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

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big Jim

It was actually there in NHL 12, but 98% of the time their new cutscenes blocked it. I'm pretty shocked and bummed that they did not fix it.

Yeah I'm a little surprised this wasn't addressed either but knowing that the AI generally cycles lines in order I think I can work around it and not be too bothered, though it is an annoyance when trying to get the line out you want against a top line.

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by RealmK

Another minor fix, if you have a tired forward and D line, changing the forward line doesn't automatically send the dpair off for a change. I can't count how many times I gave up breakaways in 12 vs the cpu because of that.

That is my #1 favorite fix i think. That drove me insane. It seems they have fixed a lot of the line change issues. It seemed a lot of the time when i was telling lines to get off the ice they would just dick around until the least opportune time, then skate off, and the D would go with them, leaving three guys skating on my goalie alone.

So far, as a whole, I'm loving the NHL 13 Demo. The skating definitely takes some getting used to, and i'm still not very good with it, but those times when i get things down perfectly are magic. I had a great breakout in my HUT game. My defender passed it from our zone up ice to Havlat who was skating hard on the right with Hall on the left boards. Hall skated in perfectly, and with the speed on, Havlat and Hall both blew past the defenders who weren't ready for it. They both skated in towards the net, and with a pretty much 2-0 breakaway the pass across to Hall was perfect and he pretty much just angled it into the net over the sprawling goalie. It looked like a real hockey game, and i couldn't have been more impressed. I think the game plays pretty good as is (Sliders will be nice, i feel like the players can move a bit sluggishly sometimes getting started, but it's not terrible by any means.)
Also, i'm loving the new goalies. So far i seem to be getting a nice mix of straight in shots, and one-timers that are working both for, and against me.
In the roughly 10 games i've played, the AI has yet to score what i would call a BS goal. Nothing feels forced, or cheated. It's a huge upgrade for me over 12, which infuriated me to no end. I couldn't make it through a single game anymore without putting the controller down in frustration because a string of nonsense events just made it impossible to enjoy.
I will definitely be picking this up on the first day.

[Panicshade]

Hopefully once I play the game more and get a better feel of everything I will be better because even at the default (Pro) level I am barely treading water.

I know practically everyone here plays on the highest levels but I just want to be good at the Pro level for right now...lol

At least the demo gives me lots of time to practice before launch day.

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by actionhank

That is my #1 favorite fix i think. That drove me insane. It seems they have fixed a lot of the line change issues. It seemed a lot of the time when i was telling lines to get off the ice they would just dick around until the least opportune time, then skate off, and the D would go with them, leaving three guys skating on my goalie alone. So far, as a whole, I'm loving the NHL 13 Demo. The skating definitely takes some getting used to, and i'm still not very good with it, but those times when i get things down perfectly are magic. I had a great breakout in my HUT game. My defender passed it from our zone up ice to Havlat who was skating hard on the right with Hall on the left boards. Hall skated in perfectly, and with the speed on, Havlat and Hall both blew past the defenders who weren't ready for it. They both skated in towards the net, and with a pretty much 2-0 breakaway the pass across to Hall was perfect and he pretty much just angled it into the net over the sprawling goalie. It looked like a real hockey game, and i couldn't have been more impressed. I think the game plays pretty good as is (Sliders will be nice, i feel like the players can move a bit sluggishly sometimes getting started, but it's not terrible by any means.) Also, i'm loving the new goalies. So far i seem to be getting a nice mix of straight in shots, and one-timers that are working both for, and against me. In the roughly 10 games i've played, the AI has yet to score what i would call a BS goal. Nothing feels forced, or cheated. It's a huge upgrade for me over 12, which infuriated me to no end. I couldn't make it through a single game anymore without putting the controller down in frustration because a string of nonsense events just made it impossible to enjoy. I will definitely be picking this up on the first day.

Sticking along the topic of line change fixes they fixed it so that the guy you're controlling when calling a line change doesn't stay out rather than go and change after you switch to another player. That one drove me nuts too, having to manually skate them to the bench in order to change.

I love that the AI switches it up and takes what's open instead of trying to set up one timer after one timer, this is the first time in a while I've noticed the AI utilizing the point more which is nice to see.

My only gripe with the demo is it's often still too easy to gain the zone but if the AI isn't picking a defensive scheme to stack the line I don't know what can be done about that aside from maybe slider tweaks in retail affecting it.

What I do love however is it's not easy to just set up and cycle all day long, the AI will pressure the passing lanes and not give a user at the point much time, at least this has been my experience solely playing on SS/Hardcore. Shame you can't do the same in NHL Moments and HUT at least in the demo.

[SlyBelle]

Played around 10 games so far and have only seen 1 penalty. Lack of powerplays is what killed my desire to play this game in the past. Power play is too important in hockey not to have it realistically represented. I know the sliders aren't maxed, but in past versions maxing out the sliders didn't do much so I am not convinced this year's will be any different. It really is a shame since to me the rest seems pretty darn good.

[plaidchuck]

Quote: Originally Posted by SlyBelle

Played around 10 games so far and have only seen 1 penalty. Lack of powerplays is what killed my desire to play this game in the past. Power play is too important in hockey not to have it realistically represented. I know the sliders aren't maxed, but in past versions maxing out the sliders didn't do much so I am not convinced this year's will be any different. It really is a shame since to me the rest seems pretty darn good.

Yeap I agree this is pretty bad, even with a 5 min period there should at least be one every other game or so on average. You also notice that players are straight up checked far away from the play yet nothing called?

[Panicshade]

I have had penalties called in about half of the games I have played so far at the default settings.

[Section_25]

Quote: Originally Posted by plaidchuck

Yeap I agree this is pretty bad, even with a 5 min period there should at least be one every other game or so on average. You also notice that players are straight up checked far away from the play yet nothing called?

Try playing a little more aggressive maybe? I'm not having this problem, so far in the ps3 demo I seem to stay in the box....lol

I have seen lot's of penalties on both sides.