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

[metallidevils]

The only difference between sports games from year to year anymore is that they get harder. The gameplay has felt essentially the same since they introduced the skill stick. Madden is similar this year, and I honestly have no idea how MLB the Show 09 is different from 08, except Mr. Met is dancing on top of the dugout this year. Game developers are getting awfully lazy. I'm a programmer, and it's sure a lot less work to make little tweaks here and there to existing code, than to write something new...

[mkharsh33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flyermania

I've spent some time with the demo, and to be honest there are some things that I had hoped would have changed since the build I played. It is disappointing that you can drop the gloves as any player...I like the new fighting engine a lot, but players like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, etc just should not drop 'em. Each player's fighting attribute (never, sometimes, often, etc) should factor into things. It reminds me of the "Intense Contact Controls" that 2k5 had --- every player would end up fighting regardless of who it is. Having board pinning & starting a fight mapped to the same button is not a good idea. CPU passing is still way too tape to tape for my liking...hopefully sliders can tone it down some in the final product. Overall I like it, but there is still room for improvement.

nice post...i agree. i had seen a blog (youtube) where i kept hearing this idea of more uniqueness amongst the players, and how their attributes and player type (ie. enforcer, sniper, playmaker, etc.) would stand out more. sorry, but unless i'm missing something i'm just not seeing it. i hope they look into this a bit more before the release.

when i play madden i see a big difference between good quarterbacks and bad ones, and each position...it's even noticeable between offensive linemen. however, when i play hockey, i find it hard to see the difference. and what bothers me is that the CPU is doing this tape-to-tape stuff even with their 4th line - and that really bothers me. i feel that EA is selling us a bunch of garbage. it should NOT take slider adjustments to create this.

i'm liking a number of things about the demo, but it comes back to player attributes and i want to see something better with the release than what i'm seeing here. i hope the dev's take note of this...

[ether]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flyermania

Having board pinning & starting a fight mapped to the same button is not a good idea.

I agree, I think they need to make use of the controller a bit more here and give fighting it's own button. There's a select button there that isn't being used for anything, make that a start fight button and make the triangle 'board play' when your close to the boards and 'tie up' when you're in front of the net, something like that.

For me, I don't care for the fighting and will likely just turn it off once the game is out. Won't ruin my experience any and if I think I need a boost at some point or I'm getting blown out I can go in the menus and turn it on.

I think sliders will fix a lot of other issues some are having but you see some people writing the game off at this point and I think that's premature because your not seeing even close to the full impact the game will have.

[rangersfan30]

I made this post on HFBoards earlier today about my experiences with the demo last night

This is how i feel, Having to charge up passes to me is ******** so that has ruled out hardcore mode, i have been playing on normal where the passes aren't 100% accurate but feels more realistic but the computer AI is still tape to tape which i hope can be addressed with sliders. What i will say is the boardplay really makes the game more enjoyable and does give the game a more sim feeling.

I played 5 BAP games and was drafted 15th, 1st, 5th, 1st, then 15th, The AI teammates are a big improvement on last year even if they do still try to give you the puck right back if you get to close to them. I played as a LW Power Forward which is a lot more fun especially with the boardplay.

In the Battle for the Cup mode i am glad to see that the boardplay has made playing Defense alot better because one of my gripes about 09 was that when i would go into the corners in a race for the puck even if i got there first most of the time the AI would miraculously come out with the puck and go straight to the net and score but at least now i can hold the puck against the boards and wait for support from my teammates.

I have also seen a good amount of variation in the goals scored which is a good sign and the Goalies are also a big improvement over 09's. The puck physics are definitely an improvement but they could still be better and are still a shadow of 2K's. All in all NHL 10 is better than 09 and with the sliders for both human and cpu the game will most likely be able to be tweaked to a "sim" standard for players who like to play that way.

