NHL 16 E3 Hands-On Impressions (Quick Look)

[djhallberg38]

There were a few gripes I had with NHL 15. The first one being the lack of focus put into the post goal celebrations. I could care less about controlling the type of celebrations my player performs, but I would rather see more realistic reactions to what is happening on the ice. In reality, when a player scores in an NHL game, it's a big deal nearly every time it happens, unless the goal is scored in a rout. I believe it would add so much more to the realism and atmosphere, if the developers were able to include 3,4 & 5 man goal celebrations that have some contextual meaning. For example, if a game is tied at 1-1 and you score a goal in the final minutes of the game, you should see your on ice teammates swarm you pushing you into the boards, jumping into the pile to celebrate such a climactic finish. This should also hold true if you are winning by 4 goals and score a relatively meaningless goal at the end of the game. There should still be some celebrating, but much more subdued. If FIFA can have 7 + man goal celebrations, why can't NHL?? My other issue I have with NHL 15 is the lack of realism when it comes to the board play. This is not emphasized nearly enough. Games are many times won or lost in real-life, when a team can dominate board play. This would also help in keeping unrealistic shot stats down as well, if there were several times throughout a game where the puck is being battled for along the boards. I really hope that EA follows these forums and takes our comments to heart. I love the NHL series and just want to see it become as close to a simulation as possible.

[djhallberg38]

bigwill33 - Awesome post !! I agree 100% with everything you said.

I would also like to know if we will ever see the real goalie masks for the star goalies, instead of the generic team logo masks that have been a staple in this series for years now. It would be awesome to have the ability to customize your goalie masks in more depth.
Afterall, most NHL goalies have in some cases 3-4 different mask designs that they switch off depending on home/away games or for the post season. This of course lower priority than the game play suggestions being made, but again would really add to the realism that we all want in this game.

[Caniac94]

Quote: Originally Posted by djhallberg38

bigwill33 - Awesome post !! I agree 100% with everything you said. I would also like to know if we will ever see the real goalie masks for the star goalies, instead of the generic team logo masks that have been a staple in this series for years now. It would be awesome to have the ability to customize your goalie masks in more depth. Afterall, most NHL goalies have in some cases 3-4 different mask designs that they switch off depending on home/away games or for the post season. This of course lower priority than the game play suggestions being made, but again would really add to the realism that we all want in this game.

Me being the big Canes fan that I am I noticed in the trailer that Cam Ward had his actual mask in the game. That got me pretty happy. Guess EA got the license to use it. Wonder how many goalies will have their actual masks?

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by zuntac

Hey chaseB, thx for the Write up!!! You say, the Presentation is improved, can you say something about audio (does the crowd react to a power play for example, is the atmosphere during a game better than last year etc.) Thanks and sorry for my bad English

Hey, sorry but generally it's hard to hear stuff very well in the EA booth so I probably won't be able to answer that. I was just speaking from a visual perspective.

[brandon27]

Well, that sounds promising! Nice write up! Thanks!

[GrandMaster B]

No release date and pre-order yet? All of the other EA games have one.

[GrandMaster B]

Quote: Originally Posted by GrandMaster B

No release date and pre-order yet? All of the other EA games have one.

I should of clarified, digital pre-order.

[GROGtheNailer]

Ok, it sounds like they have the features that they should have had to begin with. Hopefully no one forgets how much EA screwed customers last year, do not forget that folks.

I have one question...defense...has there been any changes to make it better?