IGN gameplay video July 15th

[shakeable]

Apparently this is an exclusive IGN insider only video. (I should have checked that before posting the video. I am sorry for getting you all worked up)

http://insider.ign.com/articles/100/1004074p1.html

One period gameplay video from IGN featuring the Stanley cup teams. Complete with Crosby crashing into the boards on his own and is forced to go to the locker room.

[Jamin23]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

It's for insiders only!! I'm not an insider.

[Scottdau]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Me either. That was just too much money for only using it once in awhile.

[DudleyDoWright]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

I wanna see, this sucks

[bill2451]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

someone should download it and put it on youtube damn it lol

[lockjaw333]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

A few impressions from the video:

Passing looks much, much better. Also the thing that really stood out to me were the pass receptions. Players actually tilt their stick and position their hands to receive passes according to the angle the come in from now, instead of just auto-receiving it in the same animation.

Also, players adjust their stick to make passes now, again not just the same one passing animation. Makes it look much more realistic, and also makes passing a little slower since they need to position their hands correctly for the pass now. Passing looks much less accurate as well. Every centering pass looked more like a "hope for something good to happen" pass than a connect-the-dots laser. Thats realistic. All good stuff.

Board pinning looks totally natural and within the flow of the play. It didn't happen a lot, and when it did it was in the appropriate areas (i.e. the corners). The CPU actually uses the board puck protect behind its own net on one sequence to keep it form the forechecking human player- awesome. Also the CPU took the human player to the boards a few times when they tried to skate behind the net. That should eliminate some of the lame wrap-around glitch goals and cross-crease one-timers.

You can totally see the play styles. Detroit is a puck possesion team and doesn't really dump the puck a lot. You could totally see it in the way the CPU was playing, passing the puck around in the neutral zone and refusing to dump it in, especially on the PP. Sweet.

The game looks a tad slower this year, looks much more realistic. Also looks like the skating isn't as "warpy", players are changing direction more naturally, and less in that hovercraft back and forth style.

CPU AI worked the puck beautifully in the zone. Also, defensive AI looks MUCH better, following the puck and stepping up where appropriate rather than just staying to the same positioning scripts.

Goalies look largely the same, maybe slightly less ********. Shots look slower and more realistic speed (thank god). Looks like they tuned the magic power fueling their magic carpets down a bit.

Post whistle scrums look pretty awesome. I was worried that the game would linger after the whistles too long to allow for it, but it seems like it will only linger if someone initiates some ruff stuff. The camera then zooms and allows the players to go at it for a bit. Face washes looks pretty sick.

At around 6:25 the human player takes a shot at the goal after an offsides whistle. The CPU defenseman (Stuart) then comes after him and slashes him...haha awesome!

CPU goal at ~5:00 is pretty sick. Nice passing.

The Crosby injury is hilarious. Looks like the human player attempts a check and misses and goes flying into the boards causing the injury. Thats really awesome, would be funny to see in EASHL (can't get injured but it would be funny!)

Looks pretty good overall. I'm a 2K hockey diehard, but I'm pretty impressed. I Like the direction they are going in.

[Flyermania]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Thanks for the mini-review on the video lockjaw333...hopefully it will be available for the rest of us soon.

I was really impressed with the board play when I played it at the Community Event...I feel it really adds a lot to the game in many ways.

[RealmK]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Thanks Lockjaw, I know you're a big 2k guy so to hear that it impressed you at least a little is a good thing to hear. Appriciate the write up man.

[lockjaw333]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Thanks for the mini-review on the video lockjaw333...hopefully it will be available for the rest of us soon.

I was really impressed with the board play when I played it at the Community Event...I feel it really adds a lot to the game in many ways.

Yeah, it looks really well implemented. I think once you get used to the game you'll wonder how you ever played previous games without it.

Board pinning has been in 2K hockey since 2K2, but it was never a big part of the gameplay. It would happen occasionally, and it was just a sort of cemented animation where all you could do was kick the puck or throw an elbow (why an elbow is beyond me!).

It actually looks like it addds to the gameplay in NHL 10.

[akula]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

The game looks a tad slower this year, looks much more realistic. Also looks like the skating isn't as "warpy", players are changing direction more naturally, and less in that hovercraft back and forth style.

