NHL 16 Trial Available Now For EA Access Subscribers, Get 10 Hours of Gamplay

[ThaLiveKing]

Got 2 games in, Played the Hawks and Lightning cause it's still installing, so far I love the controls, I still think the stick handling needs a ton of work. I won the first game 5-4, and lost the 2nd game 5-1. 2nd game I slowed down the player acceleration, which I'm not doing that again.

You can finally set up on the PP vs the CPU which is something I've always wanted

AI teammates still don't hug the boards on the blue line to keep the puck from going out, the team has to start adding little stuff like that.

Board play is the same, there's some new animations in there. I wish they would add a pushing feature.

CPU will still hold the puck at the blue line while everyone is waiting for them to do something, instead of dumping it in, that led to Towes scoring on me... CHEESE

The game looks a lot better than last year, could be the lighting though. Tampa's scoreboard looks amazing in game (can't wait to use my penguins)

All these are on pro difficulty right now, definitely getting the hang of the new system

[ThaLiveKing]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy

Definitely would like to know how AI defenders play the puck—especially if different types of defenders manage the puck differently. Not holding my breath.

That's one part of the game that's annoying as hell. It's across the board in EA games though. They want you to do all the work while the CPU moves on a string!!

I'm gonna put it on Super star and let you know

[jyoung]

Here are all the new EASHL badges that you can unlock:



They seem to be slightly different based on each class. Enforcers have to win fights. Defensemen have to get takeaways. Etc.

[jyoung]

Looks like Online Shootouts are set to 5 rounds if you play ranked:



Glad to see them back! It's also going to take a while to relearn the alternate goalie controls. But I'm glad we have that option with different trigger/bumper placement.

[MaximumChaos84]

Must be a lot of people trying to download right now...my internet is pretty fast and I'm stuck on 3pct after 20 mins.[emoji16]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brandon27]

Still installing here, but once it was ready to start, I jumped in and just played the Chicago/Tampa game, as Tampa. Won it 3-1. Had some good momments, and some frustrations that reminded me alot of NHL 15. Brief recap below, which I'll put in this thread since there's no impressions thread as of yet.

Keep in mind, this is just an initial summary after a quick game. I repeat again, keep in mind, just one game. I didn't play alot of NHL15 either, so I'm probably a bit rusty, and I was rushing through the game. I think it was also set on Pro. I normally play the level up from pro, but in the rush to get into the game, and not waste my 10 hours playing with settings, I just left it on pro. So, keep that in mind.


- Game looks great. Better than last year. The video intro's are still awesome, and looked better, nice and smooth.

- My first two goals, were point shots off the faceoff. They seemed pretty easy to score last year, and I got two quickly in the first period here. Not sure if that was luck, coincidence, or whatever.

- I found it a bit difficult to get set up in the zone. Once I did, if I'd get a shot on goal, rebounds were quickly gobbled up by defenders who seemingly move alot quicker than my guys are capable of. A lifelong issue for me with EA NHL.

- I found the AI, offensively to just skate in, and shoot. Which presented another issue similar to the above. It's like the AI's awareness is sky high compared to your defensive players. Always at the puck. Firing off another quick shot.

- That being said, last year, the goalies seemed helpless. This year, they're quick on their feet, making stops, and they look fantastic doing it IMO. Bishop made a flurry of saves in the 3rd, and on the overhead replay they showed after the series, it looked awesome. Just awesome.

- In the third period, with about 5 to go, the AI seemed to get all Superman like on me. Nothing I did could separate them from the puck, or stop them from getting rebounds. Not sure if that is some sort of comeback AI type thing to make it more dramatic, or it could just have been me being rusty.

- The goal Chicago scored on me though, was one of those plays where they were firing shots constantly, gobbled up a rebound, fired a pass to the open man in the slot and burried one.

- At 2-1 now, in the third period, about 3 to go, I finally managed to set up some offense in their zone, cycled the puck around, found Tyler Johnson open in the slot and I burried one on a one-timer. That felt good, and rewarding.

- Then, with the AI goalie pulled, again, as I'm in their zone I rifle a shot at the empty net from inside the right circle, and missed the net. I had a winger coming up the left side for the loose puck, but the D-man from the middle of the ice just rocketed across the ice and beat him to the puck. Just one of those momments where I felt really cheated, the speed of the Dman, compared to my winger was just... insane.

- I did see alot of good though too. Skating seemed more in control.

- D-men do a better job working the blue line when you're on offense. They're in much better control of themselves.

- Commentary, seemed to flow better.

- Didn't have one single penalty called against the CPU. That worries me.

- All in all, I felt it was improved, but obviously need to spend more time with it.

So, please, do not take anything I've commented here too seriously at this point. Again, rushing, Pro difficulty, everything default, pre-full install, just a quick, quick, quick game.

[ajs41072]

Quote: Originally Posted by MaximumChaos84

Must be a lot of people trying to download right now...my internet is pretty fast and I'm stuck on 3pct after 20 mins.[emoji16] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, same here. I started downloading a little after 6:00pmET. It got to 46% in about an hour. Right now it's at 49%, so it moved 3% in the past 2 hours.

[ThePebble19]

I'm at about 56%...been getting slower every second.