NHL 13 Season Ticket Impressions

[mike24forever]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

Penalties might have been fixed..and even if it isn't, if you're deciding between now, or waiting until price drops to get it, just get it now. Price won't drop(unless someone is selling it online or something)

I don't know if they fixed them or not, however the CPU has had 1 roughing and 1 interference penalty through 2 periods and I have had 1 high sticking and 1 interference penalty.

Edit: with less then a minute left in the 2nd, I got a boarding penalty.

Also, I'm playing 10 minute periods. At this point I am not buying into the idea that thre is an issue with the penalties in the years game.

[adayinthelife]

Quote: Originally Posted by savoie2006

So has anyone downloaded a new tuner that was supposedly put out today? I'm wondering if maybe they already addressed the penalty issue?

I grabbed a tuner when I booted it up a little while ago, but didn't notice much of a difference in the penalty department. I've been getting penalties every game however. Not quite enough perhaps, but they're still there.

[kerosene31]

Well, I've never been to a midnight release before in all my years of gaming. I just happened to be off of work this week and I figured why not?

Just some very initial impressions. I only played one game so far.

All star diffficulty
10 minute periods
Sabres (me) vs Leafs

I didn't play the demo very much, so I was not used to the skating and out of practice quite a bit. I got outshot like 18-3 in the 1st. I took some dumb penalties and was just playing poorly. Miller held me in there (he is rated like a God in this game) and I was only down 1-0. By the 2nd I started to get going and eventually won the game 4-1 with an empty netter.

Now, for the good, the bad, and the ugly:

The good:

-Game is a lot more "sloppy". You can actually poke the puck away if you are in proper position without having to time it down to the nano-second.

-Passing was great (not laser beam accurate all the time) and I wasn't even playing on hardcore mode yet

-The physics overall are even better than previous games. Things like puck battles in the corner and poke checks used to feel scripted, now they feel natural.

-The skating engine is great and really adds to the realism. Momentum is huge now as it should be. Passing to a player standing still is completely different than hitting him on the fly.

The bad (and ugly):

-The teammate AI needs to get better. What's strange is that the teammate AI in some ways took a step backwards. One glaring example is with a simple behind the net D to D pass. I play left D in the EASHL and often in BAP and for years if I was under pressure, I would make the easy behind the net pass to my CPU d-man. Well, this year too often the D man will stand in the right spot but for some reason will watch the puck go by. What should usually be an easy clear ends up being a nightmare. This is only made worse by the skating engine. If your d-man doesn't have great mobility (lots don't) and your partner doesn't help you out, you end up in a lot of bad situations. It is hard to describe. It kind of punishes d-men who aren't the best skaters in the world a little too much?

-The home team still can't see the visiting team's line choice. This was only a minor annoyance in the past, but with the new skating engine I think line matching might be a lot more important. Most of the time in the past I would roll my lines, but now if I were playing the Pens, I would pay much more attention to when Sid is on the ice and which line matches up. However there's no way to do that even if you are at home.

-After about a period and a half, I pretty quickly figured out that after I gain the blueline that the old move of spinning towards the boards about the top of the faceoff circle seems to send the AI into a state of total confusion. Granted, I was playing a lower ranked team, but the Sabres aren't exactly rated high either (except goalie). By the 3rd period I was able to skate across the slot and get some really crazy scoring chances (maybe I finally need to "graduate" to superstar)

-While the physics are great overall, there are still a few "what the heck" moments. Not a huge deal but sometimes the puck just does strange things. For example I take a weak shot right in front of the net which hits the goalie and ends up getting "punted" out to center ice. I'm not talking a kick save on a 100 mile an hour slapper, but a quick wrist shot from in close that suddenly gains a ton of momentum that seems physically impossible. Again, far from a gamebreaker, but you can end up with a few comical moments in your game.

-I had zero penalties in the game except for dumb ones I took when controlling a player.

Overall:
As always my negatives seem to outweigh the positives but overall I think the game is another great one.

[Vikes1]

My son and I picked up our copies tonight at a midnight release.

We played three games and had a blast! Both of us are really liking all that was done for this years game. Great to actually have battles now trying to go through center ice. Also had a nice variety of goals that were scored. We'll be playing NHL '13' for months to come.

[Qb]

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