NHL 11 News Post

NHL 11: Physics, Faceoffs, Broken Sticks, & New Dekes

10:40 PM - June 8, 2010 by Steve_OS

LuGer33 has posted his thoughts on the new real time hitting physics, new faceoff system, broken sticks, and some of the new dekes available in NHL 11. He has answered a lot of questions in the thread as well.

Quote:


	"You guys saw a tiny clip of this in that recently released video, and that was really only a taste of what this year's hitting engine offers. It's definitely the best that I've ever seen in a hockey game, and even though big hits were tuned up in the version I got to play last May, I still didn't see anything alarming like in NHL 07 or NHL 09 where there were way too many big hits. When someone landed a big hit, it looked and felt very real and very satisfying. One of the aspects of this area that I'm most excited about is how glances have been implemented. In years past, players could bump into each other and nothing would happen, it would be like two solid blocks colliding and the game didn't recognize this as a collision; well, that has been changed this year as slight nudges and glances will actually impact your control of the puck and player movement. I had a guy glance off a defender in the offensize zone at one point during my playtest only to then be absolutely crushed by someone else who finished a big hit. It was really a thing of beauty, and I found myself watching it on the replay again and again. Safe to say that over 8 hours of play time, I didn't see the same hit twice. One thing I have to caution people though is don't expect NHL 11 to be a hockey version of Backbreaker. The game is using a new real time physics engine for hitting, stick on stick / stick on puck collisions, but things like skating, goal celebrations, goaltending are improved but still similar to what they have been in year's past. This is understandable because it would be very hard to turn NHL 10 into Backbreaker in the short year long development cycle, however as Littman mentioned in an interview (and he told us too), it's a 3 year plan to get the game entirely physics based just like Backbreaker, and from what I've seen so far, NHL 11 is a very darn good start."

Game: NHL 11Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 36 - View All

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Member Comments

# 61 BlueNGold @ 07/01/10 03:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by headsigh


	Minor gripe, but as much as I like this year's iteration, NHL 11 looks to have the same graphics as '10. Which has the same graphics as '09. Which has the same graphics as '08. I just wish they're improve on that.

09-10 had (pretty much) the same graphics, 08-09 was an improvement.

# 62 emericaridr11 @ 07/05/10 10:31 PM

oh heck ya this game is gonna be sickness.... I cant wait, NHL10 has gotten way to boring to play

# 63 Qb @ 07/15/10 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenReign86


	Can you now trip your own team mates by poke checking? Much like you can by slide tackling in Fifa.

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the answer is no. I know I didn't see that happen.

# 64 pf8363 @ 07/21/10 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the answer is no. I know I didn't see that happen.

can you at least hit your own teammates? sorry if its been asked

# 65 Splitter77 @ 07/21/10 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa_Bonami


	In the nHL series, you would see too many exact occurences of the same type of shot, hitting the same location, with the same trajectory and same scripted feeling deflection to the same location way too often during a game.

Agree 100% about this. Especially the deflections and rebounds off the goalie.
All this started in the EA hockey series after NHL 95.

# 66 Qb @ 07/21/10 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisa_Bonami


	Also the game doesnt have enough grit and struggle down low in front of the net. EA tried to implement some after the whistle scrumming in 2010 but it came off horribley scripted like some high speed replay of a rockem sockem robots video. I really hope the NHL series can work the kinks out this year and give us a more organic all around game of hockey with 2011.

I definitely agree with the first part. I was playing 10 last night and thinking how limited I felt defending the front of the net. You can hit someone, sure, but there needs to be more of a sense of fighting for position. Something like the jostling you see in the FIFA series or rebounding in basketball games maybe? Just throwing examples out, obviously not the best comparisons...

As for the second part, the new physics implemented for 11 will be a big help and it should only get better moving forward.

# 67 plaidchuck @ 07/21/10 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I definitely agree with the first part. I was playing 10 last night and thinking how limited I felt defending the front of the net. You can hit someone, sure, but there needs to be more of a sense of fighting for position. Something like the jostling you see in the FIFA series or rebounding in basketball games maybe? Just throwing examples out, obviously not the best comparisons...

Just curious QB, but you didn't see any of that with the new engine?

