NHL 13 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[ComaFaction]

Just played the NHL Moment with the Kings and found it very funny to win the game with Dustin Brown and have it cut to Brown and Doan respectfully shaking hands in the lineup afterward.

Also, Brown refused to touch the conference trophy. Was that in previous versions?

Skating
First, the skating engine is really nice. I enjoyed messing around with it in Free Skate and it works well in 5-on-5 as well. I scored a great goal with Dustin Brown where I streaked up the wing, saw the d-man over-commit, slammed on my breaks and glided into the slot for a beautiful snipe. Similarly, the subtle skate dekes are also great, but I need more practice in that respect. You can feel the difference between players, but I was a little dissapointed that I couldn't exploit a CHL team's D with someone like Marty St. Louis. Again, that could just be my lack of skill with the skating engine. Also, my fear that speed would win the day, leading to up-and-down rush after rush was put to rest, as the defensive systems seem to contain speedy forwards for the most part.

AI

Which leads to AI. It's a mixed bag for me. At times, the CPU's forecheck had me completely hemmed in my zone, coughing the puck up around the net and being forced to just chip the puck out. Other times, I could simply skate up the side boards from end to end without being harassed. I found the AI's offense probably relied a little too much on the point shot, as well. I didn't toy with my own forecheck/defensive systems too much either. I did feel like the ice surface was more tightly packed with players and it led to a sloppier, looser game for sure.

Puck physics
I played mostly on All-Star/Hardcore and I saw many more loose pucks. My first game, I could barely complete a breakout pass. Another wonderful thing to see is the number of errant shots/blocked shots/etc. One timers from the slot can whistle high and wide, point shots are often blocked, deflected wide or outright miss the net. Another element I loved seeing in this respect was coming on my off-wing and attempting to shoot far-side. This now runs the risk of missing wide, sending the puck back up-ice for an odd-man rush by your opponent. Very similar to the risk of aiming there in real life. I struggled mightily using the swipe at loose pucks control, but when it did work, it was really cool.

Goalies
Goalies are much improved. They can be beaten cleanly from prime scoring chances. Shooting 5-hole is also a viable option now (I even won a shootout with a snap-shot between the pads). I saw an insane variety of saves and the keepers are much more organic now. Quick absolutely robbed me on a few occasions and the replays are magnificent to watch now. I really loved watching every save I saw.

Presentation
I saw a lot of wonky things in the after-whistle real-time presentation, such as players scoring or drawing a penalty and warping around with no expression. I imagine this will continue to get ironed out in future iterations of the game. Didn't majorly detract from the game. The replays, again, are fantastic. Throne and Clement ....I'm done with them. WAY too much recycled content from 4-5 years ago! It's tough to listen to for another year. I thought player likenesses were much improved over past years and it seems like way more players have received their authentic likenesses.

[gopher_guy]

The Offspring made the soundtrack! I already like this game better than 12

And Shinedown! Nice!

[gopher_guy]

Pass reception is definitely better on hardcore. Had a few bobbled passes in the game I just played.

LOVE the new skating, looks and feels very real.

Goalies are very good, to the point where I will probably have to "slider" them down.

Is the sound on anyone else's demo fading in and out?

LOVE the in-the-net cam! Really cool watching replays of rebound goals from that angle!

[gopher_guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ejams

Here's my post off the EA boards: I'm not buying this one. The engine is definitely amazing but the terrible team AI and the fact that star player Drew Doughty is slower than every Devil when racing back for dump-ins. Incredibly disappointed I've been starved of a good NHL game for too many years..

Odd, this has not been my experience at all. I've been beaten by the forwards a couple times when they've dumped it in, but I haven't noticed the forwards being consistently faster than Doughty.

[Panicshade]

I only played about an hour but I didn't notice any sound issues.

The only issue I had was the team I was controlling always played horribly. That must be some kind of glitch...jk..lol

In all seriousness though I just hope that the full game doesn't have the freezing issues that TW 13 and NCAA 13 have had.

[gopher_guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Panicshade

I only played about an hour but I didn't notice any sound issues. The only issue I had was the team I was controlling always played horribly. That must be some kind of glitch...jk..lol In all seriousness though I just hope that the full game doesn't have the freezing issues that TW 13 and NCAA 13 have had.

Hhmm. Hopefully it's not just my system. Every 30-40 seconds the sound gets quieter for about a second, then goes back to normal. Sounds like somebody is in the booth putting a towel over Gary Thorne's mouth every once in a while, lol

[Cletus]

Quote: Originally Posted by gopher_guy

Hhmm. Hopefully it's not just my system. Every 30-40 seconds the sound gets quieter for about a second, then goes back to normal. Sounds like somebody is in the booth putting a towel over Gary Thorne's mouth every once in a while, lol

Are you sure that's a bad thing?

[gopher_guy]

Sorry for spamming the thread with posts, I probably should have waited to post until I had all my thoughts together, lol.

The CPU just seems smarter. When I have my 1st line out vs. their 4th line, the CPU seems "scared" (as they should be, because of the very obvious mismatch). Right when they cross the blue line they are dumping the puck.

Also, I like the new skating because it really emphasizes taking correct angles. If the CPU dumps it in, and you take a bad angle to the puck, they will most likely beat you to the puck. In NHL 12 you could take bad angles but still recover and get the puck because you could turn on a dime around the net. This is a very welcome change!