NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

[Money99]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

Doc is great live, but not so much in this series (so far).
I wonder if it's because he's not comfortable with the setting?
We all know 'that funny guy' and think he'd be great as a comic or TV star.
But the minute a camera is put in his face he becomes a stone wall.
Maybe that's what's going on with Doc here?

As far as presentation goes - and this can be said for a lot of sports games today - I still wonder how NFL2K4 could give us a weekly wrap-up show, with a virtual Chris Berman, and yet nobody else has come close to emulating it.

I'm such a nerd for stuff like that, that if NHL16 offered a weekly show, or an intermission update showing highlights from around the league, I'd buy it instantly.
NHL94 ruled for many reasons, but being able to watch highlights from around the league was fantastic.

I'm taking this latest vid with a grain of salt.
It's less than 60s long and the intent was to clearly show better defensive AI and loose puck physics.
In that regard, I think it did well to show off what the producers intended.
We saw pucks get knocked away with incidental and minor contact.
We also saw a CPU controlled defender properly defend lanes and pick off cross-crease pass attempts.

I can't say this video made me super excited for NHL16, but I do like some of the tweaks they've made.

Still, none of this matters if NHL16 will still feature last-minute heroics by the CPU, or if the CPU has 5 Crosby/Chara's on the ice every shift.

[jake19ny]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

It's looking like the game is what I expected, NHL 14 for next gen. Returned missing modes, added eye candy, and a few minor tweaks. I will still play because I miss playing a hockey game and revamped rosters and tweaks made past versions (NHL 15 not one of them) playable. I'm not sure how they can improve the NZ play and I don't know how complicated it is to do so but I wish they would. That aside 2 simple things we have asked for would go a long way and do not appear to be there
1) player seperation: watching this video I couldn't tell the difference between any of those players on the ice. They all seemed equally skilled and equal in speed. Hopefully revamped rosters will help
2) better CPU coaching AI: line matching by CPU or at least smart match ups at the end of the game. As previous poster mentioned down by one with under a minute to play and Horcoff and Jackman are on the ice instead of top guys. So sick of playing games up by one and Colton Orr is on the ice for the final minute....dumb dumb dumb.
If they had actual realistic player seperation and smart CPU coaching AI together would make games much better. I don't think we will ever see player seperation as EA prefers a level playing field for online gamers over a realistic offline experience.

[TDKing]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

Thorne and Clement were way better than Doc. I warned you guys that were clamoring for a new commentary team now we are stuck with this chopped up crap. Lol... I'm mostly done with this game until it gets new leadership. I will give it a try with ea access but doubt I'll be buying it. Thing is, imo they were so close at one point to a having a really good game if they made a few important gameplay tweaks that they absolutely refuse to do or fail to see.

[DJ NEO]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

I just hate to see this back in NHL 16

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

I just hate to see this back in NHL 16

I was hoping that would be something that got better on Next Gen. One reason play looks so odd sometimes is that players move the same way, no matter what. Wide open in the middle looks the exact same as squeezing between a player and the boards. The never really play the puck in close. There's no subtle movement in the game. It's all or nothing.

[bigwill33]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

You know how in hockey you often see players extend their arms to impede another player's momentum? There is nothing like that in this game.

Playing defense I always watch a puck carriers chest in a 1-1 situation. If he and I both have help I try and close the gap nearest the blue line and keep my stick on the ice. If he makes a move or a loose puck deke I match his body, all while staring at his chest because it won't lie or deceive me in which direction his body is going to go. Often they skate into me and I body up on them and ride them out of the play, usually off of the puck. Sometimes they try and drag the puck through me and I can get my feet moved fast enough to usually stop it, but even if I miss I have their body. As long as I don't impede them without the puck for more than a second nobody is calling interference because that is how you are taught to play defense.

None of that is replicated within this franchise's hockey experience.


The counter, as a puck carrier, is to sometimes chip it around your defender along the boards and sort of slingshot yourself by them as they backpedal. This is a controlled dump for a common zone entry in hockey.

