make hockey plays, I think it's one of the brighter spots for the AI this year if they're using the 1-4. Running the 1-2-2 strats, the AI gives up way too much space on the outside for my liking, that's really where I see NZ feeling like a ghost town.

The sloppiness that's missing in default sliders really doesn't do this game justice. It is a very much salvageable experience with some slider effort. Slowing the game down a bit (and really acceleration more than skating speed/game speed imo) modifying checking sliders so that you get more separation without the constant NHL Hitz contact really makes for a good experience. I think the DSS is such a great feature to have, but it is not even remotely as useful as it should be by default, and having lower acceleration really makes using your defensive stick that much more enjoyable.

The AI is the biggest thing holding this game back right now. Needs some serious work in all three zones. There's not a glaring technical feature omission that I can think of that would elevate this game more than the much needed AI improvements. Hopefully that continues to get better and hopefully slider vaults, custom team vaults, roster vaults are coming in this next generation because I hate remaking teams/players every year.

[Walbeb]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I used to play this series religiously from 2008 probably up until that atrocity that was NHL 14 (or 15 whichever one was the first game in the PS4/XB1). I've picked up 17 and 19 and was always shocked how little the game play has changed.

Just got my hands on a series X so with game pass figured I would give this a shot. What have they been doing for the last 8 years? Same cheesy goals being scored, same game play, same everything. Hopped online to do some Eashl, everyone is still running the same cross crease through 4 defenders garbage to score, D is an afterthought and goalies are once again borderline useless unless they sit in butterfly on the goal line.

Franchise mode is a slight improvement though, I do enjoy the fog of war and little things like that.

My biggest gripe is still the game play in general, the AI seem a little better but overall thr game plays extremely stale. My 99 OVR drafted superstar doesn't really feel that much different than my 72 OVR plug.

Only players I can tell the difference on are guys with varying heights and weights, Marchand moves much better than Chara. That's where it ends.

I'm hoping they take a page out of Madden and NBA2K, add some abilities or badges to help these guys stand out. Hockey is my favorite sport and to see what was at one point the best sports game around be reduced to the worst IMO is a shame.

I must not be the only one who feels this way as the community is completely dead, takes me a while to find a game of 6's. Hopefully this next one has cross play so we can play with everyone and hopefully keep the game alive a little longer.

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I used to play this series religiously from 2008 probably up until that atrocity that was NHL 14 (or 15 whichever one was the first game in the PS4/XB1). I've picked up 17 and 19 and was always shocked how little the game play has changed.

Just got my hands on a series X so with game pass figured I would give this a shot. What have they been doing for the last 8 years? Same cheesy goals being scored, same game play, same everything. Hopped online to do some Eashl, everyone is still running the same cross crease through 4 defenders garbage to score, D is an afterthought and goalies are once again borderline useless unless they sit in butterfly on the goal line.

Franchise mode is a slight improvement though, I do enjoy the fog of war and little things like that.

My biggest gripe is still the game play in general, the AI seem a little better but overall thr game plays extremely stale. My 99 OVR drafted superstar doesn't really feel that much different than my 72 OVR plug.

Only players I can tell the difference on are guys with varying heights and weights, Marchand moves much better than Chara. That's where it ends.

I'm hoping they take a page out of Madden and NBA2K, add some abilities or badges to help these guys stand out. Hockey is my favorite sport and to see what was at one point the best sports game around be reduced to the worst IMO is a shame.

I must not be the only one who feels this way as the community is completely dead, takes me a while to find a game of 6's. Hopefully this next one has cross play so we can play with everyone and hopefully keep the game alive a little longer.

They've been 100% catering to the competitive scene this entire generation, that's what they've been doing. AI has been slightly touched in 8 years (and 21 actually is noticeably better than 20 in the limited love they gave the AI which makes it almost more frustrating) and the same cheese goals go in/same dumb video game hockey plays are being made because the competitive scene likes it. They like babysitting useless AI. They like automatic goals if they glide at the right angle and shoot far side. They like board bouncing while sprinting to evade checks. They like RS curls negating what would be contact that would separate the puck from the carrier IRL. They like playing this boring, monotonous, "twitch skill" meta where you look for the same 2 shots all game and every other idea or shot you have is just a waste of possession.

It's sad because the technical features are there for a great hockey game, offline sliders prove this. Unfortunately, we can only play arcade or super arcade online which means anyone who remotely wants to play hockey against other users rather than competitive babysitting with a skill level so surface-level it's not even funny, is SOL.

Worst part is, the human's AI offline appear to be the same "babysitting simulator" AI you get in competitive games while the CPU AI actually wants the puck and supports the puck and attacks puck carriers, and pinches on the PP, etc so us offline players have to have our experiences suffer from the Nasher's and Sleeevelesses of the world who fly to EA every year as a GC and tell them how great their air hockey game is every year so they can sell HUT packs to kids to make money.

