NHL 15 Available Now For EA Access Subscribers, Post Your Impressions

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by huntt26

In HUT, can you play solo vs CPU? if so, is it just individual games or are there tournaments/challenges?

There are no tournaments or challenges at this time, nor are there offline seasons like in other EA games.

The only two HUT modes in NHL 15 Early Access are online seasons and solo exhibitions against the CPU.

[Izzy Snow]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

Great post. I'm in the same boat as all those extra modes mean nothing to me. We're 12 pages in and there aren't a lot of actual gameplay impressions. I understand everyone's frustrations of what's not in the game, but can some people provide insight into what is in the game - namely gameplay?

I'm on the same boat as well. I'm a pick up and play kind of guy with hockey games. I'll probably play a lot of HUT & just grind out challenges to earn coins & players. Maybe drop $20 for packs : p

I don't mind that HUT is basically single player. I'm more into the collecting & earning the cards. I don't care to play against people.

But with that said, I understand the hardcore consumers reaction. It is still a bad look on EA to strip out so many modes. I imagine people will just pick up the last-gen version.

[gopher_guy]

Be A GM impressions would be greatly appreciated.

[Majingir]

Can you use things like the roster tools and stuff that people used for NHL13-14, on the NHL 15 roster file?

[bigwill33]

Here are the gameplay impressions from my time with NHL 15 today.

If you spend any amount of time playing this game you will come to the realization that your computer teammates will be at fault for 75% of your goals against. Meaning that no matter what you do without the puck as a defender there will be something that the game does that goes against the instincts of an actual hockey player to take themselves out of position that results in a costly mistake. The lesser eye might not catch these instances, but a coach or player will pick up them real soon when dissecting the reason behind the goals against.



Dallas at Pittsburgh (Me). 6 min periods. All Star/Hardcore, default settings except bumped goalie cover puck slider up.

Won 5-4 in OT. Shots were 21-15 Penguins.

-Not a single penalty was called.

-Hemsky got hurt.

-They still don't know, or let you assign, who to take the face-offs when it is 4-4. I took the opening face-off of OT with Kunitz while Crosby lined up at LW. They won the face-off and came down and nearly scored.

-All of their goals were a result of no help from my backside D covering their man properly. They refuse to get in between of them, the puck, and the net. I often use the strong/puck side man to go and try and poke the puck loose or square up to take away lanes. Or I will bring the lowest forward down, F3, and play the lanes properly, but this does me no good anymore because my CPU is braindead in helping me.

-I scored that stupid short side goal that has been in the game for years. The one where you skate with a right handed shot down the right side, off of the right post, the d man cuts off the center of the ice and the goalie should be squared up with you, but if you you flick the stick in like a wrist deke towards the middle of the goal and then pull back and roof it short side the goalie neglects to cover the top corner on the extreme short side. Should never be a goal! Not with the d man taking away any potential from me cutting across and no option to pass across. The goalie should respect that post every single time! Awful!

-I recorded the tying goal by Dallas. Benn got pinned below the goal line and instantaneously kicked the puck into the slot where he had a man cutting, who happened to beat my CPU player again, easy short side goal, even though there would have never been any reason for Fleury to leave that same side post. If I can upload the video I will show you what I mean. It is just unrealistic crap at its best.

-Way too many times does the goalie do that desperation save where he pushes off from his knees/front of his pads and lunges out across the crease, like a short stop in the hole. Looks awful and works too often. That should be a once in ten games animation, at best.

-I was able to get to more loose pucks on offense than in the demo. Maybe it was just the Pens forecheck, but the puck seemed more alive and free.

-You can see career stats in the menus, in game, during the line change menus after pausing. The stats are not listed in a way in which you can see what team the players played for, however, just the league and year.

-While including the players stats and age and all that they neglected to put their jersey number in those same menus. Kind of a strange oversight.

-You will be happy to know that I broke a world record!: Not a single puck went out of play during my entire game. A first in the history of hockey! Do you know how many pucks go over the boards and glass in a real game? This is absurd to me, quite honestly. It just screams of EA wanting to not "bore" people with realism. Probably the same reason why the CPU goalies play the puck so much by default instead of freezing like a normal goalie would.

-Every player can pretty much pull off all of the dekes again. Nothing like coming down and dangling between your own legs with the likes of a superstar like Brandon Sutter. Yawn. At least we can edit the players so that we can see a greater discrepancy in talent... oh, wait.

-Top tiered defensemen do have a better ability of poking the puck loose though. Which is good, but let's be honest. A stick is a stick. If I am out on the ice one on one against an NHL player in real life and I close the gap and put my stick down for a poke check the puck won't go through my stick just because I suck compared to an NHL player. It shouldn't happen in this game either.

-Once again, you can work, work, work to set up a beautiful scoring chance and fake 3 players out of their jocks and then slide a last second, no look, pass, back door and across the crease and the goalie will save that 95 times out of 100. But come down and skate straight with a 4th liner that is not even on a good angle to score and his handedness takes away even more of his shooting angle and somehow you can snipe short side all day? What is that now, 5 or 6 years that this has been that way?

