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

[Gerg04]

Quote: Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Had to turn manual passing off in hardcore mode though.. I don't have time to hold the trigger to make good long passes.

This made me lol....

Anyways, doesn't seem like a ton of people playing early access. Wish we could get some more impressions. The demo has started to grow on me but I'm still not completely sold.

[pirateelephant]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gerg04

This made me lol.... Anyways, doesn't seem like a ton of people playing early access. Wish we could get some more impressions. The demo has started to grow on me but I'm still not completely sold.

I played all 6 hours of early access. The non-gameplay part of the game is not very good. But the actual gameplay is very fun, especially if you enjoyed previous iterations. I feel the skating is much more fluid and weighted without feeling too restrictive. I also like the little subtleties I am noticing with the head fakes and deking. The puck physics are really good, other than the some times around the net glitching in and through the net, but counting as goals. The hitting is overdone( as expected) but it seems like a big hit or defensive play can lead to really good transition plays. Also it seems like setting up the play in the zone is better. The players physics is pretty good but can get wonky at times. Graphics look fairly good, facial animations are almost cartoonish. HUT was really fun, it's a lot different playing with scrubs, more loose pucks/missed passes as well as shots going wide. The commentating seems off. Doc does 90% of it. Olzcyck(sp) barely says anything. It feels like studio time was very very limited for the pair. They say him a lot more than saying players names. Ex. "he moves the puck deep into the zone".

Ratings with my time with the game so far.

Audio:5.8/10 (music seems missing, and commentary has holes)
Graphics: 8/10 (looks good and all, but it has no wow factor)
Gameplay: 8.3/10 (is fun, ai is better(far from great) the little differences make it fresh enough to be enjoyable.
Menus, and modes: 4/10 very barebones and the game almost seems like a prototype.

Verdict: 7/10


My hopes for the futrue of the series:


I think the best thing the nhl team could do other than add game modes back is to start to add individual animations or player(player type) specific animations and moves. The more variety added to teams and players the better the game will feel/ and the more realistic it will be. I also think it would appeal to casuals if you get to play as Ovechkin who plays and skates completely differently than Crosby. And both players are completely different than anyone else in the league. Make me feel like I am playing as the players and through this it will make me feel like i am playing as the teams I am playing as. Also when they add EASHL back if players have different abilities and nuances it will make players have to actually fill a role more specifically.

[CujoMatty]

k I need help. I remember why I stopped playing this franchise a couple years ago. I know im not that great at the game but I keep losing BS games because the cpu goalie is ridiculous while my goalie stinks horribly and my ai teammates stand around while the cpu scores one timer after one timer. I thought I almost had a win 2 games ago. I was up 6 to 3 with 5 minutes left and the cpu scored 3 terrible goals to send it into overtime where the cpu scored 10 seconds in because my team just stood there watching their player win the draw and skate around my whole team.
this last game I out shot the cpu 43 to 19 and im talking one timers, screens, powerplay 5 on 3, nothing. I mean lunqvist is good but it was unreal. im playing on pro level!!!!!!!
im so tired of dominating the cpu and still losing someone help save this game for me.

[Gagnon39]

Quote: Originally Posted by pirateelephant

other than the some times around the net glitching in and through the net, but counting as goals.

Wait, what!? Can you explain this?

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Qb

Will, can you play one with aggression raised to 5 or 6 in addition to the other changes you made? Looked like the default is 3, which is too low for a competitive game.

Okay, finally got around to playing this. I played the Ducks in Anaheim with Pittsburgh. Lost 3-2 in OT. My first loss in this game.

This was by far the best game that I have played so far in terms of realism and puck looseness.

I dominated in the first period. 2-0. Shots were 11-2 in favor of me. I drew 3 penalties in the first alone. I was worried it was going to be another blowout. Then in the second I started getting calls against me and they came back with 2 PP goals. The second was kinda lame because I poked it from the guy 3 times and he kept getting it back and the final time just shot it short side for the goal from the high right circle.

Things were pretty highly contested after that, with lots of dump-ins and line changes to get match-ups based on situations.

Overall, they would up scoring in OT because once again the backside CPU D-man on my team refused to even look at the guy just past the top of the crease that took the pass from the side for the one-timer goal. I had perfect containment 4 on 4 in my own zone otherwise, but this just continually happens.

I wasn't as mad this time as it was a good game overall.

The shots totals were too low for a 7 minute period game, but with the shot accuracy sliders being lowered that is probably part of the reason. Shots were 19-18 in my favor.

Once again, there was not one puck over the glass or out of play.

Lowering the goalie reaction helps a lot, but I still got that stupid desperation save where the goalie looks like he is trying to catch a tray of dishes falling over as he lunges out. Maybe raising the reaction would reduce that animation, but I don't want robo goalies for either side.

