NHL 15 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions (Xbox One, PS4)

[kellkasey]

Very fun. Presentation is 100x better than any other version of NHL. Very immersive.

Shot speed is amped up but sliders will fix that.

I typically play with Action or Ice cam, both those options seem a little zoomed out compared to last year. I hope camera customization is in the full retail version. I'd like to use dynamic low and zoom in a bit.

Disappointed in the loss of modes and the recent "bad news" but I'm looking forward to the game, this demo has made me feel even more confident.

[Södy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThaLiveKing

Hardcore Style Game play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGNp...ature=youtu.be

I liked what I saw there. 2 things I noticed:

- the cutscenes. Lundqvist moves without moving his legs at the beginning. That is awful. I rather have prerenedered cutscenes than this ****
- they make a big boost in presentation and the fans. I would like more noise when the home team is on the PP.

[socalbeast08]

not enough to make me buy the current gen version. Nothing really stands out other than presentation. Arenas are barely noticeable during gameplay and the music is horrid. light em up by fallout boy is only for philly. i think previous gen is good enough to get my hockey fix until sony and microsoft figure out the mp3 issue on current gen consoles and EA adds otp and eashl.

[18 eighty 5]

Finally about ready to give it a go.

[bigwill33]

I don't feel like I should do a full write-up of impressions from the demo, especially when EA Access is in just over a week and will give me a more in-depth perspective.

But I know a few people were asking for and looking forward to my thoughts on the game, so here are some quick thoughts and observations without going into too much depth or detail. Just let me know if you would like me to expand on anything.


This is after about 3 hours of playing. All on All-Star with Hardcore and Simulation settings.

Positives:
-I really like the flyovers and new presentation with the NBC overlays and such. Adds much life and depth for me.

-Hits were not as over the top as I had feared they would be, but they weren't great either.

-Goal horns are a great touch.

-Pucks are more alive and sloppy plays do happen. The puck rolling on end is beautiful. Some more sloppy goals do occur as a result, which is much needed. Also neat to see a puck jump over a stick.

-Backhanders are lethal again. They were nearly neutralized the last 2 years. They are almost too powerful with how easily they are elevated.

-I wasn't forced into any fights as a result of big hits.

-Catching a d-man flat footed as you change direction with an attacking player is a great feeling.

-You can really get the goalie down and out with dekes if you do them right, but this is also a negative to an extent.

-Ice degradation is good to see. The snow piles up in practice mode. And the clean shave for the shootout is subtle, but a good detail.

-The CPU players skate a bit more realistically now. You don't see as much of the skating with the width of their blades or turn arounds in their own zone when trapped and then a sideways movement that is impossible on skates and a super pass out of danger. You can trap them and force turnovers.

-The CPU speed cheat seems to be a tad turned down as well. But I am sure one tuner set could set this back to crap.

-Doughty is a beast! If someone carries the puck near him it is now your puck haha. He truly feels different than every other defenseman in the game. This is a good thing.

-Poke checking is for real, probably over powered though. If you don't like being poke checked spammed you will not care for this.

-The "tying up" that plagued this game for years isn't prevalent in this version so far to me. Not sure if it was removed, but boy I hope so. Nothing more stupid than having some unrealistic suction preventing you from moving in front of the net. Boxing out is one thing, but what was programmed into this game was not hockey! Hopefully it is gone and not just a case of the CPU unwilling to do it to other CPU players.


Negatives:
-Goalies are nearly exactly the same as they were on last gen. Same animations and cheese/money goals work.

-Passing in the direction I was asking for was not always as responsive as I would like.

-Too easy to deke and get gap on the defenders.

-St. Louis got pinned on the end boards in the attacking zone and in one motion kicked the puck to the slot for a one timer goal. This is nearly impossible in real life and shouldn't be in the game!

-Same old penalty animations! Awful. Lack of diversity in penalty calls. And not enough CPU penalties.

-There is absolutely no reason to ever dump in the puck as a human. Even if you are making a line change. There are free zone entries every single time, just like there has been for years now. Just carry over the blue line every time if you'd like. In fact you can skate up the boards in the neutral zone with ease as well.

-Injuries are confusing. Ferraro mentions them somewhat, but you don't get any replays or notifications. This needs to be updated.

-No real close ups of the bench or coaches. Didn't hardly see any close up fan shots.

-The jersey flapping doesn't bother me, but the lack of nameplates is brutal! Makes them look cheap. Some of the numbering on the backs look too far apart or wonky at times too.

-The puck doesn't go out of play as often as it does in real life. Some of the deflections off of a goalies blocker, a crossbar, or missed dump/deflection from sticks should result in the puck going over the end boards, but it is rarely seen.

