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

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vikes1

Boy Dan...if ya had to be good at the game to belong posting here, I might as well sign off right now! If I were to sum up my playing skill in one word, I'd choose....terrible. Awful would work too. But somehow or another, I just dig this game a lot! Yep...I'm having a heck of a time scoring too. I started using Auto aim a while back with the '11' game. For two reasons...1. I sux at aiming. 2. I like to think it makes the players shot acc mean even more. Mostly #1 though. Like you, Dan...I always shoot high too. I think my main problem is...I'm just not patient enough when shooting the puck. I get so worked up to take a shot, most times I just plain forget to freaking aim.

I'm in the same boat Vikes.
My skills are pathetic. That's why I choose auto-aim and auto-passing as well.
To me, that forces the CPU to use the players attributes accordingly. If everything is manual, then the skill of the player you're controlling depends on you, and not what kind of player they are.
Some might love it, but for my line of thinking, I like to leave some things up to the computer and attributes.

[DJ]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I'm in the same boat Vikes. My skills are pathetic. That's why I choose auto-aim and auto-passing as well. To me, that forces the CPU to use the players attributes accordingly. If everything is manual, then the skill of the player you're controlling depends on you, and not what kind of player they are. Some might love it, but for my line of thinking, I like to leave some things up to the computer and attributes.

I'm going to give Auto-Aim a try this year. I do like to have the ratings matter in games, which is why I use Real FG% in NBA 2K and Timing hitting in MLB The Show.

[gopher_guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

Very true, but the thing is the sliders didn't change the easy entrance into the zone and other problems in NHL 11. After playing the 12 demo it was the exact same. I wish they would have allowed us to move the sliders around like madden did with their demo. I just don't have the confidence that they actually fixed the really known AI problems for the final retail version. Now I do have faith that if the AI issues get spread to the NHL devs, hopefully it can be fixed with a tuner or patch. I'm really hoping for that. This game can be really good once that gets cleaned up.

Hopefully that is something that can be patched!

[mkharsh33]

Are all the arenas going to continue to look the same again this year? One thing I'm loving about Madden is the uniqueness of each stadium...those images are jaw-dropping. Every EA NHL game feels canned...

[Segagendude]

One more thing...... When I score a td in Madden, I'm like "cool".

When I score a goal in this demo, I literally jump up with hands raised and a "YESS!!!"

Especially playing as the home team, Canucks. The crowd is deafening, I love the pa announcer afterwards, the music playing, the celebrations, etc.

What a game! And this is only the demo....... Wow!

[BobSacamano]

Quote: Originally Posted by mkharsh33

Are all the arenas going to continue to look the same again this year? One thing I'm loving about Madden is the uniqueness of each stadium...those images are jaw-dropping. Every EA NHL game feels canned...

One of the problems is the arenas themselves. They're not really all that distinguishable, or at least not nearly as much as NFL stadiums or MLB ballparks.

I do think that arenas have different "feels" though, and I'd love if NHL could replicate that atmosphere better. When I play as the Bruins I should be terrified going into Montreal. I don't really get that impression right now.

[tofubrain2]

i feel the AI is in place for a patch to really tweak it up... heck the actual retail version will probably be better due to sliders IMO. not to say i'm having any issues with the AI at all, i love the fact the players are active in the offensive zones and i do see some real anticipation there...

has anyone scored on shot from the point yet? i haven't thru like 20 demo periods.

[FBeaule04]

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

It would help if people would be a little more specific than "easy entrance into the zone and other problems" or "AI issues" or other generic comments. What problems do you see? This isn't a challenge or anything, it is a genuine question.

I won't answer for Bwiggy, but for myself.

I like to play as the goalie and it's the better place to see zone entrance in that game. 10 times out of 10, the AI D in the game will give the blue line. Worse than that, 8 times out of 10, after giving the blue line, the AI D will give the slot. It is exactly what you don't see in hockey usually.

In real life, even in Pee-Wee AAA, you don't see the D back off and 95% of the time, the D-man will get closer, so they take out the slot for passing from side to side, and let the C or W get to the corner we're it's the easier way for the goalie to stop a shot. If a guy score from the outside, it's goalies fault.

It's not a secret for anyone that cycling and diagonal dumping made their way to the NHL because you had to find a way to break out the collapsing in the D-Zone and the Trap in neutral zone.

Even with new rules that prevent interference, hooking and holding since the lock-out, you don't see "coast to coast" rush. More often then not, goals will come from the blue line (because without holding, interference and hooking in front of the net), the C need to get lower to help in front of the net or chase while forwards are cycling, so the point are more open.

I guess that the problem for EA is that we all seen the rush from Ovechkin, Crosby, Toews, Kane, Gaborik, etc. from coast to coast, dangling between two D and making the goalie having to get his jock in the rafters. EA want's that in the game, so the programming makes the D back of so offense has an edge.

The only problem with that, is those plays happen only 3-4 times per season, not every game. For every rush from one end to the other, you have 500 rush that stall in neutral zone because the guys on the ice adapt and clog it (Exhibit A : Go see Tampa's D play against the Caps last year in playoffs.)

Also, the deking success in the EA game makes it almost impossible to clog the blue line. All you have left is hitting the guy and hope for one of your teammates to pick up what's left. I've been asking for a way for D-Man to follow a dangling forward. Guess EA will never make something for this.

As long dangling will be that successfull and that the programming makes the D-man back off to the slot and stand still, you'll have people like me screaming that you can't say you tweak AI by letting this happen!