NHL 11: A Game Harder Than Its Hardcore Fans (Kotaku)

[Steve_OS]

Kotaku's Owen Good has posted an entertaining NHL 11 read. Is the game harder than its hardcore fans?

Quote:

"A friend visiting me recently is a lifelong NHL fan with season tickets to the San Jose Sharks. He doesn't play video games, but he was intrigued when he saw NHL 11 on my desk, a couple days before release. "Oh, wow, you got this?" he said. "What's that like? Can I play it?" "Sure," I said, opening the case and handing him the manual. "There are the controls." The 17-page manual devotes four pages to the controls. After three minutes Scott uttered two words that communicated he'd given up on the idea. "Don't feel bad," I said. "I barely know how to play it either."

[TripleCrown9]

Excellent read. Very valid points.
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1.03.01

[cepwin]

Interesting read indeed! Tnx for sharing! I'm not sure if I'd call them inaccessible but you definitely have to put time in and get some understanding of the game in order to succeed. NHL 11 is definitely *not* pick up and play. Thinking of a game like FIFA it can get even more complex than NHL due to various types of passes (and knowing when to use them) and learning all the "tricks" that real Soccer players use in order to get past their opponents to create chances. Madden added gameflow as it is even more complex with numerous sites dedicated to strategy...and if you don't understand playbooks and game planning you're at a disadvantage.
A related genre that has these same issues is Racing sims. I am trying to master this genre and Ive read books and watched videos on real racing to try to learn the necessary things...again *not* pick up and play.
All this being said, I'll admit I personally like the sports sim game and race sim genre's precisely *because* of the challenge.

[bigsmallwood]

Nice write up! Sometimes, games can be too complex...

[Dazraz]

Really good read. Thanks.

I think when gamers play a sports videogame what they are ultimately hoping to have is a recreation of the real sport. This means that individual players within a game play within their real life limitations. After all, no matter how good you are with your stick skills in a game, you shouldn't be able to pull off moves that a playing would not pull off in real life. EA have created Personality+ on their FIFA game this year to address this.

As for the difficulty of playing games I think that developers need to cater for both markets. Their are extremely talented gamers out there who have amazing skills with controllers who can carry out complex moves with annoying consistency. However maybe games could have an option whereby a single button on the controller is used to carry out any skill moves with the AI determining what move that may be based on the situation & the skill sets of the players involved.

[bruinsftw2k]

I never use 50% of the controls. One of my friends won't play unless I let him use the 94 controls but I think using those puts you at a disadvantage because you cannot use board play but I think the computer still does.

[sharks]

Honestly I think the controls are intuitive enough that if someone took the time, they could learn them.

I actually want the level of control to be more complex. I don't feel it's deep enough especially on defense.

[ramenite]

Quote: Originally Posted by cepwin

A related genre that has these same issues is Racing sims. I am trying to master this genre and Ive read books and watched videos on real racing to try to learn the necessary things...again *not* pick up and play.

Off topic from NHL:

From a sim racer, there's one book you have to read. "Going Faster. Mastering the Art of Race Driving". It also takes A LOT of practice to be quick. Ignore things like setup, and just practice race lines, etc.