NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

[ChaseB]

Based on what NHL 15 offered, it’s fair to approach NHL 16 with some caution. The gameplay of NHL 15 generally satisfied, with a few caveats in penalty logic, wacky collision physics and some holdover elements from previous years. The bigger issue was the feature set -- or lack thereof. While the new hardware generation resets the bar somewhat, it doesn’t allow for the jarring lack of modes and features that NHL 15 displayed. The good news is that things can only go up.

Read More: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look) - (Written by Glenn Wigmore)

[zuntac]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Hey chaseB, thx for the Write up!!!

You say, the Presentation is improved, can you say something about audio (does the crowd react to a power play for example, is the atmosphere during a game better than last year etc.)

Thanks and sorry for my bad English

[snc237]

Well good to hear! It's going to be a long 3 month wait

[aaron777]

How's the computer defence play... are they engaging when they should?

[Honni]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

How's the computer defence play... are they engaging when they should?

Good questions, I second this one.

The defence in 15 was awful once again, nothing more than huge traffic cones to skate around. Have they made the AI defence better? And the Goalie AI was a big problem, too. Any news on these two points?

[Money99]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Thanks Chase! Appreciate the hands-on thoughts.

My biggest issues/concerns with NHL16 are this:
- Are your CPU teammates still ridiculously docile?
- Do you notice different player types? How about teams? Can you actually see and feel a difference playing against a team like the Wild or Wings as opposed to a bruising club like the Ducks or Bruins?
- Will CPU opposition still be able to do things with the puck that you can't? Specifically, its 3rd and 4th line players. Can they still snipe, dangle and thread needles regardless of their attributes?

If those 3 are improved I'll bite.
Amazon.ca has a great deal right now where you get 30% off if you purchase 3 titles featured at E3.
I would like NHL16 to be in my top-3 but if the same things I mentioned above continue to plague this series, I'm not going to spend another penny on the series.

[Simple Mathematics]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Hey Chase. Ask the devs if they plan on adding a roster share feature.

[green94]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Sounds great... can't wait.

Please tell me 5 man hugs are in the game though

[csamuelsvt]

Great right up guys..

Yes are there 5 man celebrations in this game, or is it just the two man celebration again with the other 3 teammates skating away awkwardly?

Also, how were the goalies?

Did you hear Doc and his emotion in the game? Does he have better goal calls as EA was promoting and not sound completely unenthusiastic? If you scored with like a minute to go to go ahead a goal he would scream "SCORES" at times, but that was about it

Great job guys!

[nddurst]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Good questions, I second this one.

The defence in 15 was awful once again, nothing more than huge traffic cones to skate around. Have they made the AI defence better? And the Goalie AI was a big problem, too. Any news on these two points?

I third this. How is AI defense and neutral zone pressure? Can you easily gain the offensive zone?

[lucio360]

Thanks guys for that info, very appreciated, wanted to know if there were any improvements to the Face-offs?
Like being thrown out for going to early?

Also How were the AI goalies, were they able to go behind the net and get the puck, and also where they able to do a proper pass this year?

Thanks again

[bigwill33]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

First off: Glenn, when you say " The gameplay of NHL 15 generally satisfied..." that immediately made me cringe because I thought NHL 15 had some of the worst gameplay in sports video game history. It was everything that was bad in NHL 10-14 combined with new absurdities and unrealistic occurrences.

That being said, here is some of what I will be looking for from reviewers of the E3 demo and early videos that I see:

Did you guys pick up the controls and just do the same exact thing as the past 5 years? Did you know exactly how to score, how to breakout, how to enter the opposition's zone? Or were you forced to think and react on-the-fly? Perhaps relying on your real life hockey knowledge of positioning and reactionary skills to how the AI responded to your play, rather than just doing what is engrained in all of us when playing NHL (ie. passing it up the boards, carrying it over the blue line, making a move in the offensive zone and looking to gain the slot, shooting top corner short-side, looking for the one-timer down low).

Does the defense body up on puck carriers rather than only go for a hit or poke check? Can you ride a puck carrier off of the puck, into the boards, without knocking them over or destroying them, allowing for a loose puck situation?

Can you pass this year? Especially in the offensive zone. Can you maybe set up a real power play and work the puck to the clearly open man more often than not, make 5 or 6 passes in a row without being challenged because you have space and time?

Can you use the boards to pass or chip the pucks in?

Can you call for a line change and still perform a poke check, or any other function that requires a face or shoulder button on the controller? Can you ask the Devs why this still programmed this way, if it is still the same!

