Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

[nddurst]

After all the blogs, videos, reviews, discussions and more, I still can't say with certainty that I will be purchasing NHL 12 - or that I will NOT be.

The gameplay seems to have been improved, leading to an overall fun on-ice experience that is the best we've seen on current gen. However, there is talk that Be a GM, a mode I was so pumped to play back when it was introduced in NHL 10, still has major flaws that are unaddressed (unrealistic FA quirks, bad trade AI, bugs, etc.). This, along with still unaddressed gameplay issues (lack of penalties, questionable defensive AI, laughably stale commentary and presentation, tape-to-tape CPU passing) make me wonder if I will get long-lasting fun out of this game. As an offline gamer, I was done with NHL 11 around December last year. I don't want to drop $60 on this game if that will happen again.

Is anyone else still on the fence like I am?

[plaidchuck]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Well I would say if you were done by december last year there won't nearly be enough changed to hold your interest this time...

I myself am studying abroad so this kind of makes the decision not to buy even easier, although it willl suck if I get it after christmas and the EASHL is its typical glitch fest.

[SlyBelle]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

First year in a long time I struggled whether to pull the trigger. As you have seen with my other posts, my only real complaint right now is lack of penalties, everything else I enjoy and can live with. Because of the penalty issue, I was not going to buy it this year until confirmed fix. However, I am going to put me faith in a tuner/patch update will fix it at some point and acutally buy it now. But the main reason I was able to make this decision is I got it for $30 (after discounts from other amazon sales). Plus, you get $10 in credit from amazon when you buy it, so in the end really only cost me $20. If I had to pay $60, I would have probably waited until confirmed fix.

[Flyermania]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Nope, after all of the initial impressions I am no longer on the fence. I will 100% not be buying NHL12. Congrats on yet again messing up a good thing in this series EA!

[RealmK]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Nope, after all of the initial impressions I am no longer on the fence. I will 100% not be buying NHL12. Congrats on yet again messing up a good thing in this series EA!

Hardly a fair statement. The game play is actually to the point of being as close to hockey as you're prolly going to get in a video game. But hey feel free to hate for the sake of hating.

It has its issues still, and has weakness in areas that should be far better at this point in it's lifecycle (over all presentation) But talking like the game is complete garbage is really off point.

[Ktulu]

Just waiting to find out if PS3 voice chat actually works properly this year. Sick of the choppiness and some people not being able to hear others. Play Battlefield 2 with same group of friends and voice chat works perfectly, but hockey? It sucks every year and at some point you have to vote with your wallet.

You'd think that the nhl devs could steal the tech from the bf2 devs, it's all under EA.

[spike83]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

I'm on the fence as well given what I'm reading.

I'll do what I did for Madden. Rent it on launch day (it confirmed all my fears and saved me $60.00). Besides, with FIFA out in two weeks, NBA 2K a week later and The Show still getting plenty of play time, NHL will be on the shelf in a hurry.

[Flyermania]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Hardly a fair statement. The game play is actually to the point of being as close to hockey as you're prolly going to get in a video game. But hey feel free to hate for the sake of hating.

It has its issues still, and has weakness in areas that should be far better at this point in it's lifecycle (over all presentation) But talking like the game is complete garbage is really off point.

Hate for the sake of hating? Seriously? I realize my opinion is different than yours, but that is way off base and you know it. Like your endless rants against 2k, I just call them like I see them -- and that applies regardless who makes the game.

I see numerous issues that have plagued this series for 3-4 years...issues that are ignored because all of the effort is on the online aspects. As I recall, there are usually actual penalties that occur in an NHL game -- not sure how blowing this key element makes the game "as close to hockey as you're going to get". Maybe my expectations are too high, but I actually like to see things fixed and improvement from one year to the next.

But if you're happy with it, more power to you as that's all that really matters.

[Steven547]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

I think gameplay wise, it's better than NHL 11. However, once again, EA drops the ball on something...

1 No 3 stars presentation after the game
2 Penalties are minimal
3 Why give the option to save settings, when you can only have ONE save slot??
4 Cutscenes haven't changed...where is this presentation EA marketed so much???
5 Once again, no roster sharing...(EA should really check out MLB the Show on how they do theirs!)
6 Goal celebrations...? Where are they? I haven't seen any "high fives", "hugs", etc. They score, your guy skates around, then face off.

If it wasn't for the AI Gameplay improvement, I wouldn't have bought this. But, this might be the last year I buy it unless EA starts to pay attention to all these threads and addresses issues from 4 years past. Wake up, EA.

"EA Sports: It used to be in the game"

[mkharsh33]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Hardly a fair statement. The game play is actually to the point of being as close to hockey as you're prolly going to get in a video game. But hey feel free to hate for the sake of hating.

It has its issues still, and has weakness in areas that should be far better at this point in it's lifecycle (over all presentation) But talking like the game is complete garbage is really off point.

Original thread question: "Anyone else still on the fence, like me?"

Uh, he gave an answer...it didn't agree with yours, but what is "unfair" about his statement? See, this is what I'm really disliking about this section of OS - if anyone has a problem with EA's product, and gets vocal about it, they get singled out. If anyone thinks the game is garbage, it doesn't make them right or wrong...it simply gives them a voice. Since when is an "opinion" the equivalent of "hating"?

[mkharsh33]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

...and for the record, I'm on the fence, leaning toward not purchasing. It's more of the same old game, but what NHL 11 would have felt like with another patch or two and a couple more tuning updates.... that is not an unfair assessment...

[Ceteris Paribus]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Played the Pre-release version. It's an easy first day buy. Easy.

It's fantastic series that does one thing I wish more sports titles would do. Don't break what already works!

The gameplay is improved. The gameplay has been, and still is, the best you can find in a hockey game. I loved the old 2K hockey, but EA has done a pretty good job of nailing this.

There is going to be a certain segment that ha lost the ability to just plop in a game and have fun. They will hem and haw, and try to pick it apart as though they have refined tastes that only allow them to play exquisite titles. They pretend that those titles exist, and that we have not always learned to overlook the little stuff for the greater fun.

The notion that this game is not a blast to play is a farce. I'd hate to be those gamers.

If you say that you have NHL 10 or 11, and the improvements are not enough to spend the money, I can see that. I love that the NHL team works on incremental, but significant gameplay improvements without jacking the whole game up, and luckily, I can afford $60 to play this years update.

I wish 2K had done a game this year. If they had come out with presentation and and NHL Today mode like their NBA and MLB series, I'd probably jump, even if the gameplay was a bit worse.

But I like hockey, and I can't over over the one simple fact that this game is fun. It's fun if I set it to arcade and quick. It's fun if I set it to slow and sloppy. It's too bad that so many on this forum can't just play the game and enjoy it for what it is.

[green94]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Firmly planted on the middle of the fence at this point.... my Amazon preorder is sitting out there and after reading impressions on this board I am leaning towards canceling.

Presentation issues (fans not cheering/goal celebrations) and no penalties are not worth waiting a month or two to get fixed IMO.

Sucks, I was really looking forward to NHL12 after skipping NHL11.

[Section_25]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

Firmly planted on the middle of the fence at this point.... my Amazon preorder is sitting out there and after reading impressions on this board I am leaning towards canceling.

Presentation issues (fans not cheering/goal celebrations) and no penalties are not worth waiting a month or two to get fixed IMO.

Sucks, I was really looking forward to NHL12 after skipping NHL11.

If you're coming from NHL 10 I'm sure you will like 12 even with the problems that have been reported so far. I say go for it

[Araxen]

Re: Anyone else still on the fence, like me?

I won't be buying this game again till they allow community roster support like NCAA Football has.