NHL 18 Beta Impressions: Threes, Incremental Gameplay Changes

[Steve_OS]

Yesterday, the NHL 18 beta dropped and we've finally gotten our chance to play what the...

Written By: Operation Sports

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[Peter_OS]

Thanks guys!

Wow very disappointed with the lack of any in-game presentation improvements.

If this indeed feels like NHL 17.5 like Fraser noted, I don't know how a company like EA can get away with charging us full price for this game.

Times like this where I wish we had some competition.

[csamuelsvt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter_OS

Thanks guys! Wow very disappointed with the lack of any in-game presentation improvements. If this indeed feels like NHL 17.5 like Fraser noted, I don't know how a company like EA can get away with charging us full price for this game. Times like this where I wish we had some competition.

i'm VERY disappointed with the presentation. STILL since NHL 14, NO 5 man goal celebrations! I have not noticed even ONE new line of commentary in the beta. Sure they added some new camera angles before the faceoffs and goal replays(which sometimes are not the best angles and it is tough to see the goal), but unless they are holding back a lot of presentation stuff which I doubt, the presentation is severely lacking.

Any other game, FIFA or Madden, would be getting destroyed if they did this year after year. It is completely unacceptable.

[Södy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter_OS

If this indeed feels like NHL 17.5 like Fraser noted, I don't know how a company like EA can get away with charging us full price for this game.

NHL 06 - 09 on PS2 / XBOX / PC
NHL 14 - Legacy on PS3 / 360

I think on current consoles, it's the first year that is not as big. 16 was a step up because 15 was missing so much content.

17 was a step up for the sliders and the fact that you lose the puck and stumble if you skate into the boards (atleast with proper sliders in offline mode).

[snc237]

As a competitive NHL player (ranked constantly in the top 50 since *09) the game does feel like NHL 17.5 which isn't a bad thing. NHL 17 was in my opinion fantastic and NHL 18 shores up a lot of those issues that were really annoying last year. However presentation looks identical for the most part, and if you got bored of NHL 17 you will probably get bored here as well as the game more less feels he same. To someone like me the smallest tweaks are very noticeable and appreciated, to someone that plays casually once in a while you probably will be wondering what they changed?

[oilersfan99]

More presentation would be nice but personally, I could care less about the presentation if the game doesn't play right. NHL 17 was a decent game and needed some tweaks for sure and they've done some. NHL 17.5? Who cares if the game play is improved. They added decent content with the 3v3 eashl, threes arcade and I'm sure lots of hut stuff. I'm enjoying the beta a whole lot. I'm actually excited for the release although I would imagine that they will screw it up when they start patching. God I hope not

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Tapatalk

[bowld]

I thought threes was going to be some dumb gimmick mode but so far its been a blast to play. I had a match last night last almost 20 mins and was a ton of fun

[JohnDoh]

This is the same old ignorant AI as in years past. Some very minor improvements (which have been touted as MAJOR improvements by EA), but the AI still does dumb crap every single minute of every single game. I've played a week's worth of 1on1 versus games and my AI teammates make no attempt to play the puck when on defense. I have to take control of them to make any effort to play the pusk. It will just slide right by them and they stand there. EA... spend a year's worth of effort addressing your idiotic AI players to make this a decent hockey game. EASHL is a great mode but it has become obvious to players like me over the years that you are relying on the all-human control to sell this game instead of spending brain cells on making this game smart. This will be the first year I will not buy the NHL game. It's just NHL 17.25 in my view.