NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

[Money99]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

WOW! I had you all wrong. Like I said sometimes I take this stuff too seriously. I always said that 2k's superstars and scrubs had a noticeable difference when you played with them. I'm glad you can back that up. I didn't give NHL 08 too much of chance because of the of no separate line changes, playing in the corners and the lack of franchise depth. Visually it was great and the announcing was outstanding. It sounds like EA addressed quite a few of the things last years game lacked. How difficult was it to go from one games controls to the other? That's my main reason for not wanting to buy both.

Ugh! Don't ask! It was brutal. Maybe that's an indication that I'm not that bright or lack the dexterity to pull it off, but I had a hard time with it.

One thing I really liked about 2K's controls is how the shot and pass buttons were mapped to the bumpers. That way I could stick handle and weave using only the analog.
In NHL08, while it's responsive, there was more than one occasion where I'd shoot the puck when all I wanted to do was deke.

Where 2K lost me was having TWO buttons to control levels of speed. I felt that was overdone as the Analog should be able to control everything.

I know I'm in the minority about this on the 2K boards, but after playing NHL07, I'm knee deep in the 'no speed burst button' camp. Usually hockey games never get the burst right. It's either too powerful, lasts too long or everyone gets the same 'x' amount of speed from it.

There were occasions where I had a speedster on a breakaway but he got caught by a flat footed, slow dman.
If a guy like Gaborik is on a BA, there's very few people on this planet that will catch him.
I know this could be solved with sliders but I'd love to see the developers tonne it down.

I don't blame you for staying away from two games due to the controls. It kept me from enjoying 2K8 more than I should have.

Like I said, I LOVED the goal variety in 2K8 because of the puck physics but also because of the goalies.
Some people think they flopped too much and maybe that's the case, but all I know is, when I scored a goal on a goal mouth scramble, due to a floppy netminder, I had a big smile on my face. That's the whole point of games isn't it?

I've been harsh on the 2K camp lately and there are things in the vids that still perplex me, but believe it or not, the latest batch have me really excited for this game.
The PS3 demo drops tomorrow and while I have a 360 I'll be driving over to my bro's place to hog some PS3 time.

Cheers!

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

Ugh! Don't ask! It was brutal. Maybe that's an indication that I'm not that bright or lack the dexterity to pull it off, but I had a hard time with it.

One thing I really liked about 2K's controls is how the shot and pass buttons were mapped to the bumpers. That way I could stick handle and weave using only the analog.
In NHL08, while it's responsive, there was more than one occasion where I'd shoot the puck when all I wanted to do was deke.

Where 2K lost me was having TWO buttons to control levels of speed. I felt that was overdone as the Analog should be able to control everything.

I know I'm in the minority about this on the 2K boards, but after playing NHL07, I'm knee deep in the 'no speed burst button' camp. Usually hockey games never get the burst right. It's either too powerful, lasts too long or everyone gets the same 'x' amount of speed from it.

There were occasions where I had a speedster on a breakaway but he got caught by a flat footed, slow dman.
If a guy like Gaborik is on a BA, there's very few people on this planet that will catch him.
I know this could be solved with sliders but I'd love to see the developers tonne it down.

I don't blame you for staying away from two games due to the controls. It kept me from enjoying 2K8 more than I should have.

Like I said, I LOVED the goal variety in 2K8 because of the puck physics but also because of the goalies.
Some people think they flopped too much and maybe that's the case, but all I know is, when I scored a goal on a goal mouth scramble, due to a floppy netminder, I had a big smile on my face. That's the whole point of games isn't it?

I've been harsh on the 2K camp lately and there are things in the vids that still perplex me, but believe it or not, the latest batch have me really excited for this game.
The PS3 demo drops tomorrow and while I have a 360 I'll be driving over to my bro's place to hog some PS3 time.

Cheers!

Dang, your lucky to be able to play that demo so soon. I do agree about the speed burst button, it should be done away with and simply left to that players attributes. I kept playing with the sliders last year but I was never able to get it to work right. A lot of times I found myself just out skating the the whole team no matter who I was. Makes for a lot of unrealistic breakaways.

[SaintPatrick33]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

Dang, your lucky to be able to play that demo so soon. I do agree about the speed burst button, it should be done away with and simply left to that players attributes. I kept playing with the sliders last year but I was never able to get it to work right. A lot of times I found myself just out skating the the whole team no matter who I was. Makes for a lot of unrealistic breakaways.

