NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

[Drakar]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

I agree with iaxy, the game is not that hard. So far on allstar simulation, I've lost more than I've won but it's the first day on a new game. You're not suppose to dominate when you first start playing, otherwise it wouldn't be worth playing. Work the puck around to create scoring opportunities and on defense, sometimes it works to skate backwards to stay in front of the puck handler. I know one thing, it's a challenge beating good teams with garbage teams this year, unlike NHL 14.

I am not talking about whether its challenging or not. Its how the CPU A.I goes about making it a challenge. Its far from being a simulation. First of all, all players act/react the same. It doesn't matter if their rating are 60 or 99. They will have the abilities of the most skillful player that ever grace the ice. Its a problem with the NHL series since the beginning of dawn. Your 3rd and 4th line should be playing differently than your first 2 line. Grinder should be dumping the puck and fight for it on the board. Skate fast and create some momentum. Once the CPU gets the puck in their zone, it doesn't matter if you board them or put some pressure, they will always get the puck out. So the game becomes a transition fest. There is almost no neutral zone play. If you guard the blue line, they will skate around for 30 sec or so. They will not go back to their zone, reset the play or dump the puck.

When I see the Buffalo sabers, the worst team of the NHL last year cycling the puck like they got 3 Sedins and 2 Norris tophy winner, you know the game is cheap. Challenging or not.

BTW, my record in BeaGM is 5-3-2 with the Habs. I only won 1 game in regular time. Every other games went to OT after a miraculous come back from me or the CPU AI.

[Gerg04]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

What aggravates me most is the cpu AI will play loose pucks, but my teammates will not.

I've been enjoying online vs though.

[iaxy]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

[QUOTE
When I see the Buffalo sabers, the worst team of the NHL last year cycling the puck like they got 3 Sedins and 2 Norris tophy winner, you know the game is cheap. Challenging or not.
[/QUOTE]

If there is nothing to obstruct the passing between the two CPU players, than there is no reason why they should fan their passes. This is the NHL after all - players are supposed to be able to execute precise passes, regardless which franchise they play for. It's your ability to take a good position on the ice defensively which will prevent that cycling being successful. Ever since I have started playing with this mindset, I have been enjoying the game immensely.

[dannyheck]

Whilst I had mixed feeling from the Demo, I actually find myself really enjoying the full game (strictly from a gameplay perspective), especially now that I have experimented with sliders.

I honestly don’t get all the negative comments so far. I feel NHL 15 is miles better than NHL 14 in every single aspect (again – strictly from a gameplay perspective).

What is the point of waiting eagerly for a new game and then bashing it after 2 periods played because “it does not play” as expected. That is the whole point – it’s a new game, it’s got new mechanics, new challenges. That’s what we want as consumers. To the people who bash the game because they get murdered by the CPU I’ll say this - If you want to be in familiar waters and play a comfortable game, then stick to past versions of the game or lower the difficulty.

NHL 15 does a great job at punishing you if you make a mistake – this is godsend and a first in any hockey game so far. It actually forces you to play well, forces you to be vigilant and forces you to be on your toes, which really captures the essence of hockey.

For years I’ve wanted a game where, if you make a sloppy pass or if you mistime your hits, the CPU will punish you with a goal or at least create a great scoring chance. Never before had any hockey game managed to capture that accurately. Now we have it and I think it adds a contagious depth to the game. If you lose 5:0 you know why you’ve lost – it’s not because the CPU has cheated, but because you’ve been sloppy.

Yes, it does take a little time to adjust to the new defense mechanics. I got killed 7:1 in my first game vs the CPU. But I loved that every single goal the CPU scores was a direct result of a mistake I made. Just like real hockey, momentum is a huge factor. Mistime your hit and the CPU blows by you. Hitting is really hard in this game and I love that. What’s the point of being able to hit at ease everywhere on the ice. That deprives the game from a true hockey experience and becomes a hit fest. NHL HITZ did that.

Lower the sliders for puck control and pass accuracy, bump up your sliders for interceptions and poke check and this game is the closest representation of the real game, capturing its explosiveness, momentum and unpredictability.

