NHL 14: Thoughts on "Goalie & Incidental Contact" Blog - Wiggy's Blog

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NHL 14: Thoughts on "Goalie & Incidental Contact" Blog Stuck

Posted on August 16, 2013 at 02:30 PM.

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EA has released a final blog detailing the collisions, incidental contact and goalie interference changes for NHL 14. A lot of these items are just refinements of what was already in last year's game, and some of them are even revived features that were present in NHL 12. For the most part, these iterations will be welcome, but the default sliders will dictate the impact of some of the key changes.

Improved Goalie Collisions

Quote:


	Goalie Reactions to Contact � Goalies will be live in all areas of the ice and their reactions to contact are much more realistic, utilizing the improved ragdoll physics models introduced with NHL� Collision Physics.

The trailer accompanying the blog post shows some of the new animations when goalies get hit, and there seems to be a lot more variety in how goalies fall backwards, forwards and to the side, creating more realistic crease-crashing and possible interference situations. Honestly, a lot of this is just bringing back what was in the NHL 12 game, but now there is the added emphasis of "collision physics." Goalies will get steamrolled when outside the crease, and players will actually drive into the net and take the goalie with them.

While this kind of variable does introduce some randomness and annoyance from time to time, it also creates more dynamism and unpredictability. I'll take the added realism over the odd annoying hitch.

Quote:


	Goalie Interference � Improved logic ensures that big collisions with the goalie will result in penalty calls. Additionally, goals that come as a result of goalie interference will be called back more consistently.

The blog and trailer also emphasize that goalie interference calls will be made correctly, even with some crazy collision physics on the goalies now. Two examples are shown in the trailer, with one resulting in a penalty when the goalie is shoved pretty dramatically. The other example is a good goal when a player's momentum brushes the goalie and pulls him out. The puck was already travelling into the net, so this slight contact is deemed acceptable.

The goalie interference was always kind of rigid before, so it would be nice if there were situations where light brushes or incidental contact was allowed, but it's always hard to fine-tune something like this so that it eliminates all problem spots.

More Realistic Incidental Contact

Quote:


	Speed and Momentum Matter � Not only will incidental contact occur more frequently, but speed and momentum will determine whether players colliding incidentally will trip and stumble or remain in control. Player balance attributes will also play a significant role in the outcome.

There are some cool examples here for incidental contact, including the dive move fully tripping a player over and a chain-reaction hit where a skater being driven to the ice impedes some other players. The physics look good here, with everything seeming a lot more lively and dynamic. The claim is that player speed and momentum, as well the balance attribute, will dictate how a skater contacted incidentally will react. Some of these moments will create stumbles or wobbles, whereas others will knock the player over completely.

The only issue I have with this is that in NHL 13 there are plenty of situations where another human player (in EASHL, for instance) will just skate into you to cause a bump but not get an interference call. With hitting now just on the left stick, I hope this mitigates some of this cheeky interference stuff that isn't called, but I do have some doubts.

Penalty Calls

Quote:


	Interference � Expect stricter calls. Defenders won�t be able to hit attacking players as late after they release the puck.

This is definitely a step in the right direction. As I said above, I hope some of the "unintentional" interference gets called more, as it was a big problem last year, but the obvious interference needs to be called all the time. It was frustrating to have people roving around the ice hitting in certain areas that they knew wouldn't bait a penalty call. EA never seems to enjoy really enforcing these rules in gameplay because it seems that users complain about it being "not fun," but this stuff needs to be reigned in.

Quote:


	Boarding/Hitting from Behind � Enhanced penalty logic judges the appropriate circumstances of a hit (angle, speed and result of the hit) and ensures the right call is made in each situation.

In principle, this is a good change. The new physics system will definitely have an impact on the speed and angle of many hits along the boards, and penalties should really only be called on obvious charges and clear hits from behind. It certainly was frustrating last year to be blasted when facing the boards and see a player sneak away with the puck, so some consistency with the hit physics, speed and penalties should be a help in this type of situation.

Quote:


	Charging � Additional logic has been added to understand the variables of each hit, such as the hitter�s speed and line taken.

Charging is always a murky penalty, especially when human input is factored in. I think the only way to truly call it effectively is to judge the intent of a user's input. If they are coming from point A on the ice all the way over to point B on the other side, and they do so with full speed and the intent to hit, that should be a penalty. CPU penalties for this would probably have to be a bit more snug, as they don't come screeching across the ice like a human would, but there's probably an acceptable distance and angle to make these penalties work. Referencing the "line taken" will probably be a lot more doable this year, as the physics on the skating and hitting, when I played at E3, allowed for a lot more pivot and control, so a user's intent will be much clearer.

Final Thoughts

I'm glad to see goalies become live again, even though it will probably have to be tinkered with in order to achieve some level of balance. The increase in interference calls is definitely welcome since it is a problem that has gotten away from EA in the last couple of years. I know they always want people to have fun, but hitting can still happen with proper interference enforcement. The incidental stuff also looks good, so long as there is some interference logic built in for people who "accidentally" drift into you in the middle of the ice.

We'll be able to try NHL 14 shortly, as the demo comes out on August 20 (Tuesday). It'll be interesting to see how users react to the new collisions and fights.

Comments

# 1 Bryzine21 @ Aug 16

I am really pumped about NHL this year. It seems they have addressed all the problems I had with '13. I DON'T really play online though.

# 2 Simple Mathematics @ Aug 16

Great write up, as usual Wiggy. Hopefully all these little gameplay improvements make the game very enjoyable. The Revamped Rosters for NHL 14 are coming along nicely, so I'm getting excited.

# 3 WildVikingFox @ Aug 17

Great write-up dude. Sounds like EA is really fixing up the problem areas of the last few games in this one. Not gonna lie though, I'll miss the free Goals I got from time to time when one of my CPU players glided into the Goalie after I shot the puck haha