-Presentation is pretty much what you saw in the demo. The NBC stuff is nice and the live video helps me with the emersion. Commentary is not really any more in-depth from the demo. That isn't all that important to someone that plays a game as much as I do. It will be old and repetitive no matter who is calling it in about a week anyway. I will miss custom music and sounds though, that is a bummer, but it is mostly the console's faults for that. Although with their track record I am not sure EA would have had that feature in the game regardless of the console's capabilities.

-Menus have a slight lag to their responsiveness.



2nd game: 7 minute periods Penguins (Me) at Lightning
All Star Hardcore. Increased goalie freeze puck slider and maxed out penalty slider as well as cpu penalty slider.

Score: 5-3
Shots: 25-20
TOA: 7:18-6:16
Passing: 66%-78%
Faceoffs: 14-15
Powerplays: 0-3


Game notes and observations.

-The CPU did not take one minor penalty despite the maxed out sliders. I set up in their zone often.

-I took 2 tripping penalties as a result of poke checking. My CPU controlled Letang took a holding call for pinning someone without the puck on defense. Gave up a PP goal on the first call and scored a shorty on the second.

-Gudas fought Sutter after Sutter collided with Nick Johnson in the neutral zone. Perhaps Gudas would do that in real life, but once again I did not have the option to not fight.

-Someone dropped the gloves with Beau Bennett after he collided with Ben Bishop and knocked him over. No penalty on the play, but I was forced into yet another fight with someone that really doesn't fight. Thought this was removed. Guess I will need to lower the fighting slider to nothing.

-2 pucks went out of play. 2! And get this; they were both on dump-ins from the neutral zone, by me, when I held the RB a little too long before releasing. A couple of pucks went high off of the glass from being blockered on a save where I thought it was going out, but nope. This is ridiculous.

-I still have not really scored on a slapper from the point, including in the demo. The CPU hasn't scored on me in that manner either.

-Too many clean glove saves, especially from point blank.

-They removed the ability to wear the now defunct "Bolts" 3rd jersey for the Lightning, although there were plenty of fans in the stands wearing it. Odd. I don't like when games take jerseys and uniform sets out of the game!

-Empty net goals are sure things again after you carry the puck over the opposing blue line and let go of the sticks. The defenders just back off the puck carrier as if they still have a goalie in net. There is no contextual awareness here. Been that way for a long time and it is awful. You can often score 2 empty net goals per game with a 1 goal lead late in the 3rd. I only scored the one in this game because of time limitations.

-Every goal the CPU scored on me was once again a result of the backside defender losing their man and an easy pass for a one touch goal or pass to a low slot area where the player can snipe with ease. You get punished for playing smart hockey and keeping the play in front of you because your AI teammates cannot do the same.

-I played all styles of defense to try and counter this and gave up goals on each of the staggered, high point, and collapsing defense settings.

-On staggered the CPU had a 2 on 3 while entering the zone that became a 3 on 3. I controlled the center high, which was Malkin, and contained the puck near the blue line. Scuderi had the far guy down low and Letang had the next guy coming over the line that was making a b-line towards the short side of the net. I continued to contain with Malkin when all of the sudden Letang leaves his man and skates up towards the point almost as if he wants to cover my guy that I have a good containing gap on. This leaves the main in front wide open, my guy sauces a pass past me and around the out of position Letang for an easy same side goal against Fleury. WTF!?

-Your AI is brutal, EA!

-I cannot get my CPU teammates to forecheck half of the time, but on the PK they will. Including an offensive zone face-off on the PK where Crosby tied the guy up (why he is killing penalties is beyond me) and Dupuis gave up his defensive positioning by going under the dot to the same side corner as they gained possession and subsequently had an easy outlet pass on the PP attack as a result of Dupuis' action.

-I noticed more ice degradation with the longer periods. Nice touch.

[knich]

Quote: Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I played on 10 minute periods and saw pucks go out of play as well as 3 penalties for Carolina and 2 for the Blues. There was also alot of icing and more offsides than I saw in 10 games with NHL 14.

Agree..I've played 10 min periods (default penalty slider) and there are not only a lot of penalties but also variety. I've seen tripping, slashing, boarding, interference, fighting, delay of game (had 5 on 3) and perhaps others.

[knich]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

If I played 10 minute penalties my score would have been 9-7. It was 5-4 on 6 minute periods. I am going to play one more right now on 7 minute penalties. Trying to get shots between 24-33 per side for the game. A 5-4 score when shots were like 22-15 is not good. And I don't shoot just to shoot, I carry in and set up, usually cycle, work it back to the points if need be, and sometimes settle for a shot. Never carry in and fire unless the clock is running out. When I set up as much as I do and have time on attack numbers of 8 mins to 4 mins I should draw a penalty or two. You maxed out the slider to get your results on 10 minute periods. I will try bumping the penalty slider up for this game and see what happens.

One plus this year the shots and hits seem to normalize based on the period minutes. So far I've played 5 and 10 min periods and have had totals about 30 shots/game. I am playing on hardcore and all-star though.

[Majingir]

Another thing I forgot to ask....what is the full soundtrack for NHL15?