The other thing I will say is – you have to try this on True Broadcast camera. I switched to True Broadcast already last year with NHL 14, but with NHL 15 its really rewarding playing on this view (but also harder). Yes, the controls feel more awkward, yes the dekes are harder to pull off and shooting is sometimes awkward (the only way it works is to select shooting Always Up), but ultimately it pays off to persevere with this view, because the game looks and feels realistic, the closest to a simulation of the real sport.

I love cycling the puck when on PP. Someone said it was too easy to do so. Well, that may be so, but it’s actually fun and gives you a great sense of control. IN years past you would try to cycle only for the pass to go astray or go to a Defenseman who would take the puck offside – frustrating. Now it feels great. This is supposed to mimic the NHL after all. Players should be sufficiently skilled to pass the puck tape to tape and not go offside.

Dump ins are actually a great weapon now. Same for saucer passes.

Naturally not everything is rosy. There’s a lot of legacy issues with the game. For a start I feel the game is unplayable in any up-down camera. It just looks too similar to past NHLs and it feels very repetitive.
Also, it’s been said before and it is true, it is way too easy gaining the zone.

I didn’t intend on writing a review, but I guess what I’ve written so far feels a little like one, so I will just sum up my + and –

Positives
+ Great puck physics (make sure to tone down the slider for puck control to really get the most of this)
+ More responsive skating
+ Improved AI and feeling of “always being on your toes”
+ Nice graphics (but not as sharp as I expected for New Gen)
+ Passing feels crisp and there is the necessary oomph behind long range passes (lacking in the past)
+ Saucer pass is a weapon now
+ More difficult to hit
+ Accurate sounds (ice, posts, sticks, etc.) but not hits
+ Degrading ice (the ice in general looks amazing)
+ New dekeing
+ Greater variety of goals
+ Breakaways feel fantastic and are lethal now
+ Overall presentation (crowd especially)
+ Little details such as head fakes when dekeing look awesome
+ The sliders actually work (they change the game dramatically)

Negatives
- Lack of modes (debated to death)
- Slightly blurred / washed out models (I’m playing on PS4)
- Player faces still look years behind FIFA for example
- Uniform for National teams are generic and inaccurate (still).
- No-look passes are too accurate
- Board play is still a weakness
- The animation for chopping the puck away still looks horrible
- Hits don’t feel natural and don’t get any physical sensation of being hit or you hitting someone
- Some sotware issues – sticks going through board, players, etc. Inexcusable.
- Lagging menus
- Not being able to keep the stick extended when poking

great review

[SVCbearcat10]

I think the enjoyment online will be short-lived for the series. I think it's good because many of the people that typically exploit the game and ruin the experience passed on the game due to lack of online game modes.

EASHL got a little worse each year because it got more popular each year.

[m_maclean24]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

Whilst I had mixed feeling from the Demo, I actually find myself really enjoying the full game (strictly from a gameplay perspective), especially now that I have experimented with sliders.

I honestly don’t get all the negative comments so far. I feel NHL 15 is miles better than NHL 14 in every single aspect (again – strictly from a gameplay perspective).

What is the point of waiting eagerly for a new game and then bashing it after 2 periods played because “it does not play” as expected. That is the whole point – it’s a new game, it’s got new mechanics, new challenges. That’s what we want as consumers. To the people who bash the game because they get murdered by the CPU I’ll say this - If you want to be in familiar waters and play a comfortable game, then stick to past versions of the game or lower the difficulty.

NHL 15 does a great job at punishing you if you make a mistake – this is godsend and a first in any hockey game so far. It actually forces you to play well, forces you to be vigilant and forces you to be on your toes, which really captures the essence of hockey.

For years I’ve wanted a game where, if you make a sloppy pass or if you mistime your hits, the CPU will punish you with a goal or at least create a great scoring chance. Never before had any hockey game managed to capture that accurately. Now we have it and I think it adds a contagious depth to the game. If you lose 5:0 you know why you’ve lost – it’s not because the CPU has cheated, but because you’ve been sloppy.