I still can't score with a slap shot from the point at all. Hit a post though and did have a nice deflection goal along the ice that slid 5-hole on a shot from the point that Sutter touched as it slid near him.

I lowered fighting to nothing and was much happier with that.

Aggressiveness being raised didn't seem to do much though, they just tried to hit me more if I tried to carry past them without going wide as I came into their zone with the puck. They still never once contested my gaining of the blue line resulting in easy entry and setting up my offensive all game. This lead to a great time on a attack discrepancy early on in the game and thus the penalties being called.

If you are not seeing penalties being called it is most likely because you are not setting up in the offensive zone and playing keep away. If I really wanted to I could play keep away all game so long as my AI teammates keep moving and feed off of where I go with the puck and as long as EA doesn't decide to just make my pass go wherever they want regardless of where I am aiming.

But once I stopped setting up and got to the lower lines and tried to dump and play the forecheck and defend the breakout against then I stopped seeing the calls in my favor and it resulted in less chances for my scoring as I wasn't simply carrying the puck into the zone and making one or two passes to shift their attack and gain a shooting lane.

But whatever the reason that game was more fun to me. If I could get things to play like that against the CPU all of the time, or more often, I would be a happy guy with the AI for now. It still needs major work in a lot of areas, but that was passable for a change.

It is just a shame that there is no way to get these sliders to work online or any mode that is complete enough to justify my purchase of this game right away or perhaps I would keep tuning the sliders to try and find something that could hold my attention for more than 3 weeks.

But as it stands now, I honestly do not see how those who are even enjoying this game for what it actually is will have their attention and enthusiasm towards it not heavily dwindled by Halloween time. There is just no replay value in what is in this game right now for most of us at all. And that statement is based on the as is part of the game. We have no idea what kind of bugs or issues await us as we get deeper into our GM modes. Stuff that has crept up in the past like sim stats being awful, lack of progression, game advancement freezes when simming, horrible AI trade logic, missing players, and the list can go on and on.

But for now these were just some more gameplay impressions as I know several people on here have been looking for in-depth reporting of how the game actually is when played. Perhaps this week I will try and stream a game so that some of you could watch and see the issues and good things that I am noticing when playing as well.

[Madwolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by cujomatty

k I need help. I remember why I stopped playing this franchise a couple years ago. I know im not that great at the game but I keep losing BS games because the cpu goalie is ridiculous while my goalie stinks horribly and my ai teammates stand around while the cpu scores one timer after one timer. I thought I almost had a win 2 games ago. I was up 6 to 3 with 5 minutes left and the cpu scored 3 terrible goals to send it into overtime where the cpu scored 10 seconds in because my team just stood there watching their player win the draw and skate around my whole team. this last game I out shot the cpu 43 to 19 and im talking one timers, screens, powerplay 5 on 3, nothing. I mean lunqvist is good but it was unreal. im playing on pro level!!!!!!! im so tired of dominating the cpu and still losing someone help save this game for me.

One big question: Do you use auto-aim or manual aim? That is one big area that helped me. Learn how to snipe the corners, and place shots low in traffic for tip ins, and rebounds. Rebounds are a huge part of real hockey, and they seem to be in NHL 15 as well from what I've seen from the demo.

On defense the computer has lit me up a few times this year as well, but the first thing you need to do is stop chasing the puck, and play in the lanes as you've seen the players in the NHL do.

On defense don't try to be an enforcer out there with every player in the ice. Your job isn't to lay out everyone on the enemy team, but to get the puck. Learn to use the poke check to free up the puck and cut off passes.

On defense keep your player between the puck and the goal, don't give them anything easy.

On defense know when to dump the puck past the blue line, or into the zone from the neutral zone. This will force the other team to reset, and can buy you valuable time to change your lines and get fresh bodies.

In NHL 15 it's more important to get the puck into the hands of your scorers. Guys with lower ratings will miss wide more often, so if at all possible get it to your go to guys, and set them up for quick cross-crease passes and a score.

Try to avoid going 1vs1 with the goalie unless you're on a break-away. The computer goalies are pretty good with a little defensive help. They can be deked for a quick score though.

Cycle the puck as much as possible and make the goalie move.

When you have guys in front of the goal blast the puck in down low and try and get the rebound goal or the tip in.

[CheapyD]

Sad to say it, but NHL 14 is just a better game all around. The gameplay and graphics improvements in 15 are slight, the announcers are worse, and so much of what made NHL 14 a complete package is missing.

[MizzouRah]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gerg04

This made me lol.... Anyways, doesn't seem like a ton of people playing early access. Wish we could get some more impressions. The demo has started to grow on me but I'm still not completely sold.

haha.. I have enough I'm trying to worry about then holding down buttons to gauge passing speed.