NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[savoie2006]

Did anyone else notice the two new options in the controls? They have Manual or Auto human Goalie coverups and Goalie Sweeps on or off. They are under the Autoskate Backwards option.

[Section_25]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

It's the nature of yearly cycles and having new "modes" to appeal to the casuals who as much as we here hate to admit it? Those guys make up most of the sales. Believe me, I'd kill for the presentation to get a major lift, and not even see modes like legends or HuT suck up precious development time. But that's the reality of the industry. I'll say it right now as it came up in a conversation I was having with OBG on the phone yesterday and we both agreed, if NHL13 doesn't majority overhaul presentation and get it to the level we all think it should be at this point to go along with the gameplay, I'm sticking to 12 next year and voting with my wallet.

I understand and agree with this.

If you are coming from NHL 09 or maybe even 10, NHL 12 is definitely worth the full purchase price, but if you are coming from 11, NHL 12 (judging from the demo to me) seems so similar that it almost makes it not worth it.

That's the way I feel anyway, but my love for this sport/game usually ends up with me paying more than I think I should have to just for the few upgrades the next years game offers. Almost makes me feel like I'm being ripped off if I end up paying full price which I will probably do if I can't find it cheaper soon after release. Maybe my lack of will power is a part of the problem.. LOL

I'm not trying to bash EA as I do like a lot of their games.

It's a tough situation between the dedicated fans who buy the game each year and the game developers actually. As it has been said and as unfortunate as it may be the dollars will dictate the attention this game gets and direction that it goes.

[mazinkaiser]

Quote: Originally Posted by CCPiper

- Deking is still way too easy. They need to make the puck live on dekes like they made the puck live on slapshots. This is what would make the deking realistic. As of right now, the puck is glued to your stick movements.

This is probably the biggest thing that needs to get fixed. It's so unrealistic to see the puck stuck to the stick while deking and especially while deking in traffic.

[TheDutchDad]

For you UT fans, did they really raise the salary cap to 30k, or is it just raised that high for the demo?

[Jattbreed]

-Got a dirty goal and felt very rewarding
-Huberdeau's skinny *** just knocked down SHEA WEBER (come on)
-Nice feature on Duncan Keith hitting people but only showed 3 hits
-Choppy animation for hitting players from behind, looks so awkward
-I hipchecked a player and their helmet fell off
-I honestly can't tell the difference when I'm facing the Sea Dogs or the Canucks except for their goalie, it seems the players are all the same, one's faster the other's not, that's the only difference
-Signature traits I don't see at all (probably not in the demo since I don't see them at all)

AND THE INSTANT REPLAY!! JEEZ, the crowd screaming over and over after a replay, get rid of it!!! Annoying as hell.

-For faceoff tieups, where the **** are my wingers going? It's like the go back to sniff our d-men's butts
-Man did they ever nail DUNCAN KEITH! His skating is so smooth in this game like real life, dude can MOVE! Hopefully they nail the legends like this (i.e. Don't just make Gretzky 99 in speed to get his overall as 99, he was NEVER the fastest guy on the ice).

[BestServedCold]

Holy **** Chara just lit me up in the most **** way ever!

I was skating on the wing, swooping into the area in front of the net,trying to fake out the goalie to tie the game up with only about a minute left when Chara comes out of nowhere and owns me!

He slammed his shoulder into the sternum of my skater knocking him off balance and sending him to the ice with the puck sliding safely away. Chara exerted so much force he landed on top of the downed wingman and lost his helmet. He proceeded to play the remainder of the game helmetless and still managed to shut down my offensive attacks.

AWESOME! lol

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by kerosene31

EA would never put in a true trap. That would drive all but the most hardcore fans away. The funny thing about realism is that people don't always really want it. I've run across a few EASHL teams that really do it well and it was really tough.

No truer words have been spoken.

I don't think there's much question that the people that just want to pickup the game and play, prefer the gameplay as is. The up and down...back and forth. And would most likely be very put off, if it was a struggle just to get a good scoring chance. [Ie, realism] And I certainly don't blame EA Canada for programming the game to play like this outta the box, vs the AI.

But dang it...I sure wish there was a place in the game vs the AI, that was reserved for those that do prefer a more realistic gaming experience. I just wish if you choose "hardcore"...that's what ya got.

[kerosene31]

I just played a bunch of be a pro games (periods) allstar difficulty with the Bruins (it feels weird to take the #1 center away from Sedin)

BAP offline is going to be tons of fun:

-Battles in front of the net are so much better. The D will fight you off a lot more when you are in there. Just getting there is harder, especially if you want to be on the outer edges of the crease looking for garbage or cross crease passes.

-The deking is so much better! I got a break with my BAP and I tried the old money inside out deke and couldn't pull it off fast enough and fired it into the goalie's jersey.

-Skipping to your next shift is great. We're going to be able to get quite a few games in with less time. No more watching 3/4 of a period when you are on the 4th line.

-Leveling up my player offline should be more fun. Early on you are going to have to work for your points (I think the longer progression will work well).

On the other hand, I'm worried about online play:
-Someone is going to find a way to glitch the goalie bump
-With player separation being better (at least in certain attributes), I'm worried that the EASHL is going to be even more of a case of those that have the boosts and those that don't.

I'm buying this game for offline play and if online is fun, that's a bonus. A game online can only be as good as the community wants, and this community just has too many cheesers/glitchers.