Yes, it does take a little time to adjust to the new defense mechanics. I got killed 7:1 in my first game vs the CPU. But I loved that every single goal the CPU scores was a direct result of a mistake I made. Just like real hockey, momentum is a huge factor. Mistime your hit and the CPU blows by you. Hitting is really hard in this game and I love that. What’s the point of being able to hit at ease everywhere on the ice. That deprives the game from a true hockey experience and becomes a hit fest. NHL HITZ did that....

I want to touch on one point you brought up. I can't stress enough the importance of people giving True Broadcast camera a chance. I know that some people will not give it a chance based strictly on it being something new and challenging for them, but I have found it to be a game changer with NHL 15. I played NHL 14 on both the default camera, and some True Broadcast. It is true, NHL 15 appears as almost a clone of NHL 14 when you play with the default or any other overhead camera (just prettier graphics). Switch over to True Broadcast, and I think the game just shines. It becomes more challenging, you can see real hockey plays develop, the AI does not look like they are chickens with their heads cut off, you can see them make actual intelligent decisions. I can't express how much I love the way that this camera angle changes the game. The controls (as iaxy mentioned) must be always-up, it is too much of an adjustment otherwise.

I will post a full review in the next few days, but I just wanted to make this point...I was not thrilled with the demo at all until I tried this angle.

[Qb]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

I played 3+ games last night. Played the initial NYR/LA on hardcore w/o adjustments and then started to fiddle with sliders for the other games. By the last game I had a lot of slider changes aimed at slopping things up and the results were promising. Sliders seem to impact gameplay, although I agree that passing seems more assisted for both speed and direction, even using manual with assist @ 1 (will try zero soon). However, dropping pass accuracy & reception to zero makes for plenty of missed passes, especially with interceptions up and pass speed down a notch.

All my games were close; in fact, the CPU is probably complaining about comeback AI since they jumped out to an early lead and I fought back in the 3rd more than once. I scored twice in the final minutes with LA before winning in OT; lost 3-2 with PIT to BUF, but dominated in the 3rd and nearly came back from an early 3-0 deficit; lost to EDM in OT with MIN in a back & forth affair; and was rolling FLA 3-0 in the 1st with NYI when I decided 1am was way too late to be up.

There's some fun to be had here, no doubt. Looking forward to playing friends online with hardcore settings, which aren't bad as presets go. However, I think some heavy slider changes are the way to go for offline play. I didn't get into anything beyond play now, aside from looking at the Penguins NHL & AHL teams. On the bright side, no player editing kept me from staying up even later messing with everyone's ratings.

I'm not one to give pro/con lists, although I like seeing that kind of effort from others, but I'm sure I'll have more to say. There are a few posts I want to respond to and some slider talk to do in that subforum.

[Gagnon39]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

As bigwill has mentioned, the lack of pucks going out of play is odd. I'd not necessarily game-breaking but with all the talk about the puck physics it sure it strange that the puck rarely goes out of play.

Sure you get the occasional dump in that makes its way all the way over the boards and the occasional delay of game accident when you try and loft a puck out of the zone in your own end. But in about ten games so far I've yet to see a puck deflect off a stick, or more importantly, off a goalie on a shot, and into the netting or crowd.

[nordiques1995]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

Put poke checking at max, and poke check when the defenseman firing a shot from the blue line. You will see puck deflecting of your stick and going to the crowd.

[CupCrazyManiac]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

You can play coop in play now and GM mode. You can not play couch coop online.

Thanx a lot!!!

[Qb]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

NHL 15 does a great job at punishing you if you make a mistake – this is godsend and a first in any hockey game so far. It actually forces you to play well, forces you to be vigilant and forces you to be on your toes, which really captures the essence of hockey.

For years I’ve wanted a game where, if you make a sloppy pass or if you mistime your hits, the CPU will punish you with a goal or at least create a great scoring chance. Never before had any hockey game managed to capture that accurately. Now we have it and I think it adds a contagious depth to the game. If you lose 5:0 you know why you’ve lost – it’s not because the CPU has cheated, but because you’ve been sloppy.

