NHL 14 Available Now - Post Your Impressions Here

[gator3guy]

Quote: Originally Posted by acidraindrops08

Luckily those who are boosting will be able to start fresh again on tuesday, when EA resets all of their stats.

They didn't last year.

[Dispatch]

So I've put about 40+ games into EASHL playing a mix of 2v2 and 3v3. In NHL 13 I put in over 1500 games in the EASHL mode. I take pride in passing the puck around, cycling, and playing good defense. Needless to say I'm moving my pre-order from NHL 14 and paying off GTA5.

One of my pet peeves in NHL 13 was the amount of breakaways and the goals that people would score from doing the same lame deke every time. Now I know no one has their legend 3 cards yet but the defenders do play way better. The reason they do play better though is the fact that they shoot literally everything that you pass to them. They'll never turn it over at the point because they'll never hold it there. Most times you can't even call for the puck because they've already fired it into the massive piles of bodies in front of the net. The game now rewards the players who don't pass it. The players who just circle around and throw a pass across the slot every single time are going to keep on doing it.

To me it's just not worth it to spend 60 dollars on a game that really isn't that big of an upgrade, and in my eyes is more of a step back. The "Enforcer Engine" is garbage. If someone want's to make a player 5'7" with no balance I'm going to destroy him with my player who is 6'2" 215lbs. I shouldn't have to fight just because I smoked him with a clean hit. It's stupid and takes away from the game.

Priority number one for next gen should be an overhaul of the AI system. Every player plays exactly the same. The defenders always sit back and the forwards skate to the outside while entering the zone. Then they proceed to play keep away until you finally chase them because sitting in the slot blocking awful shots is dreadfully boring.

[Dispatch]

Quote: Originally Posted by acidraindrops08

Luckily those who are boosting will be able to start fresh again on tuesday, when EA resets all of their stats.

Quote: Originally Posted by gator3guy

They didn't last year.

Yeah I wouldn't bet on them resetting the stats. I don't think they've done it with any of the season ticket games. I know they didn't do it with NHL 13.

[timdj84]

Well, my fears have come true, this is an arcade game. I've played since the original and online since 09. This year there are many problems; Too many awful rebound goals, unbalanced AI, inability to set up plays,passing, the wrap glitch. This game rewards awful players and feels swimmy. The animation takes priority,speed is lacking, and passing is impossible. AI make passes to no one when you don't call for it. Hot Garbage.

[half-fast]

I have some mixed feelings. Firstly, I read in the EA forums that the legendary commentary duo's contract was up and theyd be out for this years game ... boy was that misinformation. Despite being one of the highest voted changes players wanted to happen in nhl 14, they still havent done it. I literally cant listen to these guys anymore.

The hitting is better, I love how size makes a difference now. All in all though, it is definitely not worth the full price. This is a very minor upgrade from last year's game imo. Everything looks the same, everything feels the same, just with some minor enhancements. The way the miraculous comebacks are handled is really just cosmetic. I'm cancelling my preorder and waiting for the first real next-gen installment.

[mbergh22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Grallis

I have some mixed feelings. Firstly, I read in the EA forums that the legendary commentary duo's contract was up and theyd be out for this years game ... boy was that misinformation. Despite being one of the highest voted changes players wanted to happen in nhl 14, they still havent done it. I literally cant listen to these guys anymore. The hitting is better, I love how size makes a difference now. All in all though, it is definitely not worth the full price. This is a very minor upgrade from last year's game imo. Everything looks the same, everything feels the same, just with some minor enhancements. The way the miraculous comebacks are handled is really just cosmetic. I'm cancelling my preorder and waiting for the first real next-gen installment.

My guess is they don't want to change Gary and Bill until next gen.


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[half-fast]

Quote: Originally Posted by robbymac

So after downloading and installing I will say that the in game play is a huge improvement over last year it seems fluid and more realistic, the AI seems better too. The cut scenes and pregame visuals are the same as last year. The fighting engine is a breath of fresh air that seems pretty neat so far. I just wish instead of wasting time on the NHL 94 mode that they improved the creation teams etc...it's embarrassing when franchises like fifa and ncaa you can use team builder and creation centre and in NHL you STILL CAN'T NAME YOUR TEAMS, you half to use their preset names and cities, I dunno I'm in the minority here that would like too see more attention to this. Also it would be cool to see a roster share or something of that nature. No more new legends added this year. Still on the fence.

You said it - they waste so much time on the dumbest features and use very little on what matters it appears. Not to mention that I prefer '95 hockey over '94, I'm not sure what the big deal is with '94 anyway.

[jb1]

I'm mainly an offline NHL gamer and have got through around 20 games over the weekend. I did some initial impressions after 3 just games but I feel I have a better understanding of where this game is at now.

I'll start by saying I enjoyed it, there are faults in the gameplay that annoy me like how easy it is to skate coast to coast, the CPU will take bad shots when better openings are available and I still don't think we see enough penalties called but overall it's a fun game of hockey.

The hitting is much improved on last year, no question i'm seeing too many big hits and then subsequently fights but I would take that over the way it was in 13 any day. I was bored by the fighting engine we saw in last few years but the way it is in 14 feels fresh and fun, just the fact the CPU will start fights is great after years of seeing barely none. I'm also getting a much better number of injuries while playing the games aswell, in my Be a GM for the first time in years i've had to juggle my lines due to injury which adds a bit of realism.

I've never been much of a deker simply because I couldn't really pull the moves off but I am loving the one touch dekes. They are simple and effective and it's a lot of fun deking past a defender with Crosby or Malkin and then getting a shot off, something I could never do in past NHL games i've played.

The skating feels great, easily the best i've experienced in a NHL game.

In my 20 odd games i've seen great variety in scores from 2-1 all the way to a crazy 9-7. It's possible there are slightly too many goals being scored at the moment but then again i'm playing with a very attack minded Pens on All Star for 12 min periods. The goal variety feels the best it ever has, sure there are too many goalie mistakes including me scoring on a PK dump but overall goal scoring feels good (apart from the celebrations of course!).

One other thing i'm really pleased about is faceoffs, on 13 I couldn't find a happy medium with them at all. I would either win 70% or lose 70% but though 20 games im at 47% which i'm happy with.

Spent some good time in Be a GM now playing 16 games and whilst I still have the main gripes i've always had with the mode there are some nice little additions. The edit lines screens are much better and easier to use, auto rotating goalies is a nice touch but even then they left my starter in for back to back games before bringing in my backup the game after. The message center brings a bit of life to the mode but does seem like a token effort more than anything else. The biggest improvement is the speed in getting around the menus, last year was painful but it's so much quicker now.

Presentation is stale, we all know that but at this point it is what it is and it's not that bad. It just needs freshening up.

I'll probably still get bored of the game playing offline but for now at least it's fun and heading into my sports games rotation of FM, FIFA, Madden and The Show.