This is also nowhere to be seen in the NHL.

In these pictures that DJ Neo has captured to show how bad the warping is and sticks going through the boards, is a perfect example of how defenders would extend an arm to shove a puck carrier or transition their weight. Knocking a puck carrier off balance opens them up for a poke check or stick lift, or even a stick pin down (which EA has no concept of).

Until they figure out a way to add these important subtleties to this series this game will just resemble something that is not true hockey. I can't even think of an analogy. Players that just bump into each other or completely crush each other with hits is not the way hockey is played. There is a method to contact. It is to establish space and momentum, not just to keep the puck away from the net.

Hockey is a game of angles and winning space to gain an angle is vital. In EA's hockey you skate straight up the boards and look for passing lanes towards the middle, every time.

Often the most simple of passes in real life are the hardest to make in this game, for some reason. Seeing a guy skating 4 to 7 feet in front of your guy and trying to get him the puck is an adventure. These are passes I can make with ease in real life. But if you need to backhand a pass up the boards, or out of the zone, without transitioning your weight as you really would, then EA seems to think that this is amazingly easy to perform. Apparently all guys have wrist and forearms of the hulk.

The physics in 15 are pretty wonky, too. Pucks don't go out of play off of sticks, goalies, or anything like you would normally see when in the offensive zone. I have also seen pucks that are passed from the defensive end out of the zone hit the boards in the neutral zone and then take off with even more momentum. As if the boards pushed the puck forward with even more force than it came into the boards with. Then the puck outraces everyone for an icing because of this slingshot physics that apparently NASA gave EA?

Point is, this game is lacking a lot of things. And with how behind they were after taking a year off on next gen from releasing a game to putting out a half-finished product in NHL 15, EA is struggling just to get all of the modes and features that were in last generation's iterations. Everything that I have mentioned should have been started to be addressed by now with where this game was 5 years ago. Instead they spin their wheels and focus on HUT or other parts of the game that don't fix or address their legacy issues.

The fact that they keep "refining" the skating should be a red flag, not a selling point. They can't seem to grasp the one concept that is uniform throughout the sport. They can't model different strides or skating styles based on individual players, either. I am glad that they are trying to fix these issues, but at the same time we are stuck with antiquated goaltender animations, a lack of true contact and neutral zone play, and a face-off system that hasn't been touched in half of a decade. Not to mention, pages and pages of things that have been taken out of this series that we don't know if we will ever get back in.

[Splitter77]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

the skating animation at 43 sec by jackman is just pathetic

[kyussmanchu]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

I said it after the fiasco called NHL15 last year, I'll say it again.

The entire DEV team needs to be re-assigned to new projects (or fired. Sorry, but if you release piss-poor products year after year, you deserve it) and the NHL franchise should get shipped off to a whole new DEV team and get re-built from the ground up.
Take a year or two off and give the fans the game they have been asking for. It's not rocket science!

Sorry, but until this happens, we are going see the same game year after year. They have gotten complacent and lazy in regards to innovation and instead focus on useless features like goalie fights and Youpee!
I hate to be negative, but what real choice do I have?

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

You know how in hockey you often see players extend their arms to impede another player's momentum? There is nothing like that in this game.

Playing defense I always watch a puck carriers chest in a 1-1 situation. If he and I both have help I try and close the gap nearest the blue line and keep my stick on the ice. If he makes a move or a loose puck deke I match his body, all while staring at his chest because it won't lie or deceive me in which direction his body is going to go. Often they skate into me and I body up on them and ride them out of the play, usually off of the puck. Sometimes they try and drag the puck through me and I can get my feet moved fast enough to usually stop it, but even if I miss I have their body. As long as I don't impede them without the puck for more than a second nobody is calling interference because that is how you are taught to play defense.

None of that is replicated within this franchise's hockey experience.


The counter, as a puck carrier, is to sometimes chip it around your defender along the boards and sort of slingshot yourself by them as they backpedal. This is a controlled dump for a common zone entry in hockey.

This is also nowhere to be seen in the NHL.