-I'm not scoring on slappers much. I don't take many, but the d should be able to get a few on and in.

-General shot power seems a tad fast. There are times where you don't even see the puck but just the animation of a goalie gloving it. Doesn't appear to really affect gameplay though.

-A lot of the gameplay does feel exactly the same. The replayability of this game will likely suffer as a result. Truly a shame that online modes are lacking because playing against the same AI after all of these years is boring!!!

-Face-offs are exactly the same as last gen.

-Stick lifts are nearly useless again. They often result in a penalty. Even when they do pop a stick up the puck carrier usually gets their stick back down first somehow.

-Goalie interference is still called wrong. They won't call the penalty unless there is a disallowed goal in some instances.

-Goalie passing is too overpowered again!

Other Observations:
-Commentary is whatever to me, I am sure no matter who is in the booth it would get old with how much I play. you will most likely be skipping over the green screen and intro after a few times. But it is much better than it was and the live video is better to me than wasting time rendering a city or the announcers.

-Penalty Killing is hard. You really have to be disciplined. Watch for cross creases by the CPU and don't give up the slot!

-They removed the one-armed deke where you can hold the stick out with the puck on the end of it, kind of like doing the Forsberg/Datsyuk move. (probably a good decision)

-The CPU dumps the puck in a lot. IF you stack the line they will dump the puck in the majority of the time. That is good, but they seemed to rush it sometimes and it wasn't always realistic.

-I had a rolling puck heading towards the net on Lundqvist and I split the d-men from the far blue line and was laying on the speed burst with Gaborik. Henrik came out to play it (he is a little too active playing pucks versus how he actually is in real life) and I dove to try and tip it from his stick. I had too much speed and wiped his legs out and he fell on me. McDonaugh rushed down and dropped his gloves to try and fight me, but I declined and we both got roughing minors. He should still get an extra for dropping his gloves, but it was neat to see at least.

-I curled into the lane with Gaborik and fired a wrister that hit something and bounced up to his hip, he quickly gloved it down and dropped it at his feet and took another stride or two and used a screen to beat Lundqvist top shelf. It was pretty neat to see.

-The 2 minute periods really leave little chance to set things up and get a real taste of hockey. The game goes straight to a shootout when tied. I didn't see any improvements in being able to choose your shooters for the shootout.

-Puck went into the benches and Chicken Parm joked that it nearly hit him but went over his head. You can see him between the benches.

-When retrieving a dumped puck in the defensive zone it is now harder to gain the separation from the forechecker, even if you curl out from the corner. This puts a little more pressure to move the puck precisely.

-It is neat and sometimes funny to see two teammates collide or have multiple man collisions. This could be a real stinkshow when OTP gets added.

-Not much need for d-to-d passing when attempting a breakout, it is more north-south this year. Not sure if that is a good thing yet or what.

That is all for now, going to play a little more before I call it a night. Never did finish the hours left on my Madden EA Access. I was so worried about burning through them I only played about 2 games so I wouldn't waste time, but was so busy I didn't get to play any more. I hope we get more than 6 hours with NHL though, not likely I would imagine. I will add another other points/issues I come across though.

[meep316]

Quote: Originally Posted by ddhex27

Restrictive lateral movement resulting in a limited, stiff, unresponsive feeling when trying to deke. It's not one to one stick movement like in the past, it's just a short left and right deke. Almost like they are missing animations so they didn't make the right stick do anything other than left and right. If you move the right stick in clockwise motions it does a scripted "canned" move similar to pressing the LB when you are skating.

That sounds horrendous but I'll have to try it out for myself.



Also, great write up BigWill. I'm not going to address it all point by point, but I read it all, twice. Looking forward to playing it myself in the next week or so once I get my Xbox One.

One thing I will touch on though, is you said that playing against that same AI that we've always had has gotten old. So their whole "built the AI from the ground up" thing was BS, as suspected?

Also, have you noticed 2 on 1s, or odd man rushes in general, have they been improved? Do your AI teammates know where to go to open themselves up to receive a pass? Do they skate to space on breakouts?

Those one timers from the wrong side, you know the one I mentioned before, I saw that occur a couple of times with people on twitch, good god is it infuriating to watch, lol. Looks AWFUL. I did though like how on a lot of the goals that I saw go in, the puck had a much more noticeable "rocket out of the net" animation. That is crucial to me in terms of realism. Even wrist shots in real life, come flying out of the back of the net.

I also like what I've seen with the shot speed. Some people have said it's too fast, but I think it looks perfect.

