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

[bwiggy33]

Sorry for the double post gentlemen but I think I am on to something in regards to easy zone entry. I'm messing around with the strategies as I described in the post above. I no joke just had three instances where a dman stepped up at the blue line and crushed me to get me off the puck. I was in such shock that I couldn't even see it coming or anything. I'm not sure what setting or slider is doing it but I'm trying to nail down which one or what ones they are. As of now I'm thinking the settings affecting this area are Neutral Zone, D Pressure, and D Strategy. I'm just thinking something in those three settings is making the D be aggressive at their own blue line. I'm trying to really narrow it down. I'm still a bit unsure of what the NZ slider does.

Here are the settings I have for the Rangers, who are the CPU in the game I am playing.

Forecheck: 2-3 (Always leave this setting at 2-3 otherwise you will see one player forecheck and everyone else hang out in the neutral zone)

Neutral Zone: 1-4 (just messing around with this to see how each one reacts)

NZ: I left it on 3 clicks *Changes during the game depending on situation

OFF Pressure: Standard * Changes during the game depending on situation

D Pressure: Normal *Changes during the game depending on situation

D Strategy: Tight Point *Changes during the game depending on situation

PK: Large Box

PP: Shooting

PP Carry: 3

For all of the D pairings I have them as the exact same for now. I'm just playing around with it. Here they are:

Hold line: 3 clicks

Cycle: 7 Clicks

If anyone wants to try and test this stuff out go for it. I think it would be a huge help. The problem is the 2 minute periods is just so short. Plus you have to redo the settings before every single game. I seriously think I may be on to something with this though. For some reason these strategy sliders seem to work way better than last gens. I don't ever remember seeing anything like what I just saw tonight, in last gen. Hopefully I'm not getting over hyped for nothing but I did just see things with this game I've never seen before from a Neutral zone/defensive pressure aspect.

I just noticed something new as well. So obviously some of these strategies change on the fly mid game. This is all tied to the CPU Strategy Adjustment slider. In game I noticed the Rangers had changed up how they played at the very beginning of the game. So after period 2, I switched to the Rangers side and looked at their strategies. Sure enough they had changed since the start of the game. Most of the strategies went towards a less pressure approach so I was gaining easy entry and wasn't being pressured in the O zone.

Since we don't have access to the CPU Strategy slider in the demo it will be very difficult to test this stuff out because of how fast the strategies can change in the demo. Now it's just making me want the game. I want to figure this out because with the couple examples I've seen tonight, some of the stuff that has pissed us off for so long may actually be fixable or at least partly fixable.

[decefay]

i have ONE gripe with this....after a goal in the nhl the players hug and congratulate each other all i want is this and this game is complete for me!

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I'm completely with you. I'm ready to see my Blues in action!

Glad your digging the game, Mizz! Yep, I´m looking foward to getting a Wild GM mode going.

[Splitter77]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

Anyway, sorry to be long winded. I just was playing and these things come to my mind. I keep checking my mailbox everyday for that paycheck from EA or the contract offer to work on the game... no luck yet. Hahaha. Peace!

nice write up again.
ha. maybe ill give you some $$ for saving me the $400+ i wouldve spent on a ps4 and this game.

[SeaNNyT]

Quote: Originally Posted by Keirik

Cpu passing is still far too accurate and pin point perfect. Cpu one times happen at will with power regardless of how off balance, out of position, or whatever with too high of a success. Pinball EA hockey.

This is a legacy issue they never address. Hockey is sloppy, pucks bounce and feather around.

This game resembles nothing of hockey, just an arcade version. All hardcore does is make your passes take stupidly wider angles to make it appear simulation, but that doesn't address poor puck physics and players that can spin around slap shot and show no weight or imbalance while doing so.

[MizzouRah]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hockeynut99

Too bad no miller

Actually.. it's about time Elliott gets a chance to be the #1.

[Keirik]

Quote: Originally Posted by SeaNNyT

This is a legacy issue they never address. Hockey is sloppy, pucks bounce and feather around. This game resembles nothing of hockey, just an arcade version. All hardcore does is make your passes take stupidly wider angles to make it appear simulation, but that doesn't address poor puck physics and players that can spin around slap shot and show no weight or imbalance while doing so.

What drives me nuts is that the cpu doesnt have to follow the same player physics or momentum. They react instantaneously to loose pucks without a nano second of hesitation that a human will have. To make matters worse, my cpu teammates have the hesitation that the cpu opposition doesnt, so it seems to be there lol.

[Gagnon39]

I finally played the demo last night for the first time. Here's my thoughts.

Pro's:

The jerseys didn't look nearly as bad as I thought they would. In fact, I thought they looked pretty good.

To me the game feels very different. One game wasn't really enough to put my finger on it but I did feel as though it was different.

The ice looks amazing and overall I was impressed with the graphics and especially the presentation.

Con's:

It didn't really wow me like I was hoping. After the second period I was kind of thinking, "meh."

The announcing will get repetitive, fast. I love Eddie Olczyk and Doc but I'm sure the first year with this team will have limited lines and therefore be even more repetitive that Thorne and Clement. I'm not sure if it's possible for a sports game to have good commentary that doesn't get stale.