Were goaltenders touched at all? Still make way too many glove saves and warp from side to side and post to post with no real push or slide?

Can we still skate end-to-end against the CPU with no real pressure in the neutral zone again?

Did you only play human vs human, or were you able to play against the CPU? Was there a difference this year in how the CPU played? Did it still perform unrealistic headhunter hits on defense if you were one-on-one or even two-on-one?

Can you take the hit to make the play again? They removed it last year. You used to be able to bait your opponent into stepping up and attempting to crush you and then still be able to let go of the pass button as he engaged you, allowing you to make the last second pass before getting eliminated from the play. In 15 you would let go of the pass button and the puck would either not go or it would go some weird direction and you would still get lit up. Needs to be risk/reward for stepping up on defense like that.

Is goalie passing still way unreal because they feel the need to cater to the arcade crowd that hates whistles and stoppages in play?

Are we still automatically forced to fight because of a big hit? Do all players still fight like last year?

Can you ask if the Devs ever plan on touching the face-off formations and logic again? Can we one day position our d and wings where we want them rather than just in the preset formations? Are we stuck having wings take face-offs again this year in certain situations? Will we ever just be able to choose what players on the ice take the draw?

Can we finally cycle? Can we chip the puck up the boards to gain the zone and then skate the long way around the defender that tries to run legal interference... you know, like how we see it happen dozens of times in each and every playoff game?

Has board play been addressed or is it the same suction bs that it has been for half a decade now? Can the CPU still magically kick a puck from the end boards for a scoring chance in the slot?

Can you ask about online like; Is there any punishment in OTP for quitting a game early (like having to wait until that game that the player just left actually finishes before being able to jump into another game)? Is there any punishment for going out of position all game in OTP, continually going offside or just being an a-hole?

Any changes to the amount of pauses in OTP/EASHL/Online? Why is there a need to have 3 or 4 pauses per team, per game, that last 45 seconds each?

Can we call a timeout that refreshes your players in EASHL, finally?

Any chance of being able to watch a game online or scout an opponent? Any way to see a team's record, rank, history, dnf %, etc. before accepting a game against them in any online mode?

Did they add a way to tie-up an opponent in front of the net back into the game, but not in a way that was stupid and just was unrealistic suction that was nearly impossible to roll off of?

Do goalies kick out real rebound chances, the kind in which a player sitting on the doorstep can take several cracks at to try and bury? And the kind that the d must just try and sweep to the corner to avoid being scored on? Or do the attacking players just keep whiffing on the puck laying next to a goalie because of the imaginary forcefield?

Can we hold a player's stick up during a stick lift or finally pin their stick down to tie-up a man during a loose puck scramble or oncoming pass attempt?

Is the OTP menu and team selection still awful? Has it been changed at all or is it still just a mess where we wait for someone to finally come along and pick defense and have people that just sit in the middle for 3 minutes before everyone just backs out with 3 seconds left?

Any talk of allowing us to import our own logos or faces into the game?


Most of these I have asked before, to no avail. Hoping some light can get shed on the important issues. Sure, I would like to see 5 man celebrations after a goal, or hear Doc's inflection change as he gets tight in his pants, but the gameplay is what really stood out in NHL 15 as being putrid, to me. I would still be playing that bare-boned game nightly had it just not been a complete mess on the ice during gameplay.

[Honni]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

Good questions, I second this one.

The defence in 15 was awful once again, nothing more than huge traffic cones to skate around. Have they made the AI defence better? And the Goalie AI was a big problem, too. Any news on these two points?

Hey Chase. Ask the devs if they plan on adding a roster share feature.

Answers on those three things would be amazing. Basically all I want to know. I seriously don't care about the additional presentation things, I mean really, the presentation in NHL is still pretty bland compared to games like Madden (same company!!!) or NBA 2k imo...

Content and presentation-wise, Madden is pretty much the perfect game. I really loved playing Madden Ultimate Team, whereas I hated HUT in 15. It just doesn't have any of those cool elements that Madden has (collecting sets, new games for singleplayer on a regular basis etc.). And Madden also has Roster Sharing for years now. Why is this not possible for NHL? Why are they not using some code from Madden as a base for the NHL series?

[CupCrazyManiac]

Re: NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

@bigwill33
i
you nailed it again!

[munky1307]

Awesome write up guys. Two quick questions for devs.

Will "Create a Play" ever make it back into the series? (where you could draw your own play with players)

Will strategies carry over from game to game in GM mode (as opposed to needing to change it every game)?