In these pictures that DJ Neo has captured to show how bad the warping is and sticks going through the boards, is a perfect example of how defenders would extend an arm to shove a puck carrier or transition their weight. Knocking a puck carrier off balance opens them up for a poke check or stick lift, or even a stick pin down (which EA has no concept of).

Until they figure out a way to add these important subtleties to this series this game will just resemble something that is not true hockey. I can't even think of an analogy. Players that just bump into each other or completely crush each other with hits is not the way hockey is played. There is a method to contact. It is to establish space and momentum, not just to keep the puck away from the net.

Hockey is a game of angles and winning space to gain an angle is vital. In EA's hockey you skate straight up the boards and look for passing lanes towards the middle, every time.

Often the most simple of passes in real life are the hardest to make in this game, for some reason. Seeing a guy skating 4 to 7 feet in front of your guy and trying to get him the puck is an adventure. These are passes I can make with ease in real life. But if you need to backhand a pass up the boards, or out of the zone, without transitioning your weight as you really would, then EA seems to think that this is amazingly easy to perform. Apparently all guys have wrist and forearms of the hulk.

The physics in 15 are pretty wonky, too. Pucks don't go out of play off of sticks, goalies, or anything like you would normally see when in the offensive zone. I have also seen pucks that are passed from the defensive end out of the zone hit the boards in the neutral zone and then take off with even more momentum. As if the boards pushed the puck forward with even more force than it came into the boards with. Then the puck outraces everyone for an icing because of this slingshot physics that apparently NASA gave EA?

Point is, this game is lacking a lot of things. And with how behind they were after taking a year off on next gen from releasing a game to putting out a half-finished product in NHL 15, EA is struggling just to get all of the modes and features that were in last generation's iterations. Everything that I have mentioned should have been started to be addressed by now with where this game was 5 years ago. Instead they spin their wheels and focus on HUT or other parts of the game that don't fix or address their legacy issues.

The fact that they keep "refining" the skating should be a red flag, not a selling point. They can't seem to grasp the one concept that is uniform throughout the sport. They can't model different strides or skating styles based on individual players, either. I am glad that they are trying to fix these issues, but at the same time we are stuck with antiquated goaltender animations, a lack of true contact and neutral zone play, and a face-off system that hasn't been touched in half of a decade. Not to mention, pages and pages of things that have been taken out of this series that we don't know if we will ever get back in.

Angling guys into the boards, or away from the center of the ice would be huge. You can't do that at all in the NHL series. You get near enough, and you're either going to check, miss a check, or wind up with that little bump animation that leaves one of the two guys on a knee, with the other heading away with the puck.

Defense has gotten a needed offensive helping hand in the strafing, because honestly, the control of the puck at the blue line has been atrocious for a while not. Defenders needlessly pivot, often drawing the puck offsides as they pirouette for no good reason. But, defending itself is still frustrating. You're still stuck using only the poke check, and body check, and hoping that maybe you can block a shot. From the looks of things crowding passing lanes with your stick is still pretty much holding an arm out at full length and waving it around, without the ability to move it to a place it needs to be, and poke checking is still the equivalent of an arm-mounted pinball plunger, where you fire it out in a general direction and hope to get puck instead of skates, or air.

Defense needs an equivalent to the analog controls offered for the offensive deke, and they need it badly. Clearing the puck off of the boards is almost non-existent, but in real life, it's such a crucial thing. You can't easily fire it off of the glass or boards, with your best representation of it being to wind up for a slapper, and hope your defender faces up ice. Even then, you're likely to just completely ice the puck. Defense is entirely too two-dimensional.

[Simple Mathematics]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

The biggest problems with the game, which are still apparent in the video:

1. Lack of neutral zone pressure. This causes a lack of dump and chase or flicking the puck off the boards.
2. Lack of simple physicality, like rubbing a player into the boards, taking body positioning, net battles, board play, defensemen putting up their arm to impede a forward's progress, etc.
3. Lack of setting up in the offensive zone once you've gained it. This is especially apparent on special teams in years past. We did not see any special teams play in the video clip.
4. Lack of smart AI positioning on offense and defense.
5. Lack of proper goaltender fundamentals.

