NHL 10 Demo Available, Post Impressions Here (360 & PS3)

[Donovan]

Great reviews so far guys, I'm looking forward to the PS3 demo. And this from a guy who has NEVER played a demo before, ever. I always found them unsatisfying, but this sounds like its worth a look, especially if you can get a head start on your BAP and carry it over into the full game.

One question for you lucky 360 users, is the catch up AI at the end of the game gone?

[Money99]

Thanks Realm for answering my questions.
2K3? Really? That's awesome!

I won't be home until the 26th so all of these impressions will have to do for now.

Thanks again!

[Qb]

Quote: Originally Posted by DirtyJerz32

Can anyone answer the question about the broadcast camera? Is it the same as last years or did they actually make it a broadcast camera view?

I played on the broadcast camera exclusively offline and in 1v1 in 09. It is not a stationary panning camera in 10, however unless I'm mistaken, it seems that it is zoomed in a tad more in comparison to 09. You still get a good view of the ice, but it highlights the graphics/models a bit more. Maybe I'm losing it...

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I didn't get to spend a ton of time with the demo yesterday, so I won't offer much right now. I definitely like the feel of the game on hardcore. It really was a great idea to have game styles that have such a noticeable affect on gameplay. I played a bit on normal -- a little too fast for my liking, but it might be a little slower than 09 default and certainly more "organic". You can still pass pretty freely, but you'll have more success because the power is assisted. Maybe the guys who are really stuggling with full manual passing should try this out.

I didn't have as much trouble with manual passing as I thought I would (I'm not very good with it in FIFA), aside from situations where I really had to move the puck quickly. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. The one situation that gave me trouble was going to end-boards in my own zone on a dump-in. I was looking for the quick reverse pass to my D partner -- thankfully they seem more aware and in position for these -- but by the time my guy gathered the puck, I couldn't move it. I think this is a situation where you'd want to board-protect, but I had a hard time initiating it. I suppose that this will come with practice or maybe I was doing it wrong...

I played a few on Hardcore/Pro and the AI wasn't a total pushover, so I went to HC/AS. Wow, what a difference! Detroit was all over me, which is where the time it takes to power up a pass gets tricky. I think it will require an adjustment by all of us -- more chipping the puck into space and less looking for the perfect pass -- which is quite indicative of real hockey. If a team is pressuring the puck, players have to make quick safe plays, which really wasn't the case with 09. The combination of manual passing and higher difficulty without a doubt makes it much more difficult to move the puck up the ice. We'll see if that's the case after hundreds of hours of play, but at this point the difference between 09 & 10 in this regard is quite great.

The skating felt a bit better on the hardcore settings (SPD 1, ACC 2), but if I had my druthers, I'd like to see the ACC lowered to one for HC. It's at two for normal and I think making positioning and angles more important by reducing the still overly-quick/agile skating would play right into the HC idea. Of course, I couldn't put ACC @ 1, so it might not play out as I envision.

I can't get into player differentiation or goalies in any detail and I'm not going to talk about AI -- although I saw some encouraging things, definitely more movement/support -- due to my small sample size. I can say the goalie movement looks much better, but time will tell how well it holds up. I'm excited that we finally have some goalie sliders to adjust it to our liking. If I had to guess at this point, the goalies may need their reactions lowered just a bit.

Not a fan of the fighting, although I didn't get the hang of it and no one has much fun getting punched in the face. I'd really just like to see the NHL 2004 3rd-person fight engine make a return. One thing about it that really bugs me is how the winner of the fight does the dusting of the hands thing afterwards every time. Maybe it won't be that way in the full version, but I found it to be quite corny. Again, part of this may be that I was laying on the ice being taunted by my opponent...

Well, I said a lot more than I thought I would. Maybe the most definitive thing I can offer is that a bunch of us had a 6v6 league game last night after almost all of us were playing the demo. The overwhelming sentiment was one of disappointment that we were stuck playing 09. And considering how much fun we've had playing 09 over the past year, I guess that's saying something.

[tyler289]

The only thing I don't like is how you can start a fight with anyone. I fought Crosby with Datsyuk and beat the crap out of Orpik with Zetterberg. Come on!

[Vince]

Can we stop with the mentioning of 2k in this thread?

[RoyalBoyle78]

Honestly, from watching a video of the demo somebody posted in another thread, the game looks nearly unchanged, did they just tighten things up.

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by FootballForever

Honestly, from watching a video of the demo somebody posted in another thread, the game looks nearly unchanged, did they just tighten things up.

You have to feel the change. The look of the game is largely unchanged because it didn't really need change to begin with. I'm glad the devs went in and tweaked and tuned the way the game plays, on top of adding some key gameplay features like board play and the passing. I much prefer this over tweaking the visuals to another level when the game is already the best looking sports game out there.

But don't kid yourself, ALOT has been done to the game. For myself, playing on a surround sound system, the crowd is alive and cheers at the right times (for the most part), banging on the glass. The animations have been tweaked to another level where you can notice a difference between 1st and 4th liners. Board play is awesome, passing is awesome (even on Normal), the little things like grabbing a puck in mid-air or batting a puck away from in front of the net, all awesome.

It's almost impossible to convey these changes in a video but I did go back and play NHL 09 for a bit to see how different it is and believe me, beyond the engine itself, it's like a totally different game. You'll see what we're all talking about when you get a chance to play it.

[Qb]

Quote: Originally Posted by FootballForever

Honestly, from watching a video of the demo somebody posted in another thread, the game looks nearly unchanged, did they just tighten things up.

Visually, yes the game remains largely unchanged, aside from some new player and crowd animations. Graphics, presentation, and all that are about the same (although they did add some cool pre-game stuff during the loading screen).

But if you play the demo, you will notice a much different feel to the game, particularly if you change to "hardcore" settings. Even "normal" has a more organic feel to it and less assist in passing and checking than 09 (normal will be used for online modes). Add in how boardplay and more AI movement & pressure on the puck change the flow of the game, it plays noticeably different (and better).

In summary, looks different, maybe not, plays different, absolutely...


EDIT: Ha, looks like sroz types faster than I do...