So, I have been playing the demo for the past few hours on superstar hardcore and i have noticed that on superstar the cpu can still knock the user off the puck far more easier than the other way around, also the cpu still seems to zip the puck around with ease tape to tape just as bad as in 09. It concerns me that even with human and cpu sliders i think you might still see the cpu being able to do things with the puck the user cant.

I cant deny either that i am struggling with the passing on hardcore simply because the passing delay, i find that when passing to my players they seem to stop rather than take passes in their stride which slows the play down and any openings that were there disappear.

One last comment i'd like to make is the presentation, Its that the game feels a bit stale to me and doesnt really have the freshness of a new title. I still feel its better than 09 even with the shortcomings.

[shakeable]

So downloaded the demo last night. Looks like i will be playing it allot this winter.

Things that bug me though are the hardcore passing. It doesn't seem to affect the CPU who can ping around passes way more accurate then me and with full power all the time. I can't even load up passes as fast as the CPU does it. Would just be nice if i was on an even playing field with the CPU in terms of accuracy and power.

The time it takes to load up passes is way to long. I can load up passes before i get the puck, but at times in the offensive you just don't have the time to take that extra second to power up the pass to the guy in the slot (even though i probably only have about 20% chance of connecting the pass with my awful aiming :P ).

The minimum power pass seems to be of no use what so ever. It takes ages to get to its destination and it breaks up any momentum you have.

Still playing hardcore was way more rewarding and fun. Banking passes of the boards, doing cross ice saucer passes etc. really opens up the game.


Another thing is the fighting. I thought it could be a fun little mini game when reading the previews but that was thrown out the door. First i have to admit i suck at it, but it isn't that much fun trying to figure out where to send the right stick. Usually i push too wide and don't even try to land a punch.


Even with the flaws the gameplay is really nice. Love how teammates try to get open, go in front of the net, board play really adds a dimension and passing. Just need another 30 games or so, so i can connect with more passes especially in the offensive zone.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Just finished the demo, and it has changed a bit in the gamplay department which is great, but it just feels like the same game I have been playing the last two years, not that it's a bad thing at all of course, but it just felt a little stale.

[Flyermania]

Quote: Originally Posted by speels

I am just downloading the game---going on 4 hours, but I have a question for you FM. If they tone down the tape to tape passes, are you not afraid that the randomness of bad passes may affect the gameplay experience.

I don't mind the randomness of my passes...I think Precision Passing is a great addition and once mastered can be an asset offensively. My issue is the CPU still completes their passing at an 85-90% success rate --- way too high. NHL 2004 was the best I have seen as far as pass accuracy goes...the controls were iffy in that game, but both sides averaged in the 70% range in passing.

I hope the CPU pass accuracy slider has a meaningful impact on the results. Or maybe the attribute effect slider will help as well.

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by FootballForever

Just finished the demo, and it has changed a bit in the gamplay department which is great, but it just feels like the same game I have been playing the last two years, not that it's a bad thing at all of course, but it just felt a little stale.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, imo. Look at how long it's been since they have been able to make a Madden worth buying...all because they changed the engine for no apparent reason whatsoever. I still play Madden 08 on my Xbox and I think "why abandon this? Tweak it, but don't do a 180".

I feel if they went to drastic with some changes to this superb engine, it'd be a case of one step forward, two steps back. At this point, I don't want overhauls, just minor to major tweaks. Things like board play and such.

I think about this alot when I hear the skating engine needs work. IMHO, it only needs tweaking. I use the NBA 2K series as a perfect example where "sliding" was a problem in years past. Well, NBA 2K9 was frustrating and at times unplayable because they wanted to make every step count, so to speak. And the Draft Combine is a further evolution of that thinking, where there are times the game just flat out doesn't respond to what I'm asking it to do.

I don't want this in NHL. Video games in general still need to feel a little bit "slippery" because these consoles are nowhere near powerful enough to convey the almost infinite movements the human body can make. Until that day, give me control like this game has, where everything I do happens, is conveyed in a mostly-realistic feel and allows the engine to select the best animation to convey that movement. It's not perfect, but give me the feel first, look second.