[Sheba2011]

Commentary still sounds like they are reading lines and like it is forced. Doesnt sound natural at all.

[actionhank]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

I said it after the fiasco called NHL15 last year, I'll say it again.

The entire DEV team needs to be re-assigned to new projects (or fired. Sorry, but if you release piss-poor products year after year, you deserve it) and the NHL franchise should get shipped off to a whole new DEV team and get re-built from the ground up.
Take a year or two off and give the fans the game they have been asking for. It's not rocket science!

Sorry, but until this happens, we are going see the same game year after year. They have gotten complacent and lazy in regards to innovation and instead focus on useless features like goalie fights and Youpee!
I hate to be negative, but what real choice do I have?

Honestly, I get the feeling it's more of an issue with the direction EA wants to take the series, not so much the development team. At the end of the day, they're given their directives, and they have to meet those. They may want to make all of the things work that we do, but without the approval and funding from up high, they likely won't get the time to do so.

HUT is making EA a killing, and it doesn't seem to be a surprise that that's where 80% of their focus seems to turn. Online balance and play has become a huge factor, because HUT has to work for them. Instead of getting 60 for an offline gamer, they get 60+ for HUT games, and money talks.

I just wish a different company would take a crack at an NHL game. Someone with The Show's dedication to gameplay and realism would be great, and there's honestly never been a better time to try and split the market.

[canucksss]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

Honestly, I get the feeling it's more of an issue with the direction EA wants to take the series, not so much the development team. At the end of the day, they're given their directives, and they have to meet those. They may want to make all of the things work that we do, but without the approval and funding from up high, they likely won't get the time to do so.

HUT is making EA a killing, and it doesn't seem to be a surprise that that's where 80% of their focus seems to turn. Online balance and play has become a huge factor, because HUT has to work for them. Instead of getting 60 for an offline gamer, they get 60+ for HUT games, and money talks.

I just wish a different company would take a crack at an NHL game. Someone with The Show's dedication to gameplay and realism would be great, and there's honestly never been a better time to try and split the market.

I believe the same thing, EA is doing great if they are heading to that direction. Unfortunately, I am more of an offline game (mainly BaGM). I love to play NHL game, but to pay for the full price of $60 with lack luster offline gameplay and team/player differentiation is insane. I would rather play the Eastside Hockey. Yea technically I am not the one skating and shooting the puck, but its management galore. Honestly, if EA does not want to improve in the mode I want, I'll just bring my money elsewhere.

I hope another team comes along and focus on the offline gaming and the mode I do care about before I hung up my skates (too old to play video games ).

[bigwill33]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

Yeah, and I think that we are still the minority here at OS. The average gamer doesn't care about, or probably even want, all of the realism and sim that we are crying for.

Once EA puts back in all the missing game modes there will be a good chuck of people that will be overjoyed or at least satisfied.

What we want is real change and that requires a ton of work. Without anyone to really push them to do it, whether it be EA as a company or the development team, then we will continue to see legacy issues and such.

My hope is that they at least try and tune this game to be more simulation style, but allow for sliders and settings to make it as arcade as some people might like it. That is seemingly what companies like SCEA are doing with games like MLB the Show. If you get a great core game that plays realistic then you can do so much more from there than if you keep rehashing this arcade stuff year-after-year.

I want another game to help push EA's hand. To keep things moving forward and to combat stagnation. But truth be told, I liked EA's NHL game way more than any 2k game. If you could combine them, or their best aspects, you would have a pretty damn good game. But the important thing about 2k making a game was that EA couldn't rest. They each pushed each other to innovate. And I really miss that. Cause this game play is essentially going to be NHL 12 for the 5th straight year now.

[DJ NEO]

Re: NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

I think Ea sports should just build/mimic real physics engine that drives gameplay, not script scenarios and force everything to match those scenarios.

Thats why these games looks so oldschool and shallow.
I want organic game, not repetetive.