When Littman ran this series, it was revolutionary, constantly innovative, now it's just the same tired stuff online for 8 years straight. Marginal improvements, some features have already gone and comeback this generation. NHL 15 no EASHL debacle, NHL 16 captain lag in EASHL issue that was never 100% fixed, NHL 18? 19? Legends marketing campaign that was so blatantly manipulative and false. This series can't get out of it's own way despite a pretty solid technical foundation.

[VeNOM3099]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

I used to play this series religiously from 2008 probably up until that atrocity that was NHL 14 (or 15 whichever one was the first game in the PS4/XB1). I've picked up 17 and 19 and was always shocked how little the game play has changed.

Just got my hands on a series X so with game pass figured I would give this a shot. What have they been doing for the last 8 years? Same cheesy goals being scored, same game play, same everything. Hopped online to do some Eashl, everyone is still running the same cross crease through 4 defenders garbage to score, D is an afterthought and goalies are once again borderline useless unless they sit in butterfly on the goal line.

Franchise mode is a slight improvement though, I do enjoy the fog of war and little things like that.

My biggest gripe is still the game play in general, the AI seem a little better but overall thr game plays extremely stale. My 99 OVR drafted superstar doesn't really feel that much different than my 72 OVR plug.

Only players I can tell the difference on are guys with varying heights and weights, Marchand moves much better than Chara. That's where it ends.

I'm hoping they take a page out of Madden and NBA2K, add some abilities or badges to help these guys stand out. Hockey is my favorite sport and to see what was at one point the best sports game around be reduced to the worst IMO is a shame.

I must not be the only one who feels this way as the community is completely dead, takes me a while to find a game of 6's. Hopefully this next one has cross play so we can play with everyone and hopefully keep the game alive a little longer.

This game would be 1 000 000 % better if they added tendencies (kinda like NBA 2K) to the AI players so you could tell the Crosbys from the Ovechkins (or Matthews, or McJesus). Just a little effort is all that would be needed. But no...

That's asking a lot from a crew that obviously has ZERO idea about hockey. Oh, I'm sure they like watching the replays and highlights where you see 7 goals in 10 shots (out of a total 70 by both teams) and the goalies stop 2 shots, while omitting the other 28 saves they made. It's so blatantly their gameplay mold to build this game, it's disgusting!!

You want a chance at a game that plays like hockey? Wait until this crew gets replaced. You'll probably be 60 or 80 yrs old by then, though. If we're lucky. But hey, there's always wishing right? LOL!

[babaracus88]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Year after year we complain about the development crew for this game and how we would like them to all be fired but as long as they are getting sales for this game it won't happen. If we want change then we have to stop buying the game all together or at least not at full price. If the game came out and they had very little sales don't you think that would make someone upstairs think that changes are needed?

[The EVHL]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Year after year we complain about the development crew for this game and how we would like them to all be fired but as long as they are getting sales for this game it won't happen. If we want change then we have to stop buying the game all together or at least not at full price. If the game came out and they had very little sales don't you think that would make someone upstairs think that changes are needed?

Unfortunately, the HUT streamers and "pros" can offset any decent sales decrease because they use money from sponsorships to pour thousands of dollars into HUT packs. The little kids they're (EA) manipulating to buy packs with their parents credit cards via addictive tactics love pack opening videos so they (streamers/pros) make money off of that, and their sponsors demand a competitive player so the player demands money for HUT packs. That's the pure evilness of UT, it completely devalues the purchasing power of regular consumers.

I am usually gifted this game because my loved ones know I love hockey and it's an easy gift lol, but their (or my) $60 isn't even a remote dent in their numbers. I've spent so much time making 21 playable that I am determined to wait till EA Access for 22, so I definitely don't disagree with your mentality, I just doubt that people like us can truly make a monetary difference.

[SocialAssassin]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

We gonna get any news on NHL 22 in the next week?

[handheldpictures]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

Year after year we complain about the development crew for this game and how we would like them to all be fired but as long as they are getting sales for this game it won't happen. If we want change then we have to stop buying the game all together or at least not at full price. If the game came out and they had very little sales don't you think that would make someone upstairs think that changes are needed?

Not a chance. I'd love to agree with you but this has been going on since 2013. EA knows exactly who they're catering too and how to make the most $ with as little resources as possible. Nothing will change until another company comes into play and gives EA a run for the money, literally.

Think back to 2005 when 2K released NFL 2005 which blew EA's game out of the water and also sold for $29.99 brand new. What did EA do? They panicked and paid $$$ to the NFL for exclusive rights. Now take a look at their current NFL game. It's also a piece of crap!
It's called a monopoly unfortunatley, and no matter how many people boycott EA's game, it's going to make zero difference until some other company has the guts/resources to step in and say, check out our game as you might be surprised what you can create with a bit of effort.

[MizzouRah]

Re: NHL 21 Has Been Released - Share Your Impressions with the Community

EA NHL hasn't been much over the past few years but Madden 21 is one of my favorite console football games of all time, and I've been playing since Atari football.