Pucking Ridiculous: Your NHL 11 Experience

[cheechoo98]

I loathed NHL 11 in the beginning. I only play online and it was so unbalanced, we all know the issues...
Because I didn't play it enough, playing online meant that my player was steps behind all the other users who played the game and maxed out their players after a month.. on the consatnt imploring by my club-mates to join them, I eventually got some games in..

After struggling to play 30+ online games, I eventually sunk more hours into it and leveled myself up a bit..
I still found it a struggle to play in our club. It's NOT fun losing every every game... I've never loathed a sporting game so much as this game. Seriously.

But eventually I got enough games in to gain my Superstar Card and with the extra allotment of points, on a lark, I changed my player to a Defensive Defenseman and the game changed for me.

Instead of getting crushed, I was now doing the crushing.. with all his Defensive skills now very high, I routinely get 15+ big hits per game with a high of 25 hits in a regulation game. I'm not happy if I don't get 14+ a game now.. I know this is TOTALLY not sim, and TOTALLY arcade-ish, but it is TOTALLY fun now.
Fun in not letting people into 'my' zone!!!! That's MINE! Sit down!!!! I'm almost at my Legend Card and after that, I'll probably wind down my playtime though..

I play only Drop-In games.. crushing people daily!
Our club sucks, simply because we're old and can't score.. seriously kids, enjoy your teen and 20-something reflexes while you can! Cheers!

[meep316]

Mostly all I play is online VS.

I played alot of HUT at the beginning, but that quickly wore off because of all the dickheads that buy their teams. I refuse to spend real money on packs, EA really dropped the ball on this one. If you're going to have people who are going to boost their teams with real money, at least have a separate HUT for the people who want to do it on their own. It's no fun going up against people with ridiculous all star teams when you're playing with prospects.

Then there was a period of about 2 months where I didn't play the game at all because the gameplay was so horrid, but as it stands right now I'm pretty happy with it. There are definitely things that need to be cleaned up, such as the effectiveness of cheesers just laying down in front of their goalie as a means of "defense".

But overall the gameplay is pretty good, but I think they need to make some big strides in NHL 12 if it's going to be considered a success.

[milesizdead]

Apart from a quick trip with HUT, EASHL all the way.

Offline just doesn´t deliver like EASHL does and HUT is just a bunch of Fantasy AllStar Teams without personality.

A great game, and looking forward to NHL12 making huge strides in improving online game modes, and Bap offline as well.

[actionhank]

I've had a great time with it.
I've only had my time spent in Be A GM, but i think maybe some day i will take it online.
I've had some good sliders, and while there are frustrating moments, i really love the game, flaws and all.
One thing that bugs me, is i feel like my team mates just lack any sense of wanting to make a play.
If i puck up a puck mid-rink and a team mate skates in behind the D heading to the blue line, instead of going for the break away for a scoring chance...he just stops and waits for me...
Little things like trying to control your guys in front of your net to keep the crease clear can be frustrating when your guys seem to just slide every where, but it's not bad at all.
I've had my bouts with rival (Being St. Louis i nearly launched my controller through the wall playing Chicago. True to life the first meeting they stoned me ,and shut down my come back attempt, but then lady luck came to my bench for game 2 of the home and home series and we rallied in the 2nd to beat them 5-4 in overtime on a short handed break away).
It's little moments like that, that i absolutely love.
They make all of the frustrating moments seem insignificant. While it can be difficult trying to get a fair trade, or keeping those damn grinders from crashing down on your goalie (Also, can they please get rid of the goalie deciding when he wants to push the puck into the corners, or back into play for NHL12 and let me decide. Halak seems to like coming out of his crease to slide the puck to the other team...i can't figure him out. It's like he hates me).
But all of those moments don't matter when you get a perfect set up in the offensive zone and score the game winning goal in over time.
Then again, nothing compares to the frustration of losing a game in overtime after working for 2 periods just to get back in it.
But that's life.

[plaidchuck]

One word: disappointment. The patches and tuners seem to fix one thing and break 10 other things. The most annoying aspect is that the offline aspect of the game is becoming so bad it might as well be phased out, with the broken BAP XP earning, sliders that may or may not affect the game, and boring/predictable AI. For someone like me with neither the time nor internet connection speed to play the EASHL/HUT online regularly, these deficiencies make the game pointless to really play seriously.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

I pretty much play online drop-in games exclusively, but that's pretty much tapered off now. Basically, I can recognize that it's a fantastic game, but I'm having trouble personally getting invested in it. I've been playing video games for nearly two decades now, but these controls are still giving me fits. They're slightly less complicated than an F-16 cockpit. I do appreciate what EA is trying to do. You can replicate pretty much any move an actual NHL player would make with these controls, but I just haven't mastered how to process them at the speed of video game hockey. I've completely given up on offense, because no matter what I try my player seemed to blast the puck right into the goalie's chest logo.

And that doesn't even get into the absolutely obnoxious Skater Boost system, which requires players to grind in the single player in order to be remotely competitive online. WTF is up with that EA? I'm not a fan of giving any player upgrades over another in competitive multiplayer. The only time it works, in games like all of Duty or Team Fortress 2, the stuff you unlock is at best a sidegrade to the equipment you start with so newbies are on relatively level footing. Here, I'm being matched up against guys who not only have mastered the game, but are also stronger, faster, and more agile so I'm screwed coming and going. I could, of course, buy the upgrades but that only infuriates me more.

[addybojangles]

I'm happy with it, aside from the fact that ridiculous amounts of hitting is a viable tactic in EASHL. You can say "Just pass before you get hit" and it works, but with so many hits you start to get intimidated and stats-wise, everything drops.

The legend card is complete BS. I helped my team to a 19-game winning streak and can't get my team play higher than a B. It's like you have to play completely differently. Now I'm at 250 games played, no legend.

[FBeaule04]

The hope was high, the feeling was great. I even took a week off to play the game as much as possible. At first, I was pretty stunned by all the details, and the game.

It didn't took me long to get back to Earth though. Not that the game is bad, it's not the case. But there's again exploits, AI stupidity and lapses that makes the game less enjoyable than last year.

Online, I have to say that it's been ok overall. Lately, been running against a bunch of glitchers and since the patch, I've seen more and more goals that I didn't saw at first. Physical part of the game is way out of control too. There's too much bang and boom for my liking in the game.

Like someone said, the problem with fixing something is that it opens up the door for new problems. They patch the Boost glitch, 99 glitch is back in full-force. They patch robot goalies, then people are starting to score from everywhere and try the peek-a-boo shot all game long.

So, the game is still good, but for me, I'm enjoying more NBA 2K11 than NHL 11 so far, even if I'm a hockey fan at first.