NHL 13 E3 Hands-On Preview

[Rwings832]

"As you can tell, Be A GM mode is getting a make over. Though the majority of the details are said to be coming out in the next couple of weeks, some information was available. The biggest bit of information given, though, was how the mode will be making its way online. You’ll be able to play with your friends and manage your team from an iDevice if needed. You can also watch the new and improve AI battle each other while watching your team, but still having control. You’re able to choose when to shoot the puck, to substitute, to switch lines, etc. You’re also able to draw up your own plays outside of the gameplay and then watch the AI perform that play"

So from the article above, is this kind of like a coach or manage mode type thing, where you can set the strategies and then just kind of watch the AI play it out?

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Semipro91

It's funny that you mention the AI. So when I got my hands on it the first thing I wanted to do was test skating with the puck. So I picked the puck up with Parise and circled behind my net in an attempt to " bobby Orr" it. Kopitar was first on the forecheck at about the right circle, I blew by him but immediately what noticed was how the AI responded to that. Brown was on th boards at about the blue line, as soon as I went around Kopitar to the outside brown instead of skating directly at me shifted a little to the center in an attempt to " bait" me into going between him and the boards. As soon as I did scuderi stepped up and destroyed me. It was AWESOME to see the AI react like that. I also wanted to mention how much better the goalies seemed. The stupid shortside deke didn't work on quick and I tried it 3 times.

Quote: Originally Posted by Semipro91

Another thing I wanted to touch on was the ratings of players, as well as skating and puck handling. First the ratings, even though I didn't see actual rating numbers I noticed the skating ability of players, for example I was using the devils and tried beating defenders who were skating backwards, the coolest thing was blowing by Matt Greene. I'm sure as all of you know (and hated) you could never blow by defenders. Now at first I was scared thinking it was too easy, but when I tried to do the same to doughty I had no luck. When I tried to go wide on drew he started his cross overs and stay with me stride for stride. No for the skating and puck handling, let me just say that when going full speed you can't weave in an out like years past. I was able to get into the EA booth before it opened at E3 and much to my surprised there looked to be a non demo build in the Xbox. The reason I thought this was I was able to choose my teams, I wanted to be quick so I went with Philly vs Pitt. I figured looking at napkin, Crosby, giroux would be fun. I noticed right away that playing with geno or Sid was far different then trying to dangle with Elias or even parise.

I know I should just use the 'thumbs-up' feature, but I had to comment on how excited these two comments have gotten me.
I know, I know. I'm a sucker and I said I wouldn't buy this game outright. I'm still going to rent, but after reading this, I'm far more excited for NHL13 than I was before.
Seriously, the game was barely on my radar until reading this.
It sounds like we're finally going to see more noticeable player differentials.

[Semipro91]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

Semipro keep the impressions coming! This is basically exactly what I wanted to hear. All I need is player separation, better AI, and better goalies, upgraded BeAGM and I am totally set. It seems as though all of these have been worked extensively on. Semipro what did you notice goaltending wise in your short time playing? I am huge on goalies (being that I am one). They glide way too fast on the ice but I'm pretty sure goalie movement didn't get worked on, so how are the new saves and limbs looking? I tell ya what if these new implementations to the game pan out, imagine what we could have in the years to come. Maybe they can finally start adding the little details that we see every time we watch a game and just keep upgrading and working on perfecting the features already in the game instead of adding new unexciting features. By no means will the game be complete with NHL 13 but at least the meat of the game will be what we want and they can just keep touching up the AI, skating, etc. This could be quite a year for NHL.

Hey bwiggy, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to goalies but here's what i saw. I mentioned I tried the shortside deke, where you come down shortside and with the right stick you fake to the middle of the net and quickly go back shortside. I tried that 3 times on quick and didn't score once. It seemed as though his side to side movements weren't as big as years past. I will say that I played an entire game of devils vs kings and two periods of flyers vs pens and I only scored 4 goals. 1 breakaway, 2 one timers, and a tip. The difficulty was on pro which on NHL 12 I would of scored at least 10. While a saw a few animations for goalies that were new I think the smaller goal count can be attributed to both goalies and better positioned AI

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Semipro91

While a saw a few animations for goalies that were new I think the smaller goal count can be attributed to both goalies and better positioned AI

LOVE reading this! Scoring should be harder due to defensive AI, not uber-goalies.

Did you notice that scoring chances were hard to come by? But if you did have a legit chance to score, with a scorer, you could convert?

[Roggie]

As long as the goalies don't seem to all be a mix of Jonathan Quick this year, Jean Sebastien Giguere the year Anaheim went to the finals, and Dominik Hasek in his prime to where it seems they're cheating to make saves, and most saves are made through great positioning, then I have no problem with good goaltending. I'm tired of seeing the whip shot from the faceoff circle and short side deke goal work so often due to goalies not knowing how to position themselves correctly and giving up the post side of the net. Make teams play hockey to score, not stupid shots.

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by Roggie

As long as the goalies don't seem to all be a mix of Jonathan Quick this year, Jean Sebastien Giguere the year Anaheim went to the finals, and Dominik Hasek in his prime to where it seems they're cheating to make saves, and most saves are made through great positioning, then I have no problem with good goaltending. I'm tired of seeing the whip shot from the faceoff circle and short side deke goal work so often due to goalies not knowing how to position themselves correctly and giving up the post side of the net. Make teams play hockey to score, not stupid shots.

Well it's either people complain about glitch goals, or they're going to complain the goalies are too good. At least for the offline game, sliders should be able to find some sort of middle ground. We'll have to wait and see how the online portion is tuned.

[ComaFaction]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

LOVE reading this! Scoring should be harder due to defensive AI, not uber-goalies. Did you notice that scoring chances were hard to come by? But if you did have a legit chance to score, with a scorer, you could convert?

Exactly, hopefully the enhanced AI systems means that you can beat a goalie realistically from a good scoring chance.

[canucksss]

thanks semipro for posting these exciting points. at least there's a hope now that player differential and sim-hockey will be present in NHL 13. im glad that EA is also working with presentations upgrade, but in all honesty, just player differentials and team strategies are in effect, for me its worth buying it.

please keep us salivating for more exciting and in case non-exciting news semipro