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

[sroz39]

[quote=Redshirt_EA;2041502025]

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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.

Really surprised at the lack of info regarding the EASHL. It's widely played and is quite a cash cow for EA, considering all the boosts and such. It's not your fault, Redshirt, as it's not your jurisdiction. I'm just commenting. Aside from bullet point statements about the practice mode, lack of camo gear and the three divisions, what have we gotten from EA on this? Disappointing.

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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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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.

I can totally appreciate the difficulty in pin-pointing the problem. Definitely appreciate that you guys eliminated known intentional causes from 10. That's a plus. And even though our club has found a counter that's almost 100% effective, it'd be great to not have to deal with all the bs. Fingers crossed here.

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One puck. It can be structured or unstructured.

That's terrific news. Private 6 on 6 inter-club play just wasn't cutting it anymore.

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-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.

Still quite worried about this here lol. I'd hate to see such a great idea get abused. I guess we'll all see release day how this goes. Luckily with Tuner Sets, you guys can make quick fixes to potential problems like these.

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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.

Point taken. It only takes a trip to the Backbreaker forums on here to realize people like choice when it comes to vantage point.

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

Colour me stumped lol. I thought I was so smart

As usual, Redshirt, thanks for responding as best you can. Words can't express how much your involvement means to guys like myself on here, who absolutely love this game (and even some who don't).

[crobert0247]

Quote: Originally Posted by 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.

I agree. This is, yet again, another subtle and simple feature that just makes things a lot better on the ice. It makes an outlet or a horizontal cross-ice pass a lot more easier to execute or attempt. You don't necessarily have to rely on the flip/saucer(RB) pass. It is a lot more fun this way. With the proper slider adjustments in the full game, I'm sure you can even make it so you can't exploit the AI using it. In fact, the defensive AI in the demo has picked off plenty of passes I have attempted so...

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

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.

Yeah you hit the nail on the head with the comparison of the two Sroz. The other major difference is polish. Even with the way penalties were called in 2k10 had me scratching my head alot, oft times a particular call in the game wouldn't even be considered a penalty in real life, as just an example. When you add all the elements together, the unresponsive controls, the sluggish skating, the warping goaltenders, the lack of presentation during play and most importantly the lack of overall polish and it feeling like yet another last gen effort pieced together with code from past 2k iterations well ya get the idea why I wasn't a huge fan.

In regards to hardcore mode, thats a pretty spot on analysis. I'm one of the few that actually enjoyed hardcore mode last year mainly due to having full control on where passes went. Once I got used to it there wasn't any going back. I think its better refined this year and feels much better imo anyway.

[Scottdau]

You really have to be smart how you play this game. You have to be really alert of the guys on the ICE. When the good dmen are on the ice don't get all fancy. And you better hold on to the puck when you ice it, if you think you can pass it quick you have another thing coming and it is usually something in the back of the net.

[sroz39]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Yeah you hit the nail on the head with the comparison of the two Sroz. The other major difference is polish. Even with the way penalties were called in 2k10 had me scratching my head alot, oft times a particular call in the game wouldn't even be considered a penalty in real life, as just an example. When you add all the elements together, the unresponsive controls, the sluggish skating, the warping goaltenders, the lack of presentation during play and most importantly the lack of overall polish and it feeling like yet another last gen effort pieced together with code from past 2k iterations well ya get the idea why I wasn't a huge fan. In regards to hardcore mode, thats a pretty spot on analysis. I'm one of the few that actually enjoyed hardcore mode last year mainly due to having full control on where passes went. Once I got used to it there wasn't any going back. I think its better refined this year and feels much better imo anyway.

I remember, Realm, you making a post basically saying that 2K needs to just straight copy EA's Skill Stick layout and go from there because their variations on the Skill Stick were just so half-baked and unintuitive, they may as well not have bothered. I agreed with you then and even moreso now, as I believe if they did this for 2K8 (best current-gen iteration of 2K hockey and the first one to change the control scheme) they would be releasing a 2K11 on the 360/PS3 this year because even though maybe their games still wouldn't be as good as the NHL series, but at that point, you at least have given your audience the control scheme that makes most sense and is the most fun to use. Instead, they went half-way every year and were left in no-man's land and have found themselves searching for answers.

But I digress. I'm gonna give Hardcore mode a try tonight, see if I can notice some differences that make it more enjoyable for me. Love the passing as it is, so maybe I'll like it more in general as I like the idea behind Hardcore Mode.

[Brian_OS]

Redshirt EA, whoever you are. Is online co-op in or out this year? My visa card awaits your response.............

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by sroz39

I remember, Realm, you making a post basically saying that 2K needs to just straight copy EA's Skill Stick layout and go from there because their variations on the Skill Stick were just so half-baked and unintuitive, they may as well not have bothered. I agreed with you then and even moreso now, as I believe if they did this for 2K8 (best current-gen iteration of 2K hockey and the first one to change the control scheme) they would be releasing a 2K11 on the 360/PS3 this year because even though maybe their games still wouldn't be as good as the NHL series, but at that point, you at least have given your audience the control scheme that makes most sense and is the most fun to use. Instead, they went half-way every year and were left in no-man's land and have found themselves searching for answers. But I digress. I'm gonna give Hardcore mode a try tonight, see if I can notice some differences that make it more enjoyable for me. Love the passing as it is, so maybe I'll like it more in general as I like the idea behind Hardcore Mode.

Well when you change your control scheme 4 times in 4 years, and it still handles like crap, generally one thinks there may be a problem.

Try it out though, you may be pleasantly surprised. I think the puck feeling a lot looser this year has alot to do with it perhaps feeling better to me but at any rate, I'm already used to it from NHL10 so that may be part of it as well.

[Scottdau]

Is this a 2K10 thread or NHL11 thread? Any way, I am really digging the demo. I wish there were some Sharks on the HUT part, but oh well. I like having Zet and Geno on the same line. I was ripping up the HUT tourney.