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by meep316

One thing I will touch on though, is you said that playing against that same AI that we've always had has gotten old. So their whole "built the AI from the ground up" thing was BS, as suspected? Also, have you noticed 2 on 1s, or odd man rushes in general, have they been improved? Do your AI teammates know where to go to open themselves up to receive a pass? Do they skate to space on breakouts? Those one timers from the wrong side, you know the one I mentioned before, I saw that occur a couple of times with people on twitch, good god is it infuriating to watch, lol. Looks AWFUL. I did though like how on a lot of the goals that I saw go in, the puck had a much more noticeable "rocket out of the net" animation. That is crucial to me in terms of realism. Even wrist shots in real life, come flying out of the back of the net. I also like what I've seen with the shot speed. Some people have said it's too fast, but I think it looks perfect.

To touch on your points:

Firstly, "...from the ground up" I think is a term that gets tossed around much too often in this industry anymore. In dealing with The Show and Madden, as well as NCAA and NHL over the years, I have seen that get mentioned so many times it is truly a video game cliche now.

However, often is it misunderstood what the developers mean when they say "built from the ground up". Technically anything that isn't a direct port and copied from an older game/build is new. So even when the consumers see exactly the same animations or stadium architecture that they have seen before it may have actually been completely recoded and rewritten and reprogrammed, but it just may have been based off of what was already known.

This was most evident in the MLB The Show next gen game. A lot of things looked exactly the same in that game in terms of how it played and felt. However, it was explained that most of it was new and rebuilt from scratch. Sometimes they fear losing their style and making it too different with player models and the likes, I believe. But often I think what really happens is they spend all of this time building games that are just too similar to what we have had before and it gets stale. But technically it is "built from the ground up". I fear that this may be what has happened in the NHL franchise this year.



As for 2 on 1's, yes it is better from what I have seen already. Not perfect, but they do drive the net and open themselves up for the pass or one-timer. The CPU will especially do this when attacking your d if you pull someone out of position and don't cover them properly.

Breakouts are about the same, they skate to space I guess, but it seems to be the same spaces they have always been of late to me. Sometimes I play on a camera angle that is too tight to see the whole ice and have to assume they are in an area, I make that nice pass over and there is no one there ha. That is frustrating. I think it is pretty similar to before in this regard. But the attack is better, as I mentioned.


And it is not that the increased speed isn't realistic, it is that there isn't as much variety and diversity in the shot speed. You really don't notice anyone being more powerful with their snap shots or wristers. They don't have those pucks that slide along the ice as much any more, which is shame because they could finally really have them be live on a shot with stick deflections and interactions with the ruts, snow, and skates on the way towards the net.

But as you mentioned the pucks going into the net are better looking. They might be a little less live after hitting the net than is realistic. They don't drop and spin or move as much sometimes as they do in real life. But I don't think it takes anything away, personally.

[18 eighty 5]

I have played about 11 or 12 games back to back with an even amount on Pro and All Star switching teams each time. The game is ok. Not great, not really, really good, it is ok.

The skating is different through the controller as is the skill stick and this changes the feel of the game somewhat. Really like how the the puck is not a magnet for the CPU anywhere near as much as previous versions and how it is now a part of the game to retain the puck if you are pinned to the boards and win it back if the CPU is pinned. Also totally agree that the puck seems looser and can be knocked off sticks and slide freely until it is collected by a player.

Passing by the CPU is much more realistic and can be broken up and they actually miss passes. There is also a more evident differentiation between a fast skating winger moving forward vs a back skating defenseman. It is possible to get by the D on speed.

Puck physics are waaaaay better.

The area of concern which is partly disguised due to the different feel of the game is the collision physics. I feel this is still weighted to the CPU's advantage. They can crush, shove, knock my players off the puck but I don't get the same in return. I can land big hits but the other stuff is uneven and feels like the old bubble protection just with a better disguise.

In nearly 50 periods of play the CPU committed one penalty. Don't know if anyone else has had issues again with the CPU getting called for penalties?

I think the commentary is better than I was expecting and is pretty good considering how it sounded on the game play vids we got a week or so ago. The game intro's are cool and a welcome addition and there seems to be 2 or 3 different cityscapes in rotation.

The ice looks nice and so do the cut play close ups but other than that I don't think the graphics look any better than on 360 or PS3 during play. The ice though does look better.

Again, for me, the game is just ok. It feels different but the more I played it the more it felt like the old things were still in there just hidden a bit better. The skating doesn't feel as free flowing and I am not sure if that is for better or worse, to each their own, but for me it just feels different in a neutral way.

Still not convinced any further whether or not I will get it. I am off to church and will give the demo another shot some other time.