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

[mazinkaiser]

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

The only reason why it's easier to enter your own zone this year is because your own cpu teammates no longer get in your way.

It's also too easy to shoot from an angle up close then get a garbage goal off the rebound. Pucks are bouncing off the goalie's pads too far imho.

[plaidchuck]

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

Thanks for the vids and impressions everyone. Though I haven't played the demo (ps3 just got the YLOD), from what I've seen this definitely won't be a purchase until after December. IMO they are completely 360ing and completely catering to the casual gamers or those who aren't very familiar with hockey.

The fact that they add mode after mode every year and can't be bothered with "meat and potatoes" fixes/addons like adjustable season length, more built in strategies, better AI/goalies is just getting old.

Specifically, these are the things that stick out to me from the videos:

- The D is still too passive, and the human player can go coast-to-coast with little trouble.

- While the players skating and speed seem to have been tweaked, the CPU still skips around like little gnats/waterbugs, very unrealistic.

- IMO the hitting engine is going no where. It seems to be nothing more than a "random hit generator". That was okay for NHL 11, but I was expecting much more this year. Whether sliders and attributes will affect this remains to be seen.

- Goalies still do not react properly to rebounds.

[Splitter77]

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

i really wish ea would put in a slider that would immediate blow the whistle when a goalie covers the puck or makes a glove save.

I mean like save. whistle. right away.

Not only would it stop myself and the CPU from playing the puck with a goalie and give up a goal. But it would also be more realistic as well.

[Splitter77]

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

like the sound during replays.
Reminds me of the nhl hitz pro replays.

[Bosborne]

ive been looking for a good forum site to join, so hopefully this site is

cons:
cpu players can pin you forever, but your only able to pin them for a couple of seconds and then it seems like they push off the boards and can skate away from you

when you tie the centre up in a faceoff your team doesnt move to get the puck,

the hitting after the whistle looks awful, you nudge a guy and you fall over sometimes or you do some like 1 footed almost fall over animation,

i know its the demo but it be nice to have a coach task all the time, and not sure if this happens or not but my task was to "get shots on net to even the shots out" but i feel if my scoring chance was better the bar should fill up better, i would take backhands from the blue line and it would count towards the task, i know the task was shots and not scoring chances but if i was a coach and i saw backhands from the blueline i wouldnt consider that a job well done, and also it said go out there and "make something happen", i got a assist off a one timer goal and it filled the bar like half....? that seems to be making something happen should of been full,

and i know its the demo and stuff, but it would of been cool to play 3-7 games of bap (even if it was all 3rd periods) that way we had a chance to earn our icetime for the coach, 1 game i played i got off the ice at maybe around 10 minutes left, and never got back on....

pros:

i havent been able to score five hole yet, but ive noticed that goalies arent in the butterfly the moment you release your shot, it takes them a few split seconds to get down,

being a playmaker ( which is what i do) is actually do-able this year without doing the same play over and over, going to be alot of fun setting my friends up espically when they can do those shovel goals ive been seeing

im a bit iffy on losing speed when deking, i understand why they did it and ill probaly enjoy it watching kids try it online and slowing down all the time, but offline id like to not lose speed, espically as st.louis or stamkos.

didnt really play with sound, girlfriend was over and fell asleep while i played the demo lol, so ill try that tonight,

i also noticed that your bap was 76 overall, not sure if thats your bap starting overall or if the bap they made you play as was amped up abit,

[JezFranco]

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

Not necessarily a "turbo" button, but I think they call it the "hustle button"

While you're skating with the left stick, you push it in (as if it were a button), to make your player "hustle". He skates slightly faster with the left stick held in.

No, no, nooo...

Don't hold it in. You only click it...
Click once for small effect, twice for second gear and three times for full effect racing engine.
And as soon as you let go of teh stick, your guy is back to "normal".


It's quite subtle though, far from something like a turbo boost, but really does the difference in the proper situations.

[Therion7]

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

Pros:

-I liked being able to quickly pause the game and hit a trigger to see where my shots were getting placed on net*
-The slight shadows cast by the net in-game.
-Sound during replay.
-Goalies looked livelier, covering the crease a little quicker, hugging the post etc.
-Teammates seemed a bit more adept at finding space, making a nuisance in front of the crease and scored a couple of nice deflections.
-Less dekeing.
-I think I like the new skating anims. Occasionally, it takes on an otherworldly quality, but overall it seems a bit more fluid.
-Audio sounds a bit more like a real hockey game. It's less meatier but definitely more authentic.
-Occasionaly when you try to block a shot, the skater will go down to one knee rather than a full dive. Looked cool.