Can you comment on the ability to "turn on a dime" i found that very unrealistic in 09 (and previous years) you could stop and turn around ON THE SPOT. I'm not sure how they would fix this without the controls feeling clunky and/or unresponsive but it's still a major concern I have.

the other two things I was wondering were if players still trip over opponents who are laying on the ice or can they step/jump over? and finally what happens when you bump a goalie? does the player just tumble to the ice like 09?

thanks

[RealmK]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Can you comment on the ability to "turn on a dime" i found that very unrealistic in 09 (and previous years) you could stop and turn around ON THE SPOT. I'm not sure how they would fix this without the controls feeling clunky and/or unresponsive but it's still a major concern I have.

the other two things I was wondering were if players still trip over opponents who are laying on the ice or can they step/jump over? and finally what happens when you bump a goalie? does the player just tumble to the ice like 09?

thanks

So being as impatient as I am, I went ahead and bit the 8 bucks to be an insider. To answer your question akula, yeah you can still stop on a dime but the skating animations on the whole look much more fluid. Its not a drastic difference just looks to be more subtle animations in there. Players also don't seem to automatically trip over goalies anymore which is nice.

Board play looks completely organic and very well implimented. Like Lockjaw mentioned theres some nice subtle animations players will make when passing as well. Over all the game won't play drastically different than 09, but I have the feeling it will play a less clean end to end game due to AI being more agressive in the neutral zone/standing up at the blue line and using board play intelligently, theres a couple great instances in this video where the CPU uses board play to either breakup a forecheck or slow down the play, very appropiate uses and the AI on the whole seems less predictable and more organic. Puck physics its hard to tell how different they are as the guy playing didn't seem to be using precision passing much if at all.

The post whistle scrums implimention is pretty much spot on, and it should add a bit of realism to the game especially during playoff games. I also liked the new line change overlay where it shows the players that are out on a particular line with the energy bar below that. It should make it easier for a player to match up who they want out there if the're not really familar with an oposing teams lines as you'll see the name of the players themselves right there on the line change pop up box. Nice touch imo.

Another nice thing is the crowd sounds great, loud, into it, ooohing and ahhing on missed chances and big saves, even heard the Lets Go Pens chant quite a bit (Sorry Pens fans I know thats not 100% authentic) But the crowd really does sound awesome this year.

[Jamin23]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

So being as impatient as I am, I went ahead and bit the 8 bucks to be an insider. To answer your question akula, yeah you can still stop on a dime but the skating animations on the whole look much more fluid. Its not a drastic difference just looks to be more subtle animations in there. Players also don't seem to automatically trip over goalies anymore which is nice.

Board play looks completely organic and very well implimented. Like Lockjaw mentioned theres some nice subtle animations players will make when passing as well. Over all the game won't play drastically different than 09, but I have the feeling it will play a less clean end to end game due to AI being more agressive in the neutral zone/standing up at the blue line and using board play intelligently, theres a couple great instances in this video where the CPU uses board play to either breakup a forecheck or slow down the play, very appropiate uses and the AI on the whole seems less predictable and more organic. Puck physics its hard to tell how different they are as the guy playing didn't seem to be using precision passing much if at all.

The post whistle scrums implimention is pretty much spot on, and it should add a bit of realism to the game especially during playoff games. I also liked the new line change overlay where it shows the players that are out on a particular line with the energy bar below that. It should make it easier for a player to match up who they want out there if the're not really familar with an oposing teams lines as you'll see the name of the players themselves right there on the line change pop up box. Nice touch imo.

Another nice thing is the crowd sounds great, loud, into it, ooohing and ahhing on missed chances and big saves, even heard the Lets Go Pens chant quite a bit (Sorry Pens fans I know thats not 100% authentic) But the crowd really does sound awesome this year.

You didn't have to do that you could have just went here. http://videogames.yahoo.com/xbox360/nhl-10/videos/

[lockjaw333]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Can you comment on the ability to "turn on a dime" i found that very unrealistic in 09 (and previous years) you could stop and turn around ON THE SPOT. I'm not sure how they would fix this without the controls feeling clunky and/or unresponsive but it's still a major concern I have.

the other two things I was wondering were if players still trip over opponents who are laying on the ice or can they step/jump over? and finally what happens when you bump a goalie? does the player just tumble to the ice like 09?

thanks

Players still turn on a dime, much like 09. It just looks like they have added some subtle transition to the direction changes that makes it look a little better. Its still really unrealistic. I would say the skating is 98% the same as 09.

Didn't see any players diving, so I can't comment on whether you trip over them. Also didn't see any goalie-player interaction.

I don't want to speak for the game because obviously its just one period of play. All I did was watch the video, gave my short impressions. I don't know if I can answer questions for you guys.

I also will admit that I'm biased towards 2K hockey on the whole (irrespective of 2K9), so my opinions might not be the best.

[Money99]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Wow! This looks incredible!

[Money99]

Re: IGN gameplay video July 15th

Man, that Wings goal was beautiful. I loved how the CPU players were actually moving to get into open areas of the ice.

And I find it highly hilarious that the CPU is playing more realistic hockey than the user.
This guy doesn't look like he's played much hockey before.

The only issue I see is how easy it was for the user to skate the puck end to end, and deep into the Wings zone.
But I have no idea what difficulty this is on, so I'm not going to pass judgment.