[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by SpectralThundr

I hope so. I hope that besides the obvious changes with presentation, that the AI at least got some polishing. The whole "AI Vision" dealy sounds an awful lot like Hockey IQ. I get that AI in a hockey game is difficult to not be predictable, it's a video game after all. I would however at least like the option to have the AI be able to clog up the neutral zone on higher difficulty levels and not do it in a way where they just skate faster or hit harder but by solid positioning and having the attribute effect slider actually work how it's supposed to. I get that EA likely is forced to keep attributes 50-100 to keep the NHLPA from pulling the license, but I still believe there are ways to make the CPU offline play a tighter game without it being cheap. All sports games seem to struggle with this however, even the much loved NBA2k where the AI will hit shots from where ever it wants even with a hand in it's face on higher difficulty levels to try and keep it "competitive". At the very least in NHL the AI will just change it's strategy to high pressure and have the Dmen pinch more rather than out right cheating like some claim. It doesn't, if it did every game would be close, and that's certainly not the case.

I think AI is going to make or break NHL15. If they get it right, i'm sure a lot of people can look past their issues. My frustration always came from having to use sliders to get anything even close to decent gameplay, but having the same issues always present. Trying to turn up ice with the puck was frustrating (You felt like you were in sand) and the goalie AI in terms of shots, and the AI being so incredible at times, while your goalie is letting in multiple slow wristers along the ice with no screen.

If they can get your teammates to act like teammates, and do simple things like move to get open, set up screens, fight to keep the puck in on the powerplay, or, even give us the ability to program these things with a better play editor, i think it will go a long way in making NHL15 leaps and bounds better than 14. That's what i'm holding out hope for, because so far, the improvements look to be in lighting, player bodies, and stadiums. The faces still look awful on most guys, and the gameplay video left something to be desired. Granted it was a very short one, it still looked an awful lot like NHL14 with a facelift.