NHL 16: Official Gameplay Balance Video, Trailer and Blog

[DJ NEO]

I just hate to see this back in NHL 16

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[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by DJ NEO

I just hate to see this back in NHL 16 ">

I was hoping that would be something that got better on Next Gen. One reason play looks so odd sometimes is that players move the same way, no matter what. Wide open in the middle looks the exact same as squeezing between a player and the boards. The never really play the puck in close. There's no subtle movement in the game. It's all or nothing.

[bigwill33]

You know how in hockey you often see players extend their arms to impede another player's momentum? There is nothing like that in this game.

Playing defense I always watch a puck carriers chest in a 1-1 situation. If he and I both have help I try and close the gap nearest the blue line and keep my stick on the ice. If he makes a move or a loose puck deke I match his body, all while staring at his chest because it won't lie or deceive me in which direction his body is going to go. Often they skate into me and I body up on them and ride them out of the play, usually off of the puck. Sometimes they try and drag the puck through me and I can get my feet moved fast enough to usually stop it, but even if I miss I have their body. As long as I don't impede them without the puck for more than a second nobody is calling interference because that is how you are taught to play defense.

None of that is replicated within this franchise's hockey experience.


The counter, as a puck carrier, is to sometimes chip it around your defender along the boards and sort of slingshot yourself by them as they backpedal. This is a controlled dump for a common zone entry in hockey.

This is also nowhere to be seen in the NHL.

In these pictures that DJ Neo has captured to show how bad the warping is and sticks going through the boards, is a perfect example of how defenders would extend an arm to shove a puck carrier or transition their weight. Knocking a puck carrier off balance opens them up for a poke check or stick lift, or even a stick pin down (which EA has no concept of).

Until they figure out a way to add these important subtleties to this series this game will just resemble something that is not true hockey. I can't even think of an analogy. Players that just bump into each other or completely crush each other with hits is not the way hockey is played. There is a method to contact. It is to establish space and momentum, not just to keep the puck away from the net.

Hockey is a game of angles and winning space to gain an angle is vital. In EA's hockey you skate straight up the boards and look for passing lanes towards the middle, every time.

Often the most simple of passes in real life are the hardest to make in this game, for some reason. Seeing a guy skating 4 to 7 feet in front of your guy and trying to get him the puck is an adventure. These are passes I can make with ease in real life. But if you need to backhand a pass up the boards, or out of the zone, without transitioning your weight as you really would, then EA seems to think that this is amazingly easy to perform. Apparently all guys have wrist and forearms of the hulk.

The physics in 15 are pretty wonky, too. Pucks don't go out of play off of sticks, goalies, or anything like you would normally see when in the offensive zone. I have also seen pucks that are passed from the defensive end out of the zone hit the boards in the neutral zone and then take off with even more momentum. As if the boards pushed the puck forward with even more force than it came into the boards with. Then the puck outraces everyone for an icing because of this slingshot physics that apparently NASA gave EA?

Point is, this game is lacking a lot of things. And with how behind they were after taking a year off on next gen from releasing a game to putting out a half-finished product in NHL 15, EA is struggling just to get all of the modes and features that were in last generation's iterations. Everything that I have mentioned should have been started to be addressed by now with where this game was 5 years ago. Instead they spin their wheels and focus on HUT or other parts of the game that don't fix or address their legacy issues.

The fact that they keep "refining" the skating should be a red flag, not a selling point. They can't seem to grasp the one concept that is uniform throughout the sport. They can't model different strides or skating styles based on individual players, either. I am glad that they are trying to fix these issues, but at the same time we are stuck with antiquated goaltender animations, a lack of true contact and neutral zone play, and a face-off system that hasn't been touched in half of a decade. Not to mention, pages and pages of things that have been taken out of this series that we don't know if we will ever get back in.

[Splitter77]

the skating animation at 43 sec by jackman is just pathetic

[kyussmanchu]

I said it after the fiasco called NHL15 last year, I'll say it again.

The entire DEV team needs to be re-assigned to new projects (or fired. Sorry, but if you release piss-poor products year after year, you deserve it) and the NHL franchise should get shipped off to a whole new DEV team and get re-built from the ground up.
Take a year or two off and give the fans the game they have been asking for. It's not rocket science!

Sorry, but until this happens, we are going see the same game year after year. They have gotten complacent and lazy in regards to innovation and instead focus on useless features like goalie fights and Youpee!
I hate to be negative, but what real choice do I have?

