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

[6194life]

So I've finally decided after scoring 1 goal in about 30 games(AS/HC) and failing to hit many easy passes, that normal is the better play until the actual game comes out and we can edit the sliders.

1)The CPU can go tic-tac-toe endlessly and on hardcore we cannot. Normal fixes that.

2)Even on normal, passes are not always tape to tape and I've seen my share of passes going wayward of the intended target.

3)Powerplays became playable and fun since they fixed one-timers. Normal passing gives me an opportunity to aim passes and connect on one-timers(definitely not every time)

[onlybygrace]

I agree...

I've gone to normal/pro because the goaltenders are more human...

but yes, normal all-star is where the game play on the ice is really the best, just need to tone the goalies down a bit.

[ipushmycar]

All-star/hardcore is my favorite, however the tic-tac passes need fixing. They launch lasers back and forth, and my guys pass like pee-wee players.

A good challenge though

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by 6194life

So I've finally decided after scoring 1 goal in about 30 games(AS/HC) and failing to hit many easy passes, that normal is the better play until the actual game comes out and we can edit the sliders. 1)The CPU can go tic-tac-toe endlessly and on hardcore we cannot. Normal fixes that. 2)Even on normal, passes are not always tape to tape and I've seen my share of passes going wayward of the intended target. 3)Powerplays became playable and fun since they fixed one-timers. Normal passing gives me an opportunity to aim passes and connect on one-timers(definitely not every time)

Agreed. I'm finding the best resulst for me are on PRO/NORMAL.

[Stormyhog]

Quote: Originally Posted by 6194life

So I've finally decided after scoring 1 goal in about 30 games(AS/HC) and failing to hit many easy passes, that normal is the better play until the actual game comes out and we can edit the sliders. 1)The CPU can go tic-tac-toe endlessly and on hardcore we cannot. Normal fixes that. 2)Even on normal, passes are not always tape to tape and I've seen my share of passes going wayward of the intended target. 3)Powerplays became playable and fun since they fixed one-timers. Normal passing gives me an opportunity to aim passes and connect on one-timers(definitely not every time)

Couldn't agree with you more as hc mode is too frustrating and are at a disadvantage against the cpu. Like you said on normal passes are not always accurate and you don't always rely on one-timers as their effectiveness are toned down.

[Vikes1]

I'm quite sure I'll be playing on Pro/Normal as well.

While I don't think Hardcore is too bad, but the having to charge up the passing speed, I just don't think is for me.

I agree about the goalies seemingly being more "Human" on Pro level. But I'd have to say...I think their a bit more human-like in NHL '10' as a whole. I believe the many added animations have helped to achieve more human-like goal tending this year.

[Qb]

Played a little more of the demo last night after taking a break for a few days. A few observations:

1. I'm not a fan of some of the awkward pass receiving animations (behind the back, one-handed, etc), most of which seem to be more frequently used by the CPU. I think the flow of the game would be much better served if these were incomplete passes. It's particularly unsettling to see one of these animations morph immediately into a shot attempt. Of course, decreasing pass accuracy may help with this, but we won't know until we can fiddle.

2. There isn't a separate human/CPU pass speed slider, so if we want to increase human pass speed for manual passing, we'll have to increase the CPU pass speed in turn. Maybe this is something Redshirt & Co could address with the server-side tuning set...

I think it's worth noting that it looks like we can play with hardcore assistance settings -- including zero pass assist -- while turning off manual passing (charging up power). It seems like a lot of people are writing off hardcore for normal due to the delay to power-up a pass. That's only a small part of the settings and it appears we'll be able to simply turn off manual pass power while keeping everything else with no assist if so desired.

I'd like to stick with full manual passing for the creativity and realism, but at this point I'm worried that it will give the CPU too much of an advantage. It will be interesting to see how we can modify the gameplay, particularly on the AI side of things, with the sliders.

3. One final point -- I'm not very good at this point and I'm looking forward to playing the likes of the Islanders, Thrashers, and Avalanche.

[jb12780]

Anyone else gettin this the first day it comes out??