NHL 15: Early Impressions from 360/PS3 Version

[Yundtder]

So what the hell, I bought it today for 360.

Have played 3/4 of a BEAGM season so far.

-I find the game slower than 14 even on High Impact and full speed sliders, not happy with that as I like a faster game, but I can adjust.
-Happy that the puck physics so far are actually a big improvement.
-Goalies still suck on angles and weak goals. Hell the first shot against me, my goalie blocker-ed it up and fell behind him and in the net, ala Luongo last year... I nearly shut the game off right there LOL.
-Interference is still not CALLED, but so far the CPU doesnt blatantly take advantage of that
-Other penalties are there, Goalie Interference is different but still rediculous, Ive been called for running the goalie without a goal scored finally atleast, but ive knocked their goalie clean out, mask off, and no call... Unless EA is actually going for Blind Ref ratio physics, then they nailed it!
-They have made First Round picks EXTREMELY HIGH in value, I do like that, but damn, they could be a tad over valued right off the bat, but I do like it.
-In counter, they have made general prospects actually worth some value instead of only the 4.5-5 stars being the only ones worth a fair value. I can actually do some packages with prospects I dont need for some decent return.
-Goalies are actually stopping the pucks behind the net on wrap arounds! Amazing!
-Poke check and stick sweep is working more effective
-Terrible music choices...
-Did they lock Doc Emrick in a room and beat him before he recorded his comentary? I mean wow, he reminds me of that multiverse episode of Family Guy with the two heads, one happy, the other depressed... Well hes the depressed head 100% of the time. Where are the trademark HE SCOREEES, where is the Emotion? I score to win a game with 9 seconds left and all he goes is, its a goal in a weak, boring voice, and that was that...


Ill post up more as I play, so far those are my notes.

[Yundtder]

Quote: Originally Posted by jyoung

The CPU's defensive pressure feels the same. The CPU's offense seems to dump the puck in a lot more this year, but they tend to dump it at bad times when no one is rushing in to retrieve, so it's made the CPU offense even less effective than it used to be.

Agreed, they are still easy, but with some slider adjustments, its not too bad, doesnt feel like a NHL vs Pond Hockey game.

[Roscosuper]

Here's a highlight video of a "play-now" game. Settings are 7 minute periods Superstar/Hardcore with post-whistle rules set to authentic.





The game is different than '14 as the skaters have a quicker first step and therefore the game's tempos appears to be faster. I think the game is the same speed as '14, but things get going faster so it's very much a back-and-forth style of game.


Last year I could play 10 minute periods with proper stats as far as goals, shots, and hits were concerned. This year 7 or 8 minute periods maybe optimal for goals and shots, but it will leave hits too low.

[jromano99]

I’ve been a fan of the series since NHL11.I believe this is the best (primarily as a result of all the “tweets” from editions up until now)The current “tweets” have just added to the game.1) The new commenter’s, Doc and Eddie, provide a fresh sound to the game.I’ve been playing with the commenter’s turned off for the past two editions.They even add some history to the game, i.e. “Duncan Keith and Ryan Miller played together in college.2) The crazy puck bouncing is gone, adding more realism to the game play.3) The slot area is more accessible passing.4) Running into the goalie now causes a penalty and at time may result in a roughing penalty against each team. Penalties now seem more frequent. 5) Board play seems more involved and detailed.6) Goalies have new animations and the pads have been upgraded (at least to last year’s) 7) you can now collide with a player on your own team.While the layout and menu are still the same as last year the over all game has a much better feel to it.Worth the purchase !!!

[TheOmega]

I didn't see a bug/glitch thread for this game yet, so I figured I'd bring it up here. Other than the game automatically defaulting my period length to 5 minutes, no matter how many times I set it and save it to 10 (this was apparently a glitch in last year's game too), I apparently don't have goal horns in the 360 version. I have the horns set on max volume. At first I tried two games with the Islanders, but I never noticed the goal horn going off, only the end of game siren. Next I tried with the Lightning, who have a very loud horn, and once again goals only result in some fan cheering, no horn at all.

I haven't seen this problem mentioned anywhere else, so what do you have your volume settings on? Do you lower your crowd noise? All of my settings are on max, accept for menu music volume.

[voodoo_magic]

I like that the computer doesn't pass it back and forth for 30 seconds at the redline before deciding to attack, flow is much better.

Puck physics and tipped passes etc is good, looser game.
In the few games I've played hardly any short side snipes, nothing like last year for sure.

Goalies movement is much better, more push side to side and steering shots to corner.

Have only had a few weird goals, I'd say about 1/4 of what I would have had last year in the same amount of games.

Like everyone else extremely disappointed in EA's pathetic effort on the next gen but I'm going to give them credit for some nice tweaks on the ps3 version.

[CanuckJ]

I like NHL 15, I'm really disapointed they have coins instead of pucks now in HUT, pucks made perfect sense in a hockey game as a currency and turning it to coins is just stupid. Also their is no point in collecting a full team anymore and you only get stupid reward packs instead of pucks like last year and in my experience the packs rarely contain something worthwhile.

I'm only playing play now for the time being and I'm 1 - 3 with the canucks, but they have been good games really back and forth and love the fact the stupid dump in physics are gone.

overall I like it but since its still just a copy paste job I'm really glad I paid less for it

[kornsined]

I wish the game was half price. The minor tweaks would make it more enjoyable then NHL 14 but not for $70. I really wish next gen had season mode. That's all I ever play.