Hey Eddie Ill send you my demo impressions ASAP Thursday night .
But im kinda of bumming about the poor Player/goalie models oh well they cant be that bad , players at least facial better look ok.
Oh and Money 99 I dont hate EA I just cant buy it do to no type of total roster control. I actually thought they did a great job but it has no replay value for me. Oh and you can turn off or adjust speedburst in 2k8.
Take care boys Demo impressions Thursday !

[RealmK]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

WOW! I had you all wrong. Like I said sometimes I take this stuff too seriously. I always said that 2k's superstars and scrubs had a noticeable difference when you played with them. I'm glad you can back that up. I didn't give NHL 08 too much of chance because of the of no separate line changes, playing in the corners and the lack of franchise depth. Visually it was great and the announcing was outstanding. It sounds like EA addressed quite a few of the things last years game lacked. How difficult was it to go from one games controls to the other? That's my main reason for not wanting to buy both.

You have me all wrong as well. I feel the same way Money does. And control wise going from 08 to 2k8 is like night and day, 08's controls feel intuitive while still have enough depth to feel like a sim experience. 2k's on the other hand just feel really clunky and unintuitive due to the whole hybrid scheme. Its almost like they wanted to use EA's skill stick but figured they get too much flack for it so they moved shooting and passing to the bumpers and it just for me didn't feel very natural. Add in the stiff deking animations that appear from the latest media to still be in 2k9 and well 2k8 ended up back on the shelf.

I think really its going to come down to AI for me when it comes to 2k9, I can deal with some stiff animations and lack of presentation if the gameplay itself is good enough. Hell 2k3 had horrible graphics even for its time, but the AI was so phenominal that it didn't matter, that game was pure hockey gold and I'd be on cloud nine if VC could recapture that, if not for 2k9 at least move back in that direction to get the series back on track and compete with EA on a serious level.

I see alot of positives in the latest media, but there are areas that still need major work, same with EA's game as well. I'm hoping that we can have 2 great hockey titles per year because we all know thats really what us as fans should want. It matters little whose name is on the box imo.

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

You have me all wrong as well. I feel the same way Money does. And control wise going from 08 to 2k8 is like night and day, 08's controls feel intuitive while still have enough depth to feel like a sim experience. 2k's on the other hand just feel really clunky and unintuitive due to the whole hybrid scheme. Its almost like they wanted to use EA's skill stick but figured they get too much flack for it so they moved shooting and passing to the bumpers and it just for me didn't feel very natural. Add in the stiff deking animations that appear from the latest media to still be in 2k9 and well 2k8 ended up back on the shelf.

I think really its going to come down to AI for me when it comes to 2k9, I can deal with some stiff animations and lack of presentation if the gameplay itself is good enough. Hell 2k3 had horrible graphics even for its time, but the AI was so phenominal that it didn't matter, that game was pure hockey gold and I'd be on cloud nine if VC could recapture that, if not for 2k9 at least move back in that direction to get the series back on track and compete with EA on a serious level.

I see alot of positives in the latest media, but there are areas that still need major work, same with EA's game as well. I'm hoping that we can have 2 great hockey titles per year because we all know thats really what us as fans should want. It matters little whose name is on the box imo.

Realm I swear sometimes your criticism pisses me off I will admit LOL, but like you I'm hoping to have two great games this year. I'm getting closer to purchasing both just reading the improvements that 09 has as well. I think 2k9 has made major improvements from last year, of course it will be easier to tell once the game is in our hands. I know what your saying about 2k's controls but I liked the fact that they were somewhat difficult, to me it made it more challenging and I practiced a ton before actually jumping into a dynasty. What's funny is I can't master EA's shooting with the stick at all. I obviously need to spend more time with it but I just never felt comfortable at all. Maybe you guys can give me some tips.

[Eddie1967]

Re: NHL 2K9 Trailer and Screenshots

Hey Eddie Ill send you my demo impressions ASAP Thursday night .
But im kinda of bumming about the poor Player/goalie models oh well they cant be that bad , players at least facial better look ok.
Oh and Money 99 I dont hate EA I just cant buy it do to no type of total roster control. I actually thought they did a great job but it has no replay value for me. Oh and you can turn off or adjust speedburst in 2k8.
Take care boys Demo impressions Thursday !

Sounds good looking forward to your impressions.