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Hey there guys today embarks the lift of another embargo on NHL12, and so TNA and I are here with our write up on Physics in NHL 12. We decided to combine our write ups and focus on specific areas of the physics in NHL 12, I know it's a bit of a long read but hopefully you guys find some valuable information in there
Feel free to ask questions pertaining to the Physics in NHL 12 either in this thread or on twitter at:
@SCARFACE909
@TheNHLequalizer
First and foremost I want to state that what we tested at community day was not the final, finished version of NHL 12. It still falls into the category of ‘Work In Progress’ and was undergoing tweaks, tuning, and fixing. That said here are my honest thoughts and opinions of what I saw.
Hey guys TNA Equalizer here again with another write up for the community about NHL 12. This time it’s about something I was extremely interested in seeing myself the second year of physics in the NHL franchise. I’ll be discussing the Full-Contact Physics Engine I saw when testing out NHL 12 at community day.
When it came to the Full-Contact Physics Engine in NHL 11 It fell short of what I was hoping to see. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it was clear it needed some work and tuning. So when I sat down with NHL 12 it became apparent right off the opening puck drop that a second year of development the checking contact physics was much closer to where I hoped to see it. How so? Well the hitting looked more believable. What I mean is that I saw less of the mass spinning, flailing post check where it looked unneeded. It would happen from time to time, but far less frequent than what you would see in NHL 11. The video below shows what type of hits I was seeing in my test time with the early build of NHL 12.
(This is more in the style of what I saw for Full-Contact Physics Engine in NHL 12.)
Yes, the checker’s momentum is factored into hits now with the physics. Meaning he may lose his footing and fall when throwing the check. Hits look far more believable and fluid in what I played of NHL 12. I do recall moments when I played NHL 12 that I even saw resiliency in the checker’s target from time to time where the checker would fail on his attempt to knock down an opposing player and his target would maintain his footing. That said not all successful checks meant that the victim of the hit would go spiraling down to the ice. Sometimes they would get knocked down to one knee or both knees and quickly get back up. When you initiate the hitting physics with throwing a check it felt more responsive in NHL 12, polishing to the system was definitely noticeable. It felt far more on par with the actual hitting aspect you see in the NHL on a game to game basis.
With the term I’m sure you’ve heard NHL 12 Line Producer Sean Ramjagsingh say in previews and trailers ‘Everything is live’ I’m sure there’s those of you who are interested in hearing an example of it. Now this past regular season there was a certain hit that caused a bit of debate amongst two rival teams. In my brief time with NHL 12 I actually managed to line up a hit along the player benches much like the Zdeno Chara – Max Pacioretty incident and rode the target out to the stanchion where he made contact and reacted to it appropriately. It was neat to see as I really wasn’t trying to recreate it on purpose.
As for the physics when a goalie and skaters collided it was interesting to see it in action. For the most part it worked rather well, but being the first year of implementation it had moments of awkwardness where you could tell it was still a work in progress. Even for an early build the vast majority of incidents where physics were triggered it looked really well. Skaters nudging goalies and affecting them created solid, not too over dramatized reactions. Scarface did manage to have a great collision with the goalie which he explains next.
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Hey guys SCARFACE here, I’m here again with another write up of my impressions of NHL 12, I will be concentrating on the puck physics in NHL 12.
So without further ado, Puck Physics in NHL 12.
Going into community day I know a lot of people are eager (me included) if they have updated the puck physics, making the puck act more realistic on the ice would make the gameplay much better than it currently is. Currently at times the puck almost seems like a rubber ball with the way it bounces after a puck check or any kind of contact. When I played I was very pleased to see that the puck physics have been updated in NHL 12 and the puck reacts a lot better and seems way less “bouncy” then it currently is. I did have one instance where the puck was poked and bounced a bit far, but other then that one time I was very pleased with what I was seeing during my time with the game.
Also noticeable with the puck physics this year is the way the puck will bounce more realistically and roll on edge off of rebounds and even on dump ins along the boards. Also one thing I noticed that bugged a lot of people is I did not see once the puck laying on the goalies shoulder after a shot. Also the puck when loose didn’t seem so magnetically attaching to players stick, seemed much more fluid looking. Also the puck when on someone’s stick it does not seemed as “glued” on as it currently does, the puck felt much more loose, especially when trying to do a pull around slap shot, more times than not your player would whiff because the puck was loose and not “glued” onto your stick which is really great and makes the gameplay a lot more realistic than previous installments.
Of course are the puck physics perfect in NHL 12? By no means yes, but is it becoming more realistic and fluid looking? Definitely. I’m really going to look forward to how much they’ve tweaked the puck physics from the time I played at Community Day to release date, I can say that people who have been griping over puck physics will be pleased with what they see.

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