NHL 16 EASHL Beta Gameplay Livestream Notes (UPDATED)

[jyoung]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter_OS

2 player celebrations after a goal only. Come on EA you could do much better than this. Looks kinda of awkward and funny at the same time, seeing the rest of your players skate to the bench after a goal while two players are celebrating the goal.

Unless they've fixed the "hug bug" from NHL 15, it should still at least be possible to have unintentional three-man celebrations:

[AdamJones113]

The puck pickups and strafing looked really good, especially when used in concert (I remember one very nice play where the point man positioned himself well and received the puck very realistically). The goalies looked fairly unwieldy and their animations looked staggered, but there's time for a tuner before the game is released.

As others have said, while the gameplay doesn't appear to have gotten a major overhaul, it does appear to play tighter and much better than 15.

[ericromain]

-Passing seems to look decent.
-Turnovers and breaking up passes looks like it is much closer to where it should be.
-After 4:30 when the Lightning score. Thunderbug is watching the game from the zamboni door, and it looks so great how he seamlessly translates from watching to celebration. I like seeing him bang on the glass, it kind of reminds me of the fan banging on the glass in NHL94/95.

EA NHL didn't seem to learn their lesson from the NHL09 clown gear. The neon and bright visors/tape/skate chassis look awful. Every 12 year old is going to want it. Still not as bad as the skull and flamed gear that you could get.

I haven't played EASHL since NHL09. Hopefully the beta converts me.

[bigwill33]

Quote: Originally Posted by AdamJones113

Bigwill, this is 6 v 6

In the first game I saw Chicago had a defenseman without the icon over him. Unless I'm mistaken.

[AdamJones113]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigwill33

In the first game I saw Chicago had a defenseman without the icon over him. Unless I'm mistaken.

Yeah, I think I saw that too for a few in-game minutes. But I don't remember him getting into the action too much.

[Pezell04x]

Honestly, I liked what I saw. I hope it is more fluid than NHL 15 which I feel is like people skating in mud. I am excited to log on with my NHL 14 EASHL club or the OS club and get going.

[nddurst]

I've watched a few videos on YouTube of beta gameplay.

It definitely looks improved overall, BUT, AI defenders and goalies alike look kind of dreadful. I'm seeing a lot of human players easily getting around non-human defenders who are in good position. Goalies seem lost.

The game looks fantastic when it's 6v6 because AI is taken out of the equation. But man, in other instances CPU players are really standing out (in a bad way). I think this might be a rough game to play as an offline gamer.

[Drakar]

I didn't see EA address issue like human goalie quitting in the middle of a human vs human goalie game without any sort of penalties.

They didn't address the "pause" syndrome

They didn't address player going AFK and ruining the game.