NHL 11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[idrisguitar]

so you hold trigger for power of pass then?

bit annoyed didn;t communicate this very well, i played the demo for ages today without knowing that, thought the passing was off

any other new controls i should know about, that aren't in the demo tutorials.

and why wouldn;t ea give us an instant replay option. they have a new realtime physics system in the demo and they dont want to allow replays?

[plaidchuck]

Well I played a "Rookie/casual" game and put up 6 goals. Good to see considering the goalies were robo even on Rookie last year.. I always like to have a mode where I can just blow off some steam and destroy the game NHL94 style.

[Vince]

how do you touch pass

[plaidchuck]

Gaaah damn it!! I had a stacked team of Malkin, Getzlaff, Backstrom, Perry, Filppula, Kipper, Markov, and Lidstrom, and of course Kipper lets in a weak goal in OT.

[actionhank]

Noticed a neat little thing.
Hossa had i think a 5 point game.
And then after he scored his 3rd goal, he was skating around celebrating.
Then after the play stopped after the next faceoff, it flashed back to him skating around and showed "Marian Hossa's 100th Playoff Point".
Something that that effect.
Pretty nice to see that getting added.

[Redshirt_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by 06woz

Qb, while you're here, mind telling me how to do the new toe drag?

Not sure if anyone has responded to this yet, if so sorry for the duplication.

Hold the puck out on the forehand side using the right stick, press and hold LB(/L1) and roll the right stick around the bottom to the other side.

[jb1]

Spent the last few hours playing this and I have to say I really like it. NHL 09 and 10 were my favourite sports games of the last two years and it looks like NHL 11 will be my favourite again this year.

For me while it does look similar to NHL 10 it just feels much better to play, it's hard to describe but it just flows better. It's also nice that I can't just line up by the boards when the AI wingers attack and stop them easily, they have made me look silly on a number of occasions which I really liked.

I am also really liking the new physics coming into play, the hits look and feel great. It's nice that aswell as the monster hits you can just glance an opponent and they will stumble just enough to lose control. I also spent a game storming around with Chara to really test it out and that was fun!

The broken/dropped sticks work pretty well although I did give up a breakaway goal when Markov lost his stick and rather than still defending he just ran to the bench to give up a 2 on 1. To even that up I have also seen defensemen lose their sticks and stay in position to defend without a stick. The best complement I can probably pay the new broken/dropped sticks is that I don't really notice it that much, it's happening often enough but it's not a detriment to the flow of the game at all.

My very first goal was waved off before being overturned which while being great to see was a bit of a concern as I thought I may see it too often, however since then I have not seen another goal waved off in well over 20+ periods.

Nice to see the user celebrations although they clearly need some work to get upto the level of FIFA's user celebrations. Maybe it's just me but the players seem to move un-naturally when using most of the celebrations, either way thats only a minor gripe.

Had a good mess around with the Ultimate Team mode, when it was announced I wrote it off as not being for me but I have to say I enjoyed it. I have never bothered with FIFA's UT mode and while if the Be a GM mode is upto scratch I won't spend a huge amount of time on it i'll probably have a go at it every now and then and will enjoy doing so.

The only downside to playing the demo is realising I and other Europeans will have to wait an extra 10 days to get this game as you know this is a first day purchase for the third straight year.

[CS10029]

Quote: Originally Posted by jb1

Spent the last few hours playing this and I have to say I really like it. NHL 09 and 10 were my favourite sports games of the last two years and it looks like NHL 11 will be my favourite again this year. For me while it does look similar to NHL 10 it just feels much better to play, it's hard to describe but it just flows better. It's also nice that I can't just line up by the boards when the AI wingers attack and stop them easily, they have made me look silly on a number of occasions which I really liked. I am also really liking the new physics coming into play, the hits look and feel great. It's nice that aswell as the monster hits you can just glance an opponent and they will stumble just enough to lose control. I also spent a game storming around with Chara to really test it out and that was fun! The broken/dropped sticks work pretty well although I did give up a breakaway goal when Markov lost his stick and rather than still defending he just ran to the bench to give up a 2 on 1. To even that up I have also seen defensemen lose their sticks and stay in position to defend without a stick. The best complement I can probably pay the new broken/dropped sticks is that I don't really notice it that much, it's happening often enough but it's not a detriment to the flow of the game at all. My very first goal was waved off before being overturned which while being great to see was a bit of a concern as I thought I may see it too often, however since then I have not seen another goal waved off in well over 20+ periods. Nice to see the user celebrations although they clearly need some work to get upto the level of FIFA's user celebrations. Maybe it's just me but the players seem to move un-naturally when using most of the celebrations, either way thats only a minor gripe. Had a good mess around with the Ultimate Team mode, when it was announced I wrote it off as not being for me but I have to say I enjoyed it. I have never bothered with FIFA's UT mode and while if the Be a GM mode is upto scratch I won't spend a huge amount of time on it i'll probably have a go at it every now and then and will enjoy doing so. The only downside to playing the demo is realising I and other Europeans will have to wait an extra 10 days to get this game as you know this is a first day purchase for the third straight year.

Really nice post, summed up pretty much how I feel also.

I've probably played 50 periods at this point. I can't wait for this to come out. This is demo actually has some nice replay value to it too, your team ends up being different every time
you start Ultimate Team. I've only gotten Malkin once or twice.

EDIT- I just realized I hate when people, quote really big posts, to make really small posts. I just did that... Ha.