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

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

Wow that is a lot of impression Stro. I agree this is a really good and fun game. I love the Ice and the skating is really smooth. Just think this is the first year of a three year plan with real physics too.

Yes, I have no life.

"I don't always post, but when I do, I prefer super-long ones. I am the most boring poster in the world.

Stay mind-numbed, my friends"

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

Yes, I have no life. "I don't always post, but when I do, I prefer super-long ones. I am the most boring poster in the world. Stay mind-numbed, my friends"

No I am just giving you a bad time. I have always loved reading your novels on here. You have a lot of great insights, so thanks again for your impressions. The game is really fun to play too. And it does have that organic feel too it. I love the goalies reactions this year.

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

No I am just giving you a bad time. I have always loved writing your novels on here. You have a lot of great insights, so thanks again for your impressions. The game is really fun to play too. And it does have that organic feel too it. I love the goalies reactions this year.

IIRC Scotty, you were mainly a 2K guy but enjoyed BAP with the NHL series, correct? How are you enjoying the demo in comparison to 2K10? And even the staple of the 2K series, 2K8?

I do NOT intend to start a flame war with my question, guys. Simply curious how Scott feels about the dark side

[Redshirt_EA]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

Other than that, it's mainly curiousity as to what EASHL play entails. Maybe Redshirt can chime in on some of these questions: - what is the difference between Amateur/Pro/Elite? Will gamestyles be different between the divisions? I've heard Elite is stricly 6v6. Is this true?

I'm embarrassed to say I don't know the answer to this. Casual/Pro last year was just a self-selecting mechanism, I don't know if it is anything more than that this year. There are no gameplay differences in any case.

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- is EASHL passing like passing in the demo? I think it would truly seperate the average passers from the great passers. I took alot of time learning how to use the manual saucer pass last year and it was really time wasted as I found I only needed to use it once every few games. But if all passing was this way, it would truly make playmakers valuable and also nerf some of the cross-crease stuff.

Yes, the passing in the demo is the passing for online play. If it is different at all it would be minor tuning.

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- has the faceoff loop been eliminated?

I really wish we'd explain what is going on with the "face-off loop" better. It should come up with a pop-up that says that the game has become desynchronized and it is attempting to recover. There is no single cause for the problem which is why it is something that has persisted across years. The worst case is of course when people find a deliberate way to desync the game and to my knowledge all known ways to do that have been fixed.

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- is the practice mode free-form where there's just a bunch of pucks lying around and your teammates can drop in and out at will or is it a structured thing, similar to Practice mode offline?

One puck. It can be structured or unstructured.

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- very curious to see how the Hustle Button has been implemented online. It's tied into to Fatigue, which is all well and good, but how does that work in EASHL play where there's no line changes? Does it reset after every faceoff? Time elapsed?

-Hustle works the same online, but recovery from fatigue is different. Without line changes you need to recover on ice a lot faster, but it is still a resource you need to manage and putting attribute points into Endurance will have a big effect on how much you can use Hustle.

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Two more things and then that's it for me. I would love to see, in EASHL/OTP play, having the BAP camera locked in. Meaning you have to use it. It's a really cool camera but you're really putting yourself at a dis-advantage if you use it as a forward or even Dman, because you see so much more of the ice with the other cameras. But if you truly want to feel like it's you out there, BAP cam is the only way to go and if everyone was FORCED to use it, there would be no disadvatage. And this way, chemistry would play a big part in EASHL play as knowing where your teammates are off screen would be important and making those passes behind you would be more rewarding.

I see where you are coming from, but I don't think the BAP camera is good enough to force it on everyone. It still has a number of issues in my opinion (I don't use it) including field of view changes, not showing what you should be able to see some times, frame rate issues in spots and disorienting transitions on occasions. Don't get me wrong, they do a good job of an extremely difficult problem, I just don't think most people would take to having them forced.

If I was recommending a camera for EASHL it would be classic or overhead.

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I have a guess as to what QB is alluding to as far as an announcement goes with BAGM. Knowing he knows what makes this community giddy, I think EA has allowed 30 team control, and allowing you to play every game on the sked as well as set the sked length. I know he can't say yay or nay but that's my guess anyways.

It isn't 30 team control unless I missed something during development (always possible).

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

IIRC Scotty, you were mainly a 2K guy but enjoyed BAP with the NHL series, correct? How are you enjoying the demo in comparison to 2K10? And even the staple of the 2K series, 2K8? I do NOT intend to start a flame war with my question, guys. Simply curious how Scott feels about the dark side

Yeah I liked 2k10 better last year, but I did like BAP. This is demo is really really good. I was planing on not getting it and just going with 2K10 instead, but after I played this demo. I just can't go back to 2K10. I am on board with this game. The controls and the response to those controls are amazing!

[Scottdau]

So explained Hardcore to me? What does that mean in this game?

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scottdau

Yeah I liked 2k10 better last year, but I did like BAP. This is demo is really really good. I was planing on not getting it and just going with 2K10 instead, but after I played this demo. I just can't go back to 2K10. I am on board with this game. The controls and the response to those controls are amazing!

I think aside from some gameplay and animation differences, by farthe biggest difference between the two games (and I know Realm would agree 110% here) is the controls and how responsive and "next-gen" they are on the NHL series and how unresponsive and "last-gen" they are in 2K's hockey game. In a nutshell, I think that's the best way to describe the two series. Glad you're enjoying it, Scott. Lack of choices suck, no matter what side of the fence you sit on. It's great that you've found enough in the demo to allow you to enjoy the most current hockey game available.

As for Hardcore, maybe Redshirt can better explain the intricacies, but I know in last year's game, on Hardcore the game played a little slower, a little more sloppy and a little more on the realistic side, not to mention the passing was fully manual. I personally didn't enjoy it, as it seemed tacked-on and not fully fleshed out, but some really enjoyed it. Hopefully they tuned it further this year.

[Scottdau]

I really love having the ability to make a pass hard or soft. It is a great feature and the stud passers can really get those passes in tight spots.