NHL 16 E3 Gameplay Trailer

[Vikes1]

NZ play and improved defensive ai? I sure hope so.

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

"The same scoring tactics from last year – wraparounds, screens, high slot shots – all seemed to still work." "Board play, face-offs, and passing feel largely the same as NHL 15" "Player ratings are still sky high, which gives the game very little in terms of player differentiation." These 3 things are essentially the core of how the game plays. If these aspects of the game are not fixed then nothing anyone else says should really matter.

Yeah, that one was a bummer for me too. The player editing not being shareable kind of put a damped on the roster party, but now that's definitely not helping matters. EA, why you do dis?

[bwiggy33]

I'm beginning to think EA believes their gameplay is good, or have somehow ran out of ideas on how to improve it. If the IGN article is true, it's a major let down on what quite frankly sounds and looks like a very promising game. To still be able to score on the same exact dekes and shots at the same rate is just puzzling. This will be the 10th year that the right, left, right deke (or vice versa) will go in nearly every single time, and on breakaways you still won't be able to score by just straight up shooting the puck.

Don't get me wrong, I love some of the additions they have put in this game. The extra details with the arenas (glass netting, mascots, horns, team specific, etc) are stuff I absolutely love in video games. That's what sets games over the edge and boosts the playability of a game IMO. However, this isn't accomplished if the on ice play continues to have the same issues every single year. I am sick of playing what feels like the same game over and over. I don't want to play Be A GM and feel like every game will be the same, except the players names and jerseys will be different than the last team I played. The game is just too dang predictable at this point because everyone looks and plays the exact same, and the same goals are scored over and over. I know people will say they still have time to fix this stuff, but that's bogus. Some of the same issues have been prevalent for 10 years, so I can't imagine they will get fixed in the next 2 months. It's so frustrating because some of the additions sound quite nice.

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by bwiggy33

I'm beginning to think EA believes their gameplay is good, or have somehow ran out of ideas on how to improve it. If the IGN article is true, it's a major let down on what quite frankly sounds and looks like a very promising game. To still be able to score on the same exact dekes and shots at the same rate is just puzzling. This will be the 10th year that the right, left, right deke (or vice versa) will go in nearly every single time, and on breakaways you still won't be able to score by just straight up shooting the puck. Don't get me wrong, I love some of the additions they have put in this game. The extra details with the arenas (glass netting, mascots, horns, team specific, etc) are stuff I absolutely love in video games. That's what sets games over the edge and boosts the playability of a game IMO. However, this isn't accomplished if the on ice play continues to have the same issues every single year. I am sick of playing what feels like the same game over and over. I don't want to play Be A GM and feel like every game will be the same, except the players names and jerseys will be different than the last team I played. The game is just too dang predictable at this point because everyone looks and plays the exact same, and the same goals are scored over and over. I know people will say they still have time to fix this stuff, but that's bogus. Some of the same issues have been prevalent for 10 years, so I can't imagine they will get fixed in the next 2 months. It's so frustrating because some of the additions sound quite nice.

EXACTLY! A million likes for this.

I have been saying this for years, too. Some time ago this game left the sport of hockey and became who could cheese the best vs who could defend the cheese the best. The game hasn't rewarded real hockey smarts and plays in quite some time.

Give any veteran player of the NHL series the controller and record them playing this game and tell them they have to score within the first 5 minutes, within 2 mins you will have seen 10 rushes up the boards with easy/uncontested entries into the zone, either a deke after crossing the blue line to get to the center of the ice/slot area, or slamming on the brakes on the half boards near the circles and an attempt to cut across to snipe top shelf short side.

If the puck is down low it is constant cross crease attempts that have only been nerfed and countered by dumbing down the passing and skill of the offense, rather than giving the defense the proper tools to defend.

Legacy issues will seemingly once again ruin an NHL game, unless EA has something hidden up their sleeves with gameplay fixes.

With everyone crying about player editing here what has been lost in all of this is that the core gameplay has been broken for a decade and continues to get passed over. Don't get me wrong, I am glad EA managed to get editing players into the game (something that is a staple and a given in every other sports game), but really it is just putting lipstick on a pig at this point. And player editing means absolutely nothing to a gamer such as myself, that plays 95%+ of his NHL online in Versus or Club/OTP.

Fix the gameplay, please!

[Devilsfan3026]

AI looks stupid in videos, AGAIN. They STILL have that idiotic animation of being able to let go a slapper while moving backwards, which is impossible to get off a good shot. The game play looks like the same old garbage, and by the sounds of Game Informer's piece, it's still plagued by many of the same issues. But lets get excited because features that should have been in last year are back, and because of getting that back they totally blew the game play. They'll make more money again, and keep churning out roster updates every year.

Until I see the goalies tighten up, the defense play properly and correct animations, then I'll be happy.

[AdamJones113]

Here's my (brief) take:

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

"The same scoring tactics from last year – wraparounds, screens, high slot shots – all seemed to still work." "Board play, face-offs, and passing feel largely the same as NHL 15" "Player ratings are still sky high, which gives the game very little in terms of player differentiation." These 3 things are essentially the core of how the game plays. If these aspects of the game are not fixed then nothing anyone else says should really matter.

My company's firewall blocked that website so thank-you for posting some snippets from the article.

I'm still going to try NHL16 when the demo releases, but reading this news could be the last nail in the coffin in regards to my interest in this series.
So many of us have begged for greater player differentiation and player types - not to mention a difference in team styles as well.

After years and years of asking for this, I think the message being sent from EA is crystal clear - they want the game to be played with the same 18 skaters on every team.
Nobody is different. Nobody stands out. Everything and every team is the same.

At this point, I'd just love to know why. Is it because they don't have the capabilities or resources to program better AI?
Is it because they found in their play-tests with rando's that the majority of users want every player to be the same?

I guess it doesn't matter. IIWII. The series has been basically the same since NHL08.

Again, I'm not giving out hope and I'm looking forward to the demo.
But if the game is mostly the same (AGAIN), I'll be buying PES 2016 for my console sports fix, and FHM2 for my hockey fix.

Oh how I wish Treyarch had stayed on with the NHL2K series.
I think if they had, we'd be talking about the NHL2K series in the same way people discuss The Show or NBA2K.

[sir psycho]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

"The same scoring tactics from last year – wraparounds, screens, high slot shots – all seemed to still work." "Board play, face-offs, and passing feel largely the same as NHL 15" "Player ratings are still sky high, which gives the game very little in terms of player differentiation." These 3 things are essentially the core of how the game plays. If these aspects of the game are not fixed then nothing anyone else says should really matter.

Bummer. The other stuff is looking nice, but if these 3 things are true, it looks like I won't be buying again this year.