NHL 14 Gameplay Video - '94 Anniversary Mode

[Steve_OS]

GameSpot has posted an NHL 14 gameplay video showing off the '94 Anniversary Mode, which was announced last week. The video is just over 35 minutes with Tom McShea and Producer of NHL 14, Sean Ramjagsingh.

[Peter10]

So what they basically did was taking the normal game, adding blue ice, increase the speed and turn off icing and penalties and called it NHL 94?

[GrandMaster B]

They made no dekes and a bunch of bad passes. Does Ramjagsingh know how to play his own game?

[Al_Tito13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter10

So what they basically did was taking the normal game, adding blue ice, increase the speed and turn off icing and penalties and called it NHL 94?

I have to agree with you. I was hoping for NHL 94 gameplay with updated rosters. What we get is NHL 14 on blue ice, with minor arcade tweaks and few sound effects. I don't think I will play this mode for more than 1 game, as it seems quite pointless.

[xman2k]

This should be DLC or an XBLA arcade game, its too bad no online play either, bad move

[bigwill33]

This is truly pathetic to me. Right off of the bat here are the things I have noticed:

-Menus are exactly the same

-Loading screen and presentation are exactly the same

-Even after one game they were buttoning through the intros

-Sticks still go through sticks and Rammer even said they don't like how it played when they fixed it. So, no true collision detection.

-Exactly the same presentation for the 3rd+ year in a row when it comes to the game intro graphics and music. This wasn't good in the first place

-Exactly the same intros as the players take the ice. Same brick locker room that leads no where, same emotionless jump on to the ice. Same overlays and stat packages. Same commentary. Same wipes.

Then we jump into the game play. Which I know it will be hard to critique because it was not the same game mode as what will be normally played, but it was not that far from what you will get.

-Goalies still move and behave just about the same exact way as what we know.

-Rammer said there will be "ways to score" meaning glitch shots are still money

-no group celebrations on goals

And don't tell me that they are still working on things, this game is nearly finished at this point. All this mode does is sell games to causal fans and people who don't have the patience or understanding of the actual sport. If that is for you then kudos to you, but to the sim gamer or person who wants to play EASHL or Online Franchise mode this game is looking to be awful again. All that work that was done under David Littman has been erased. These boards probably have never known a bigger hockey fan and a more knowledgeable hockey persona, but for the first time on this generation of consoles I am considering not picking up an NHL game.

[believeinnow]

Quote: Originally Posted by GrandMaster B

They made no dekes and a bunch of bad passes. Does Ramjagsingh know how to play his own game?

Try playing well when you're talking to someone else...you never play well. You can tell that they are both paying more attention to talking to each other than playing that the performance fails. What really bothers me is that this was a pretty boring 35 minutes worth of footage. They really should have cut it up.

[believeinnow]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

This is truly pathetic to me. Right off of the bat here are the things I have noticed: -Menus are exactly the same -Loading screen and presentation are exactly the same -Even after one game they were buttoning through the intros -Sticks still go through sticks and Rammer even said they don't like how it played when they fixed it. So, no true collision detection. -Exactly the same presentation for the 3rd+ year in a row when it comes to the game intro graphics and music. This wasn't good in the first place -Exactly the same intros as the players take the ice. Same brick locker room that leads no where, same emotionless jump on to the ice. Same overlays and stat packages. Same commentary. Same wipes. Then we jump into the game play. Which I know it will be hard to critique because it was not the same game mode as what will be normally played, but it was not that far from what you will get. -Goalies still move and behave just about the same exact way as what we know. -Rammer said there will be "ways to score" meaning glitch shots are still money -no group celebrations on goals And don't tell me that they are still working on things, this game is nearly finished at this point. All this mode does is sell games to causal fans and people who don't have the patience or understanding of the actual sport. If that is for you then kudos to you, but to the sim gamer or person who wants to play EASHL or Online Franchise mode this game is looking to be awful again. All that work that was done under David Littman has been erased. These boards probably have never known a bigger hockey fan and a more knowledgeable hockey persona, but for the first time on this generation of consoles I am considering not picking up an NHL game.

You make some valid points. It is still a preview build and who know which build they're playing. I do agree that the presentation could have used a change but with this being the "last" of this generation, I doubt they were planning on doing something new for a fading generation (yes, I know this is a bad excuse). But, in my eyes, presentation doesn't sell me on a hockey game, it's performance on the ice.

But, David Littman is still part of the NHL team, he was involved with the first NHL 14 preview stuff they did when OS guys visited EA earlier this year.