Cons.
*When I rattled a scoring snapshot off the post and in for a goal, the mark on the net tracker wasn't where it should have been. It appeared near the middle of the net graphic rather than the side.
-Absolutely hated the cut to the crowd when scoring a goal. It's just a reminder of how outdated these guys look. Yes, EA are limited by poly counts and framerate but spare us the closeups on them.
-Replays looked choppy on 360.
-I'm tired of Bill Clement. Nothing personal against the guy but enough is enough.
-Wrist shots seemed a bit nerfed in comparison to AI. Goalie looked unbeatable despite decent placement, but mine was scored on by one. Should be fixed by a slider change hopefully but the thing I liked about 11 over 10 was clean goals without tinkering.
- Occasionally, my dump puck looked much more like a saucer pass such was the lack of height.
-Presentation has not received an overhaul. It's slightly less scratchier, that's about it. As soon as I saw the no. 2 goalie leaning back on the bench with his arms outstretched, I sighed. I bet the three stars anims will be the same.
- Curve shot works.
- Goals I gave up were rebound, short-stuff crap mostly. Stick your glove over the puck, Luongo!
-Beady Eye? Custom soundtracks for the win here.

I'll be getting the game. Was there was enough in the demo alone to warrant a purchase? Being honest, as an offline guy...no.

I'm signing up for another year because of the promise of a better sim engine and authenticity-wise, there are a lot of new jerseys this year, some new European arenas have been added, EA have "sort of" fixed some glaring presentation issues around center ice and last but not least, I want the Winnipeg Jets in my virtual NHL. I'm pretty anal about that kind of stuff.

I'm a little bit down on the 360 demo as a whole but I'll give it a shot on the PS3 as that is my preferred NHL platform. The gameplay was promising enough and I'm confident it will be much better once that outrageous speed is scaled back and I can tweak my shot accuracy and power up one notch.

[FBeaule04]

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

Played more games last night and have to say that overall, I like the game more than at any time in NHL 11, especially playing locked as the goalie.

There's a bit of disappointment on the presentation side I have to say. What's the point of showing the the crowd after a goal if it's only to show 2-3 idiots going forward, backward, forward with their upper body? After that, you see the goalie skating up-close and then boom, back to replay.

Just giving a 5 guys together congratulating each other after a goal would be just perfect, you don't need to push it up to the moon to get a celebrations that's just fine. Even Blade of Steel on the Nintendo had figure it out with one guy pumping fist in the middle with the other 4 guys tapping the ice with their stick.

On a real positive note, I have to say that the AI D is finally playing almost the way it should when you play locked as the G. No more funny pinning and skating backward until getting pressure. I don't know if it's the case, but seems like Johnny Boychuk has the "pinching type" trait since he's pretty agressive on forwards leaving the zone. Chara is a monster while Kaberle was my most painful D to watch in front of the net.

Also seems like the CPU is shooting more. On 5 minutes period, I had an average of 7 shots. CPU is passing the puck well in the offensive zone. Playing the Sedin as a goalie wasn't easy at all, while Burrows net presence was a pain in the a..!

So far so good. I guess I will have the exact state of the game when we see online play with experts exploiting all weakness of the AI and showing us how bad the game can be when those experts are playing it.

[Bosborne]

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

Played more games last night and have to say that overall, I like the game more than at any time in NHL 11, especially playing locked as the goalie.

There's a bit of disappointment on the presentation side I have to say. What's the point of showing the the crowd after a goal if it's only to show 2-3 idiots going forward, backward, forward with their upper body? After that, you see the goalie skating up-close and then boom, back to replay.

Just giving a 5 guys together congratulating each other after a goal would be just perfect, you don't need to push it up to the moon to get a celebrations that's just fine. Even Blade of Steel on the Nintendo had figure it out with one guy pumping fist in the middle with the other 4 guys tapping the ice with their stick.

On a real positive note, I have to say that the AI D is finally playing almost the way it should when you play locked as the G. No more funny pinning and skating backward until getting pressure. I don't know if it's the case, but seems like Johnny Boychuk has the "pinching type" trait since he's pretty agressive on forwards leaving the zone. Chara is a monster while Kaberle was my most painful D to watch in front of the net.

Also seems like the CPU is shooting more. On 5 minutes period, I had an average of 7 shots. CPU is passing the puck well in the offensive zone. Playing the Sedin as a goalie wasn't easy at all, while Burrows net presence was a pain in the a..!

So far so good. I guess I will have the exact state of the game when we see online play with experts exploiting all weakness of the AI and showing us how bad the game can be when those experts are playing it.

goalie sounds fun, im going to try it tonight

[Qb]

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

After playing the demo for two hours last night followed by two hours of NHL11 EASHL play, I take back what I said about the skating in the demo. I still think it could be tweaked -- a little less acceleration & agility -- but it does seem improved both in form & function.

In my first 20 minutes of play yesterday morning, I noticed some of the new animations, but I also saw the awkward "hovering" moment when a player turns around from a standstill. However, after more time with the demo it seems that will be less frequent this year. Plus, I play with auto-backskate off and tend to over-use vision control, which can lead to some awkward moments due to user error more than anything else.

Overall, especially compared to NHL11, the skating looks much better and I think it feels somewhat better as well. Looking forward to playing with the speed/acceleration sliders a bit with the retail. It feels a bit fast to me when playing on the broadcast camera (my offline preference), but has a fairly nice pace using an up & down view. Or maybe I'm crazy.


One thing that's bothering me after more time are some of the rebounds. I feel some are coming off the goalie with too much force, particularly from straight-on shots. A lot of shots die when they hit a goalie IRL due to the amount of padding they wear, especially if it's above the waist. I suspect that's a hard thing to replicate without making the rebounds too dead overall.