[actionhank]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

You know how in hockey you often see players extend their arms to impede another player's momentum? There is nothing like that in this game. Playing defense I always watch a puck carriers chest in a 1-1 situation. If he and I both have help I try and close the gap nearest the blue line and keep my stick on the ice. If he makes a move or a loose puck deke I match his body, all while staring at his chest because it won't lie or deceive me in which direction his body is going to go. Often they skate into me and I body up on them and ride them out of the play, usually off of the puck. Sometimes they try and drag the puck through me and I can get my feet moved fast enough to usually stop it, but even if I miss I have their body. As long as I don't impede them without the puck for more than a second nobody is calling interference because that is how you are taught to play defense. None of that is replicated within this franchise's hockey experience. The counter, as a puck carrier, is to sometimes chip it around your defender along the boards and sort of slingshot yourself by them as they backpedal. This is a controlled dump for a common zone entry in hockey. This is also nowhere to be seen in the NHL. In these pictures that DJ Neo has captured to show how bad the warping is and sticks going through the boards, is a perfect example of how defenders would extend an arm to shove a puck carrier or transition their weight. Knocking a puck carrier off balance opens them up for a poke check or stick lift, or even a stick pin down (which EA has no concept of). Until they figure out a way to add these important subtleties to this series this game will just resemble something that is not true hockey. I can't even think of an analogy. Players that just bump into each other or completely crush each other with hits is not the way hockey is played. There is a method to contact. It is to establish space and momentum, not just to keep the puck away from the net. Hockey is a game of angles and winning space to gain an angle is vital. In EA's hockey you skate straight up the boards and look for passing lanes towards the middle, every time. Often the most simple of passes in real life are the hardest to make in this game, for some reason. Seeing a guy skating 4 to 7 feet in front of your guy and trying to get him the puck is an adventure. These are passes I can make with ease in real life. But if you need to backhand a pass up the boards, or out of the zone, without transitioning your weight as you really would, then EA seems to think that this is amazingly easy to perform. Apparently all guys have wrist and forearms of the hulk. The physics in 15 are pretty wonky, too. Pucks don't go out of play off of sticks, goalies, or anything like you would normally see when in the offensive zone. I have also seen pucks that are passed from the defensive end out of the zone hit the boards in the neutral zone and then take off with even more momentum. As if the boards pushed the puck forward with even more force than it came into the boards with. Then the puck outraces everyone for an icing because of this slingshot physics that apparently NASA gave EA? Point is, this game is lacking a lot of things. And with how behind they were after taking a year off on next gen from releasing a game to putting out a half-finished product in NHL 15, EA is struggling just to get all of the modes and features that were in last generation's iterations. Everything that I have mentioned should have been started to be addressed by now with where this game was 5 years ago. Instead they spin their wheels and focus on HUT or other parts of the game that don't fix or address their legacy issues. The fact that they keep "refining" the skating should be a red flag, not a selling point. They can't seem to grasp the one concept that is uniform throughout the sport. They can't model different strides or skating styles based on individual players, either. I am glad that they are trying to fix these issues, but at the same time we are stuck with antiquated goaltender animations, a lack of true contact and neutral zone play, and a face-off system that hasn't been touched in half of a decade. Not to mention, pages and pages of things that have been taken out of this series that we don't know if we will ever get back in.

Angling guys into the boards, or away from the center of the ice would be huge. You can't do that at all in the NHL series. You get near enough, and you're either going to check, miss a check, or wind up with that little bump animation that leaves one of the two guys on a knee, with the other heading away with the puck.

Defense has gotten a needed offensive helping hand in the strafing, because honestly, the control of the puck at the blue line has been atrocious for a while not. Defenders needlessly pivot, often drawing the puck offsides as they pirouette for no good reason. But, defending itself is still frustrating. You're still stuck using only the poke check, and body check, and hoping that maybe you can block a shot. From the looks of things crowding passing lanes with your stick is still pretty much holding an arm out at full length and waving it around, without the ability to move it to a place it needs to be, and poke checking is still the equivalent of an arm-mounted pinball plunger, where you fire it out in a general direction and hope to get puck instead of skates, or air.

Defense needs an equivalent to the analog controls offered for the offensive deke, and they need it badly. Clearing the puck off of the boards is almost non-existent, but in real life, it's such a crucial thing. You can't easily fire it off of the glass or boards, with your best representation of it being to wind up for a slapper, and hope your defender faces up ice. Even then, you're likely to just completely ice the puck. Defense is entirely too two-dimensional.

[Simple Mathematics]

The biggest problems with the game, which are still apparent in the video:

1. Lack of neutral zone pressure. This causes a lack of dump and chase or flicking the puck off the boards.
2. Lack of simple physicality, like rubbing a player into the boards, taking body positioning, net battles, board play, defensemen putting up their arm to impede a forward's progress, etc.
3. Lack of setting up in the offensive zone once you've gained it. This is especially apparent on special teams in years past. We did not see any special teams play in the video clip.
4. Lack of smart AI positioning on offense and defense.
5. Lack of proper goaltender fundamentals.

[Sheba2011]

Commentary still sounds like they are reading lines and like it is forced. Doesnt sound natural at all.