You made several good points, and I want to add to this one. Not only does this apply to each play or decision, but I think extends to overall strategy more than ever before as well. I was able to come back from some early deficits by cranking up the forecheck and telling my guys to blow the zone, but I gave up some prime chances and odd-mans. So not only did I get the reward of turnovers and some odd-man rushes of my own, but the risk was there, at least when using more defensive-oriented sliders.

I've been playing EA NHL since NHL92. I am not the most skill but I think I know a thing or two about hockey. The CPU will go ape sh*t on you from time to time and they are unstoppable. They will pass the puck like they are the Sedin brothers on steroids while to dragging you. When that happen, you can't be aggressive and put pressure on the CPU because he will punish you. You almost have to play zone defense and wait for them to shoot and go for the rebound.

You know when I feel like this? When I get trapped in my zone with fatigued players. Something to consider.

If you guard the blue line, they will skate around for 30 sec or so. They will not go back to their zone, reset the play or dump the puck.

This can be frustrating. While it's good the CPU won't just try to plow forward if you stack the blueline, it seems to take them a while to make up their mind on their next move. They will dump the puck if you deny entry, but they usually skate around without doing a proper regroup for a little bit first. I've also seen them skate the puck directly towards their own goal when pinned in their own a few times. Like nearly running into their goalie straight at the goal, not circling behind. Getting the CPU to play more "indirectly" with dumps, chips, using the boards to clear the zone, etc would really improve offline play.

[Drakar]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

You had some good point Qb but its not always the case. I think its might be due to momentum shift. The A.I goes into this "God mode" from time to time and put an enormous amount of pressure on you. Why doesn't my CPU teammate are not doing the same thing in offensive zone ? They just watch the puck go in the corner and retreat. Even with strategy set to aggressive.

I don't mind dealing with pressure but the pass assist is really killing my chance of using the board to free up the zone. That's has been the most glaring issue with the game. Stop assisting me and I'll be happy.

[emiles76]

I played 2 games and I already regret purchasing this for full price...

Somehow the full game plays so much worse than the demo.

Started on all-star, got hammered 6-0; moved down to pro, quit after 2 periods and being down 5-1.

It's even worse than 13 and 14 with the CPU being completely overpowered.

Aside from the fact that EVERY team just feeds the slot and scores on laser one-timers from close range (there's absolutely no style difference in how teams play) and CPU goalies, no matter how shaky they are in real life, all seem to be otherworldly good; the thing that still enrages me the most is skating.
I've NEVER seen anyone skate like the CPU does in this game and it's been an issue for the past 2-3 years. Whenever I've got them lined up for a hit hey just seem to be able to stop on a dime and turn in whatever direction they want, momentum doesn't seem to play a role, it's just stop - do a 180 - turn left - turn right and I'm not able to make any play.

Good, I'm glad to see someone else is having this problem as well. While I haven't quite had that extreme margin of defeat, it does seem as if the CPU scores on one-timers with extreme regularity and the defensive and goalie A/I for user team isn't able to keep up. It seems like 90% of the time if the CPU goes for a one-timer, its in the back of the net. Are any of you other guys having this problem?

[Hockeynut99]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

I love the action cam.

[Drakar]

Re: NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

Good, I'm glad to see someone else is having this problem as well. While I haven't quite had that extreme margin of defeat, it does seem as if the CPU scores on one-timers with extreme regularity and the defensive and goalie A/I for user team isn't able to keep up. It seems like 90% of the time if the CPU goes for a one-timer, its in the back of the net. Are any of you other guys having this problem?

Yes, You need to tweak the slider to increase pass interception by human. You have to really stay in the passing lane and hope for the best. If your defenseman pursue the puck carrier behind the net, you are royally screwed. They will bind pass at the speed of light for an laser one-timer. Also I notice that goalie screening is way too effective. You will try to be in the shot lane to block the shot and you will screen your goalie from very very far away.