NHL 15 Penalties: Are we seeing any in the demo?

[Mike Lowe]

I saw 1 penalty called in 2 periods of play. The periods are short, and penalties are defaulted one click below max on the demo.

Just stating what I've seen in a very small sample size. Is this good, bad? Hard for me to tell, so I was curious what others feel.

This is the only issue I see that stops me from getting this game. Why EA can't figure out that penalties, ESPECIALLY in a hockey game, are an important element of the games they represent, I can't see not just wasting the $60, but far more important, the investment of time in such a game.

The commentary is pretty bad too--very choppy. You can tell it's a first edition this year.

[SlyBelle]

Penalties are my number one concern, everything else I can live with. In the handful of games I have played, seen zero penalties. However with only two minute periods available and no ability to change sliders it is really hard to judge. But if recent history is followed with this version of the game, I suspect this area won't be improved much....hoping I am wrong since really want the game but can't enjoy it when not enough penalties called or distributed reasonably between CPU and player. Special teams are too important in hockey to be neglected like this.

[Mike Lowe]

This is my concern as well. I'm a designer myself, and I understand the QA process. It's complete negligence these issues exist in NHL, Madden, etc. Penalties are as much a part of hockey as micro-transactions are to the bottom line.

[SlyBelle]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

This is my concern as well. I'm a designer myself, and I understand the QA process. It's complete negligence these issues exist in NHL, Madden, etc. Penalties are as much a part of hockey as micro-transactions are to the bottom line.

Not sure why this continues to happen in NHL and Madden....I almost suspect they are purposely dumbed down since they think this is what the majority of players want for some reason. Its just way too obvious of an issue for them not to be aware and you don't have to be part of a QA team to notice. Anybody who plays the game should easily see the issue in most cases. I am OK for some players wanting less or no penalties..no issue there. But if they could simply make the penalty sliders work, everyone gets what they want. Put them lower for minimal/no penalties, but them in the middle for NHL average penalties, and put them up high if you want more than average. On the surface sounds so simple

[jake19ny]

This has been a complaint of mine for the past few years and a concern of mine going into this year. Its impossible to gauge with the demo. I have played about 10 games and only see one or two a game if that, however it is only 6 minutes total so 1 or even none in that time frame is not unrealistic. On an odd note I forgot to adjust the difficulty settings for one game and played it on default settings and had 3 power plays and the CPU had 2 not sure if that means anything. The problem is we know this has been a reoccurring issue so we have reason for concern. I was able to average about 3-4 per team in NHL 14 after much slider tweaking so hopefully I can do it again if its an issue. No season mode and no penalties will make it unplayable.

[Anoir]

I've had quite a few penalties playing the demo for some games.

CPU tripped me on a breakaway, few interference calls for both my team AI and CPU, same for boarding and even seen a few slashes that one got called for a 4min one :O. I played about 7-8 games total, seen about average of 2-3 penalties a game.

And yeah deff. seeing more AI penalties then NHL 14, there I rarely saw a penalty unless it was a random i'm-going-to-hit-you-for-no-reason-now AI penalty

[18 eighty 5]

I have played over 100 periods of the demo and barely see any penalties. I think I have been on the PP 5 times.

[LighttheLamp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

I saw 1 penalty called in 2 periods of play. The periods are short, and penalties are defaulted one click below max on the demo. Just stating what I've seen in a very small sample size. Is this good, bad? Hard for me to tell, so I was curious what others feel. This is the only issue I see that stops me from getting this game. Why EA can't figure out that penalties, ESPECIALLY in a hockey game, are an important element of the games they represent, I can't see not just wasting the $60, but far more important, the investment of time in such a game. The commentary is pretty bad too--very choppy. You can tell it's a first edition this year.

I have had multiple penalties in the demo so far. I have purposely committed penalties to make the period longer lol