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**LuGer33** · 08-23-2011, 06:56 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

A few other things I noticed:

-Net physics seem better this year. This is small but kind of cool. The puck seems to react much more realistically when hitting the twine. I was thinking this for awhile then I had the Bruins snipe me in OT and the puck went into the net and died in the very back of it. Like it disappeared into the back of the net almost. I've also seen shots pop out, roll around, etc. Very cool!

-Lots and lots of different shooting animations (saw a nice shovel shot by Sedin on the side of the net) depending on body position. Excellent improvement, just like the varied skating animations.

-There's commentary in the game about how your team has done the past 10 games. Should be cool for offline play.

-On the Xbox dashboard, you can see what mode people are playing again instead of just "Playing Online" or "Playing Offline."

**Redskins Pride** · 08-23-2011, 06:58 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

I was playing as Boston and winning until those dirty Canucks loop glitched me!

Heh.

Seriously though, the demo isn't going to make me NOT buy the game. I'm too addicted to EASHL to pass it up. Although, hearing Gary Thorne's tired *** voice seriously made me consider it ...

**kerosene31** · 08-23-2011, 07:24 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

Just got the demo and played 3 regular games and a be a pro.

First off: I have always felt that the difficulty in the demos is always watered down a bit vs the full game. I know with 11 and 10 the demos were easier than the full game, and I am guessing things are the same this year. I don't remember what year it was but one year we all played on all star in the demo and thought we were good, then the game came out and nobody could score.

Anyway, impressions:

Note: with replays unavailable it was hard to verify a lot of things...

Positives:

-One of my first scoring chances was seeing Malhotra wide open in the slot below the hashmarks. I hit him on the money and he takes a second to corral the puck and the D picks him up. Later on, I hit Henrik Sedin with a harder pass into much less space and he not only controls it but buries it. We've definitely got better player separation.

-It seems harder to skate through a crowd, and easier for a D with good positioning to push a player wide without really "hitting" him. One thing that bugged me in 11 was the players felt super thin and everyone could easily roll off or skate through anyone. In my one BAP game I decided to just run the goalie. Well, by the time I fought through all the bodies to get to the front, the puck was out. Last year I would have "clipped" my way through.

-Puck physics seem better. The puck seemed more lively along the boards. I play a lot of D in the EASHL and BAP and usually I can easily clear most pucks. I noticed more hard dumps in that didn't slow down nearly as much. Hopefully this makes the dump and chase more viable.

-Skating felt a lot better. Definitely more separation between players (still maybe not as much as we'd like).

Negatives:

-Might just be a weird thing, but I had 4 goals in my first 5 minute period, all but one on slapshots from far out. Without replay controls I couldn't check for screens or bounces well. It didn't happen again so maybe a fluke.

-Hitting felt a little weird. At times I was still hitting hard, but other times nobody would go down. In my last game I wanted to purposely get a boarding or hitting from behind penalty, and I could not knock anyone over. Not sure if this is really a bad thing or not.

Overall:

The one thing that I like is that they make hundreds of tiny little gameplay tweaks, yet when you put them together you can so much better gameplay overall. If it ain't broke...

**crayzman** · 08-23-2011, 07:33 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Loving the game, just lost despite scoring 2 goals because they were both disallowed due to goaltender interference, first one Lucic just bowled over Luongo trying to get past Bieksa, 2nd one it looked like Luongo initiated contact, flopped and got the call.

Pretty sweet and realistic haha

**Segagendude** · 08-23-2011, 07:35 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Relative newbie here, so take it for what it's worth...

I like it!!! Playing as Vancouver, I was down 3-1 starting the third. I was unable to score a goal;Boston scored one to win it 4-1.

What I like: Overall feel seemed lifelike to me. I own NHL10, and the speed compared to this demo is night and day. Skating, passing, and the like all seemed much more refined.

Faceoffs will take some getting used to; I kept hitting the wrong button and tying up the opponent allowing another Boston player to grab the puck, lol.

I had one good hit against the boards, and while the sound wasn't as loud as in previous versions, the crowd reaction was awesome!

