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

[STRANGExBREW]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Just an FYI folks the demo is now available for PS3 users. I'm downloading it now. If you don't see it on the store, do a search for NHL 13, it should be the top choice on search results.

Just came on here to post this. Woot.

[shogunofharlem3]

Played the demo. First off, I am a huge 2k10 guy. I didn't like 11 or 12. But I came in with an open mind.

I liked it. Skating feels pretty good. Doesn't have that "EA" feel that I don't like. Felt a little, I don't know, heavier maybe. Played about 9 play now games on Hardcore. Struggled but I'll get it. Looks like it is going to be a solid purchase for me this year.

So far so good. Few things irked me but no game is perfect so I'm good. Very much looking forward to GM Connected with my 4 buddies in coop franchise. First EA NHL purchase since 99 on my N64.

[bwiggy33]

So far I'm just not really sure what to think of the demo. Is it better than NHL 12? No doubt, but NHL 12 for me was the same as NHL 08-11 so really NHL 13 can't be anything but better. The skating is interesting. Some parts of it I really like but there are still some hitches that need to be worked out (totally understandable though).

I'll start off by saying I'm playing Superstar Hardcore. AI wise I'm still seeing a little bit of what we've seen in 12. I'll describe the situation. So I had Kopitar with the puck on the left side board. I skated into the slot past the D man who was defending me. So I get past him but nobody on the CPU goes and tries to knock the puck away from me. The Winger was literally standing still looking like an absolute idiot at my defensman who had nothing to do with the play. The correct thing would have been for that winger to leave his position and come from behind on me and try and prevent me from getting the shot off in a prime scoring location. Needless to say I scored.

So in other words EA said that players are fully aware of things going around them instead of their one job on defending. Well that proved untrue in that situation because it was like the Winger just had their sole job in mind of covering my D man at the blue line instead of trying to help make up for a mistake their D man made when I got past him with Kopitar. It's just infuriating to see it especially on replay. The AI just looked so stupid. I mean Kopitar was literally 2 feet or so from that CPU winger so all the winger had to do is really turn, take maybe one stride and try and poke check/lift stick. I just want the CPU AI to be more aware of mistakes that their teammates make, so that they at least try and attempt to bail out their teammate. Mistakes happen in hockey and that's why you have your teammates to try and help you out. In NHL it's like that doesn't happen.

I'm going to keep playing because obviously the more times you play the more you see. So far though it's better but it still plays very similar to 12 minus the skating. Ultimately what is going to make or break this game is differential between players and teams. Sadly that can't be found out without buying the actual game. Sliders might also play a big role in getting this game the way I want it to play. All I know is I just want variety and different types of games. If I get that, then I will be satisfied. If it feels like the same game each time though, I won't be playing it for long.

Another thought as I'm playing right now is that I still really hate the goalies. I just dislike how they move but I'm not going there again. However, I really like that they are never out of a play. It looks very well done so far.

[Weapon X]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Just an FYI folks the demo is now available for PS3 users. I'm downloading it now. If you don't see it on the store, do a search for NHL 13, it should be the top choice on search results.

Good looking out, thanks for the heads up Realm.

Has anyone else noticed that the Net Cam for replays has a lot of jaggies for some reason in the demo?

WX

[sammynine]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Just an FYI folks the demo is now available for PS3 users. I'm downloading it now. If you don't see it on the store, do a search for NHL 13, it should be the top choice on search results.

I can confirm this as well. Go start downloading PS3 folk!

[Money99]

bwiggy33, do you recall who The Winger was?
I'm wondering if it was a player with very poor defensive attributes (eg, Kovalchuk).
Maybe that's why he did such a poor job of helping his dman out?

[SinisterAlex]

Here's some gameplay I got this morning. Playing on All Star - Normal using the True Broadcast Camera.



I'm really loving this game. Like others have said though, backwards skating is a bit ridiculous, especially seeing as you can skate backwards from end to end at full speed. Other than that, everything is awesome! People whining about penalties, sliders can fix that.

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

bwiggy33, do you recall who The Winger was? I'm wondering if it was a player with very poor defensive attributes (eg, Kovalchuk). Maybe that's why he did such a poor job of helping his dman out?

Ya know what I don't recall. It would have been nice if I would have remembered that because that could be a good reason the winger didn't react. The only thing is it would have been nice to at least see the winger not look like an idiot. Maybe have the winger just react too slow but at least look like he's making an effort. To me it just looks so annoying because the winger just doesn't appear to know what his job is on the ice. Almost brain dead looking.