# 68 Qb @ 07/22/10 09:49 AM

Depends on how you look at it... I think the game plays somewhat "dirtier" with the new collisions and the one or two post-whistle scrums I participated in seemed a little better (more around the net, but maybe a coincidence). But what I was talking about would be a new gameplay mechanic similar to a post battle in basketball or jostling for position in soccer.

# 69 Vikes1 @ 07/24/10 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I think the game plays somewhat "dirtier" with the new collisions

I know for myself and I believe for many others, having the game play "dirtier", is a big hope for '11'. So it's good news Qb that you think the new physic will help to muck up the gameplay a bit more.

# 70 Lightbringer719 @ 07/26/10 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	Depends on how you look at it... I think the game plays somewhat "dirtier" with the new collisions and the one or two post-whistle scrums I participated in seemed a little better (more around the net, but maybe a coincidence). But what I was talking about would be a new gameplay mechanic similar to a post battle in basketball or jostling for position in soccer.

Speaking of post-whistle scrum? Are the same "animations" from last year present? And how do they look with the real-time physics?

# 71 Qb @ 07/27/10 11:22 AM

Redshirt and I talked about scrums briefly at the event. He said they knew they needed some improvement, notably with the animations (less slashing) and how spread out they were. I didn't mess around with them too much when I was playing, but the one bigger one or two I had going seemed a little better. More mild shoving and gathering of players in one general area. But it's hard to say if it was coincidence -- ie, a lot of players already around the net when play stopped -- and I hate to put too much stock in a small sample size.

# 72 akula @ 07/31/10 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I'm not 100% certain, but I believe the answer is no. I know I didn't see that happen.

thank god - hell, tripping OPPONENTS is way too easy with poke check in '10 - it needs to be toned down big time before it interacts with friendly players! NHL players don't fall down when someone lightly jabs a stick at their skate with one hand!

# 73 actionhank @ 08/04/10 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I definitely agree with the first part. I was playing 10 last night and thinking how limited I felt defending the front of the net. You can hit someone, sure, but there needs to be more of a sense of fighting for position. Something like the jostling you see in the FIFA series or rebounding in basketball games maybe? Just throwing examples out, obviously not the best comparisons... As for the second part, the new physics implemented for 11 will be a big help and it should only get better moving forward.

That would be nice, but only if they improved on it.
I've been playing a lot of FIFA10, and one of the most aggravating things is when you and another player are battling for the ball, and suddenly you just fly ten feet in the other direction, and the D comes off with the ball.

# 74 18 eighty 5 @ 08/06/10 01:48 PM

One thing I hope the new physics system does is provide more varied goals and a far more organic feel to the play.

# 75 Qb @ 08/06/10 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fierce Robot


	One thing I hope the new physics system does is provide more varied goals and a far more organic feel to the play.

I'm pretty confident we'll see #2 based on my time with early build at the event. Time will tell on #1, as goal variety is something it's hard to get a feel for in such a short period of time. Plus, most of the time I played the CPU was handing me my [bleep] so I didn't score a lot of goals...

# 76 18 eighty 5 @ 08/07/10 12:09 AM

Thanks Qb, really good to hear.

# 77 CS10029 @ 08/13/10 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I'm pretty confident we'll see #2 based on my time with early build at the event. Time will tell on #1, as goal variety is something it's hard to get a feel for in such a short period of time. Plus, most of the time I played the CPU was handing me my [bleep] so I didn't score a lot of goals...

Out of curiosity, what level were you on?

# 78 Qb @ 08/13/10 04:39 PM

Started on Superstar for my first game (PIT/MTL) and was outshot something like 20-5 on default settings, which I think includes CPU difficulty @ 3. I consistently win on SS with CPU diff @ 0 in NHL10. After that I went down to All-Star and still found the CPU quite challenging... they seemed more aggressive, allowing less time & space all over the ice.

# 79 CS10029 @ 08/13/10 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	Started on Superstar for my first game (PIT/MTL) and was outshot something like 20-5 on default settings, which I think includes CPU difficulty @ 3. I consistently win on SS with CPU diff @ 0 in NHL10. After that I went down to All-Star and still found the CPU quite challenging... they seemed more aggressive, allowing less time & space all over the ice.

Sounds good!

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