I don't know... it's hard to describe because I see many good moments with the puck physics and live goalie improvements -- no more puck on the back, yay! -- but I think the goalie needs to absorb more of the force of the shot when he's squared up to it.

[born_bad]

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

I was pretty excited to play the demo. I fired it up and saw that the menus looked the exact same as last year and was thinking, OK, no big deal. It would be nice if it looked like a new game, but the menus work fine, so no big deal.Then, the game starts and all the pre-game stuff (showing of the lines, players, etc.) also looks the exact same as last year. Hmm… this is the new demo, right?

The game starts up and we’re down on the ice. That was nice there was hardly any load time. This is a pretty short intro and looks pretty much just like last year’s opening cut scene with the guys coming to the bench. This face-off looks exactly like last year’s, too. No new angles, cut scenes? That’s a little disappointing.

Then, I play 2 full periods and it felt like I was playing an improved NHL 08 – 11. The game just looks and feels the same for too many years now. The commentary, the cut scenes, the camera angles, the replays, etc. It’s all rehashed from year to year and it really has grown pretty stale to me. Yes, there are some nice improvements with gameplay. To be honest, though, because everything else is virtually unchanged, it feels to me like if a PC version of NHL 11 had been modded a bit for some improvements and tweaks.

I really wish there was something there for me to want to pay $60 for this year, but it looks like I’ll be skipping this year and sticking with my 2-year cycle for sports games. I was really looking forward to having an NHL game where the Bruins were the defending champs, but I feel like I might as well just stick with and continue playing NHL 11.

I wish the devs had the time and resources to actually make this look and feel like a new game year to year, but apparently they don’t.

[cardswin2006]

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

Played one game last night. I only played NHL 11 a couple times at my brother-in-law's place, but I own NHL 10. Overall I like the how the defense seems tighter and doesn't give up easy access to the goal anymore.

One thing that did concern me tough: The only goal of the game (in OT) happened when one of the Sedin sisters pushed my goalie out from his crease while there was a slapshot from the point, destroying the angle and leaving the net basically wide open. It certainly wasn't done on purpose (and without replay it's tough to go back and break down exactly what transpired), but this really concerns me as it could be really exploited in online or even human vs CPU games (for those with little self-control).

It is definitely a nice leap from NHL 10 and I'll give it some more tries over the next few days to decide if it's worth $60 to me or not.

[tmac55]

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

At first glance, I was like "really.. this feels like games gone by"; however, after spending more time with the demo last night, I can honestly say that this demo is impressive. The two things that stand out for me is skating physics and AI defense. The AI is so smart this season and to me it adds a whole level of enjoyment to the game.

We shall see after playing some more games, but for now I am pretty happy with the demo. Nothing new to see; however, it feels like they improved on past faults.

[Section_25]

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

I was pretty excited to play the demo. I fired it up and saw that the menus looked the exact same as last year and was thinking, OK, no big deal. It would be nice if it looked like a new game, but the menus work fine, so no big deal.Then, the game starts and all the pre-game stuff (showing of the lines, players, etc.) also looks the exact same as last year. Hmm… this is the new demo, right?

The game starts up and we’re down on the ice. That was nice there was hardly any load time. This is a pretty short intro and looks pretty much just like last year’s opening cut scene with the guys coming to the bench. This face-off looks exactly like last year’s, too. No new angles, cut scenes? That’s a little disappointing.

Then, I play 2 full periods and it felt like I was playing an improved NHL 08 – 11. The game just looks and feels the same for too many years now. The commentary, the cut scenes, the camera angles, the replays, etc. It’s all rehashed from year to year and it really has grown pretty stale to me. Yes, there are some nice improvements with gameplay. To be honest, though, because everything else is virtually unchanged, it feels to me like if a PC version of NHL 11 had been modded a bit for some improvements and tweaks.

I really wish there was something there for me to want to pay $60 for this year, but it looks like I’ll be skipping this year and sticking with my 2-year cycle for sports games. I was really looking forward to having an NHL game where the Bruins were the defending champs, but I feel like I might as well just stick with and continue playing NHL 11.

I wish the devs had the time and resources to actually make this look and feel like a new game year to year, but apparently they don’t.

This is pretty much exactly how I feel about it also. I do like some of the gameplay tweeks this year but I'm hoping the retail version has a little more to offer as far as presentation.

I do plan on buying it eventually, but I will be looking for it on sale somewhere. I just can't see paying full purchase price for it.

I sure wish I would have taken advantage of that $20 off Amazon pre-order deal when I had the chance.

[chrisg19]

Was playing a BAP game, and simmed to my next shift. So live play comes back on, and Krejci who I am replacing, skates to the bench, and just stands there. He won't get off the ice, and I can't get on. I guess he was pissed I took his first line spot or something, but play went on for over a minute, before a whistle let me out.

Really liking the game so far. The by product of not releasing many game play videos is that my expectations were low for this years game, and now I am pretty psyched with what I have seen. Kind of like "anti-hyping" a game.