NHL 13: Five Items That Still Need Improvement

[RaychelSnr]

As much as I loved the subtle additions to NHL 13, as well as the more meaningful stuff like the True Skating engine and GM Connected, there are still some outstanding issues with the game in terms of its AI performance on the ice. The team at EA Vancouver has really brought the series along over the years, addressing some bothersome exploits and annoying holdover issues from previous versions. However, in doing so, it has underlined a few pesky problems that remain, and it's also introduced a few new ones. These are five AI issues that I believe still need some work, and I think there are solutions for each one of them. I'll start from the goalie on out.

Read More - NHL 13: Five Items That Still Need Improvement

[asu666]

You've made some really nice gameplay observations. I'd love to see all of the pre-game introductions and penalty sliders working right out of the box too.

[wildhockey19]

EASHL lag issues......enough said.

[w_unit_17]

EASHL lag issues are not the problem.

My brother and I play Be a gm mode offline and experience every single one of these issues. We find that #5 is the most annoying. We have tried adjusting the sliders countless times to prevent the constant breakaways for both us and the cpu that have resulted from the new skating system coming to the conclusion that it's simply a computer AI issue. Hopefully it will be resolved

[Al_Tito13]

Great points! I agree with mostly everything you said. I love NHL 13, but it still need work and having all these gameplay items improved in NHL 14 is a must.

[JohnMcClaneTW]

I agree with pretty much everything here.

Your points about the CPU are why I find playing Online Vs or HUT or anything one on one with another player to be borderline unplayable. I'm tired of the constant awful positioning by my CPU teammates on both offense and defense. I regularly find myself needing a pass to an open winger and that winger is just not in position for some reason. Things like that bother me a great deal.

It's for these reasons why I mostly stick to EASHL. Sure, the lobby and drop-in games can be frustrating with bad teammates, but those can be fun. The real fun is to be had on club teams with a full 6 on 6 (all human players) game. That's where teamwork can be seen at its best and if someone is out of position, it's your own fault instead of the fault of some crappy AI decisions.

[Tonic]

Great article. I definitely agree. I made a post last night about some of these things as well.

You can read it here!

[Steven547]

Let's not forget Goalie Fatigue and goalie confidence. If I'm correct, awhile ago, there was something with the goalies. When they were scored on a lot in one game, or let in a lot of goals in a short span of time, their confidence went down.

And for the Goalie fatigue, it can't just be "Goalie is tired", and you sit him. His stats needs to be affected as he progresses into exhaustion. This would force the user AND CPU to make goalie changes throughout the season.