NHL 17 Beta Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here!

[thedudedominick]

EASHL would be amazing this year with two things, get rid of the hustle button completely, and slightly better goaltending.

[mikeq672]

I continue to attempt to play this game, and I continue to be baffled at how anyone sees this game as different from last year. There is no discernible difference. Its a just a pile of crap. You dominate the puck for 10 straight minutes, get nothing, and then you skatey bump around off 3 defenders and morph the puck through the side of the net/goalie and get a goal. EASHL continue to be a stale mess if you have less than 6 because the AI ruins the game. There is zero flow to anything, how is that after 7(?) years of this mode, the AI is still completely unaware that there is a net and that they cant skate through it or dump the puck through it since they love going back behind the net for no reason? This is the only series Ive ever played where even winning just isnt fun because of how the game plays. Maybe the people that like the game dont watch much hockey or something, I really dont get how people can enjoy it. It doesnt resemble the NHL or any other halfway decent hockey at all.

[Ruffy]

I have played and officiated hockey since i was 8 years old.

My 33 years of playing the sport and again gaming since video games began.

This game is the best NHL I have played to date.

Are there shortcomings yes. But if you like to play online competition this is where the game is the most fun.

No reason to pick apart a beta but the additions to HUT which I will play likely 400 to 600 games is great so far. Looks like there will be lots to do and I like the addition of sets. I always enjoyed collecting hockey cards and the sets give me that nostalgia from being a kid.

If i was on offline player I would really wait for others to get the official game and find out how the sliders are working as they are providing all of the sliders the devs have access to on a 100 scale which could be glorious for those offline only players. Again offline isnt my thing as playing humans to me is where this game shines.

EASHL really isnt my thing either but again when you get a good group of guys together and fill out all of the positions it can be a ton of fun.

Great beta...definitely some things to work out before release but again I will be buying and playing this game a ton.

[djhallberg38]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I thought I had read that this was fixed? Might be wrong though. Count me as someone who wants a 5-man hug too. It's time that was fixed. Saying that, I'm still liking what I've been reading regarding the gameplay. I'll reserve judgement when I hear more impressions of real NHL games vs the CPU, not just HUT.

I am just hoping that EA is holding back on the Beta, just like they have on the trailers they have released to date. If that is the case, maybe we will be pleasantly surprised when it launches. I get it if that is what they are doing. Much like not wanting to spoil a movie release by giving away too much in the trailers. What worries me, is that they really seem to be going out of their way to not show any post goal celebrations in the few trailers released, but didn't seem to mind showing off several of the stupid, over the top user controlled single player celebrations. Which I might add, are apparently only going to be usable in EASHL. Dumb,

[djhallberg38]

Quote: Originally Posted by jhawk826

The commentary is still stale and generic. That was an area they needed to improve upon and it sounds like they didn't even touch it.

Agreed. I noticed that too. Only thing we can hope for, is that they are holding back on new dialogue for when the game launches. Does anyone know if we will see players getting kicked out of face offs?? Again, another fixture in real hockey, that has been completely absent from the EA games. Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy the game, but I am starting to feel like we need to see some major overhauls to really notice the upgrades. I have been feeling this way about MLB The Show and Madden for a few years as well. It just seems like the tweak certain things, but never add any major upgrade, like a new graphics engine. Games year after year seem to be relatively the same. Maybe the answer is to release the games every other year, with roster updates and gameplay patches in between. Just saying.

[SocialAssassin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ruffy

EASHL really isnt my thing either but again when you get a good group of guys together and fill out all of the positions it can be a ton of fun.

Yes. If you get players who know what they are doing it's way better. I've had one game where we were all a well oiled machine. EASHL, if people stick to their positions,and play like real hockey, is a fun game.

[Splitter77]

I played a couple hut games single player on all-star.
Not too fun. Plays similar to last season. Seems very scripted.

Im hoping the 1-100 slider set can save this game.
I will still most likely buy it anyway, just for create team.

[mikeq672]

Quote: Originally Posted by djhallberg38

I am just hoping that EA is holding back on the Beta, just like they have on the trailers they have released to date. If that is the case, maybe we will be pleasantly surprised when it launches. I get it if that is what they are doing. Much like not wanting to spoil a movie release by giving away too much in the trailers. What worries me, is that they really seem to be going out of their way to not show any post goal celebrations in the few trailers released, but didn't seem to mind showing off several of the stupid, over the top user controlled single player celebrations. Which I might add, are apparently only going to be usable in EASHL. Dumb,

They arent holding anything back, that would be stupid. Its not like a movie trailer at all, it would be like showing movie critics the movie with all the important plot lines taken out. That doesnt make any sense.