Commentary is pretty much the same as in 10; slight disappointment.

Saw something nice: One of my player's helmets fell off onto the ice while blocking the net! Neat! (the replay showed a Bruin actually was jockeying for position and brought his arm up to knock the helmet off)

Something not so nice: Luongo dropping gloves against a Boston player. (Not Boston's goalie) Meh, didn't seem right to me....why wouldn't his teammate step in instead??

This is a tough call for me: Madden, where I can play as Cleveland, or NHL, which is more fun but I'd have to create a team yet again and put up with the generic logos/arena......

**TheMatrix31** · 08-23-2011, 07:40 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

First time I've played a hockey game in years. My first thought? Too many things to control. I have to get used to this definitely. Is there a turbo button or something like that? Also couldn't figure out what to do on faceoffs. This is the PS3 version.

Had some fun though, especially with the computer generated scenarios going into the third period.

Game is a little slow. I like hockey games to be a bit faster. As mentioned earlier, maybe if there's a turbo button or something I don't know about, that'd be great.

Had a couple nice dekes and some passes. I feel like this game will be crazy fun once I get used to it.

**Super Glock** · 08-23-2011, 07:43 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

Originally posted by TheMatrix31

First time I've played a hockey game in years. My first thought? Too many things to control. I have to get used to this definitely. Is there a turbo button or something like that? Also couldn't figure out what to do on faceoffs. This is the PS3 version.

Had some fun though, especially with the computer generated scenarios going into the third period.

Game is a little slow. I like hockey games to be a bit faster. As mentioned earlier, maybe if there's a turbo button or something I don't know about, that'd be great.

Had a couple nice dekes and some passes. I feel like this game will be crazy fun once I get used to it.

What difficulty level are you playing on?

**TheMatrix31** · 08-23-2011, 07:47 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

Not sure, whatever the default demo difficulty is, I guess.

**SinisterAlex** · 08-23-2011, 07:49 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

Another thing I'm liking about this game is that Dump and Chase hockey, at least to me, is a very viable option in this years game I've dumped the puck numerous times and I've gotten control of the puck right away or a few moments later after a dump in.

**MiNiDiTkA** · 08-23-2011, 07:59 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360) Later Today For PS3

Originally posted by TheMatrix31

First time I've played a hockey game in years. My first thought? Too many things to control. I have to get used to this definitely. Is there a turbo button or something like that? Also couldn't figure out what to do on faceoffs. This is the PS3 version.

Had some fun though, especially with the computer generated scenarios going into the third period.

Game is a little slow. I like hockey games to be a bit faster. As mentioned earlier, maybe if there's a turbo button or something I don't know about, that'd be great.

Had a couple nice dekes and some passes. I feel like this game will be crazy fun once I get used to it.

I'd suggest playing it on easy and changing the control scheme to 94 or classic

**BobSacamano** · 08-23-2011, 08:00 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Did it take anyone else forevvvvver to install the demo? The game downloaded fairly quickly (20 minutes, maybe?), but the install is just crawling.

PS3, btw.

**sportdan30** · 08-23-2011, 08:10 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

I have played both versions, and I'm surprised to say I prefer the PS3 version to the 360 version. This was not the case with Madden!

The PS3 version feels smoother and more responsive. It also seems to play faster. Graphically, they are identical.

I'll have to give the 360 version some more time, but maybe it's the PS3 controller I enjoy so much with this game too!

**Redskins_Hokies** · 08-23-2011, 08:14 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

So I pushed a guy seriously just a light push and the glass shattered and he was not that close to the glass. Was not happy about that

**H to the Oza** · 08-23-2011, 08:18 PM

Feels like NHL 11, which is a good thing. Few problems I noticed were

Problems pinning opponent against boards
Hitting a player down from behind with little momentum

**Money99** · 08-23-2011, 08:20 PM

Re: NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

Just saw something pretty cool.

I was in the Bruins zone and tried to pass to my dman who was pinching in.
Marchand tried to intercept but it went off his stick and deflected right on my pinching-Dman's blade for a decent shot.

In previous versions this would have been an automatic interception and turnover.