NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

This demo is not doing the game justice, as it's far too short to get the ebb and flow of a hockey game in a 5min period going and without anything all that new (many minor enhancements, no one BIG addition) it's going to take playing game after game to really fall in love with NHL 12.

I think I get what ya mean, Sroz.

With a more refined/polished retail version, and our personal settings dialed in...it should make a nice difference.

The demo isn't exactly knocking my socks off. But I'm very sure NHL will dominate my sports gaming time again this year. 9/13 can't come soon enough!

[Steven547]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Maybe they should just ship the game and not support it at all. There really is no pleasing some of you guys.

They should test the game THEY created before they ship it then. I understand supporting a game, but when the same issues pop up each year, makes you wonder what EA was thinking...or maybe not thinking.

In the DEMO, I still had the goalie pass the puck to the opposing player, still do the "swat a fly" animation way too much, and dump the puck in the wrong areas. Support should have been there for these issues in last years version and the years before.

[Araxen]

97 Goalie rating for the Canucks? I see the roster support is going to be just as terrible as last season. I wish whatever money they spent on the "legends" they would have saved it and spent it on other parts of the game.

[zjl0821]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

I feel the same way, I was up til 3am this morning just saying over and over one more period, one more period. I love the puck physics and AI improvements, that my CPU team mates now actively get in passing lanes and the contact in the front of the net make point shots deadly. The game feels like hockey to me. Less scripted, any shot can go in and I don't feel as though it's just a rehash by any means. Obviously peoples MMV but if the sim engine works out like they say it will, I'll be very happy with this year's game offline. I actually really also like the hitting as well. if you catch a guy mid shot or pass, he's going to go down more than likely. Or really line him up on the boards and crush him, at times your skater dropping to a knee or stumbling from momentum. There's alot of subtle things that really improve the game for me, the bench reactions to what's going on. Lively puck bounces off the boards that come back out in front. That dump and chase is viable now that the puck has very little magnetism. Maybe I'm easier to please with this series due to that I've enjoyed it every year since 07, but for people to say this is 09.3 or what not, and doesn't play a much better game on the ice, well I'm sorry I just don't agree.

Couldn't agree with you more man. Well said

[Money99]

Just played a few more games and the gameplay has definitely improved.
I saw so many more loose pucks, incidental contact and mistakes from both me AND the CPU!
Not only that, but I'm seeing some differences between some of the players.
Kesler was an absolute defensive beast. He was all over the ice, backchecking and hounding the puck carrier. I never saw this from H.Sedin.
Malhaltra was also noticeable as a defender.

The better offensive players complete passes and convert big chances, while the lesser players are making more mistakes.

Another thing I noticed is how much smarter your CPU teammates seem to be.
On one play I carried the puck into the corner with Savard and Marchand went to the high slot. It seemed liked in years past your teammates would simply follow you or hang out by the boards.

One last thing, on Allstar no berzerker mode seen so far.

I hope my eyes aren't deceiving me, but so far me likey a lot.

I just wish the presentation didn't look so similar to what we've experienced over the past 5 years. I can see why some people think it's the 'same game'. But from what I've seen from the demo, the gameplay is certainly not.
The demo feels a lot more organic and greasy than past versions.

[Josam27o7]

This game would have been a BUY for me if they had spent some time improving BE A GM. As it stands, I would probaby get bored quickly with this game because of the neglect of BE A GM mode.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Josam27o7

This game would have been a BUY for me if they had spent some time improving BE A GM. As it stands, I would probaby get bored quickly with this game because of the neglect of BE A GM mode.

No doubt about it, this is the No. 1 thing holding me back. Of course the presentation/commentary issues I've talked about before tie into BAG, but other things like customizable season lengths (NBA 2K, MLB 2K and MLB The Show have the option) and CPU teams all pretty much playing the same styles would make it hard for me to invest in BAG again, as it would feel too similar to what I played in NHL 10-11.

I know people will read my posts and think I'm harping on the same thing over and over. I really don't mean to sound negative. I've been a big supporter of EA's hockey series since the very beginning and I want nothing more than for EA to offer up the COMPLETE hockey package to its fans.

As it stands now, the offline gamer is being frozen out of the game to an extent by EA not changing up the commentary in over 4 years and keeping the presentation very similar year-to-year. I could deal with that if the CPU teams had unique styles of play (similar to NCAA, although obviously in hockey there aren't that many different schemes out there), but with the CPU Sabres feeling the same, competition-wise, as the CPU-Red Wings, it does make it hard to play through a season, or even multiple seasons.

The gameplay in NHL is still a lot of fun. I have no doubts that I will enjoy myself when I play the game. I still find it rewarding when I score a goal using the shot stick, or when I pull off a nice deke move (I'm very limited in this regard), or when I see that sliders do have an effect on the game and I can make shot accuracy lower and pass accuracy lower to try and reflect what we see on TV or live in person. If we could get the CPU to play tougher in regards to letting the user skate into the offensive zone, then I would have little to complain about with the gameplay. I like that I can play a game in 35-40 minutes and get realistic stats.

I should just stop myself as I'm rambling now a bit. I just wanted to clarify my stance on the state of the NHL series and why I want to see certain things improved moving forward.

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by Steven547

They should test the game THEY created before they ship it then. I understand supporting a game, but when the same issues pop up each year, makes you wonder what EA was thinking...or maybe not thinking. In the DEMO, I still had the goalie pass the puck to the opposing player, still do the "swat a fly" animation way too much, and dump the puck in the wrong areas. Support should have been there for these issues in last years version and the years before.

Really? That's interesting, since I have played hours of the demo and haven't seen any of those happen once. Hell the inside outside deke barely works anymore either. Granted this is on SS. So could be different on the lower levels.

Realistically they could test for months and still not find exploits that millions of players will within days because that's what people who play online do. Exploit anyway they possibly can.

Eh whatever, personally like I said, the gameplay even in it's demo form to me is pretty awesome so I'll enjoy it this year. That being said presentation needs to be blown out completely next year or no sale.