NHL 11 News Post

NHL 11 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

06:32 AM - August 17, 2010 by Lubey

EA Sports NHL 11 demo is now available on Xbox LIVE and the PLAYSTATION Network. Powered by a revolutionary real-time physics engine, the franchise that has won 22 sports game of the year awards over the past three years will showcase two game modes in the demo: Battle for the Cup and the all-new Hockey Ultimate Team.

Battle for the Cup:

In Battle for the Cup, players will experience all the emotion and drama of the third period of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup� Championship between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks. The mode features an all new faceoff system, new quick dekes and the ability to score amazing goals even while lying on the ice.

Hockey Ultimate Team:

The all-new Hockey Ultimate Team brings Online Dynasty play to the EA SPORTS NHL franchise for the first time ever. In the demo, players will be able to pick up a starter pack of cards to build their Ultimate Hockey Team. Take your new team to the ice and play against either the Canadian Hockey League�s Windsor Spitfires, or the NHL�s Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. Play and win games in the demo with your Ultimate Team and earn up to two additional packs in the full version of NHL 11, when it is released on September 7, 2010.

The demo will also feature an interactive tutorial that will allow those new to the franchise to learn the controls, and allow long-time fans to practice some of the new controls in the game, including Faceoffs.

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

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Member Comments

# 581 CS10029 @ 08/23/10 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinkfan77


	So sick of using this awful Manual Passing junk and slow ** game speed. September 7th can't come fast enough.*

That's funny I am loving both of those things.

# 582 Splitter77 @ 08/23/10 10:07 PM

the game speed seems perfect to me. And even seems too fast on superstar.i love the passing. its pretty muc perfect. might slow the speed down on passing just a tad.

# 583 MizzouRah @ 08/23/10 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CS10029


	That's funny I am loving both of those things.

haha... me too!

# 584 Llamalot @ 08/23/10 11:18 PM

Loving the demo. Only problem is the goalie puck handling controls are a bit sluggish.

Also just to clarify, is the HUT mode is a pay to play service? Eg are you forced to use real world currency in order to play it?

# 585 CS10029 @ 08/24/10 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Llamalot


	Loving the demo. Only problem is the goalie puck handling controls are a bit sluggish. Also just to clarify, is the HUT mode is a pay to play service? Eg are you forced to use real world currency in order to play it?

You can earn EA Pucks, just from playing games. You are also allowed to use real money, to buy EA Pucks, and then card packs.

One way is obviously much quicker.

# 586 Vikes1 @ 08/24/10 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Splitter77


	the game speed seems perfect to me. And even seems too fast on superstar.i love the passing. its pretty muc perfect. might slow the speed down on passing just a tad.

Yeah I'm happy with the game speed as is with the demo. I'm pretty sure I'll leave it like it is come the retail game.

I'm also enjoying the passing. It's taken me a bit to get use to releasing the trigger faster than I was. There was a few times I spaced out letting go of the trigger...and I was like...wtf?

# 587 SinisterAlex @ 08/24/10 04:07 AM

Just had a nail bitter game earlier. I went through 4 overtime periods tied at 2. I thought I scored a goal when I took a snapshot with Kane near the blocker. The puck went into the air, Toews bats it into the net. The goal get's reviewed, and is ruled as no goal.

The ref drops the puck and Gagne comes down the wing, does a between the legs deke, then wrists it up high glove side and scores... I love this game.

# 588 JezFranco @ 08/24/10 07:15 AM

Ouch. I had a "bad AI moment" this morning.

I was on the attack but, the CPU's center took the puck from me in my offensive zone and I was chasing behind him with one of my forwards.
My two defensmen had already got back "home" standing in their default position in the slot.
The CPU opponent rushed with the puck in the middle of the ice into my zone and then went out along the boards.
I was as mentioned chasing just behind him and accelerated and caught him with a nice check to the boards with my forward.
But just before I checked him, both my defenders left their spots in the slot and came to "my rescue" by the boards so all of a sudden we were three players surrounding their center by the boards, and he of course just passed the puck into the slot before being mashed, where his two wingers were all alone with my keeper.

Did I press the 911-button or what? I've never seen both defenders leave the slot like that before... It was just a quick game on the UT so I can't tell who the defenders were but they gotta have the Stupidity sliders maxed out.

# 589 Qb @ 08/24/10 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redshirt_EA


	The custom cameras only work from the end to end style cameras, not the side (broadcast) view. (Please don't kill the messenger).

Wasn't sure if I could talk about it since it wasn't officially discussed by EA, but I'm glad I wasn't the one to have to break the news.

A customized broadcast camera was the first thing I tried when I saw the option and I was disappointed as well. But I was able to make something similar to the Action camera but with a better view of the ice... kinda cool.

# 590 bonannogiovanni @ 08/24/10 12:40 PM

Qb how does it work, you have something like height, tilt and zoom?

# 591 Qb @ 08/24/10 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bonannogiovanni


	Qb how does it work, you have something like height, tilt and zoom?

Still not sure how much I can discuss, but yeah, that's more or less how it works if memory serves. I only had a few minutes to play with it as it was at the end of one of our sessions and I never got back to it.

# 592 actionhank @ 08/24/10 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JezFranco


	Ouch. I had a "bad AI moment" this morning. I was on the attack but, the CPU's center took the puck from me in my offensive zone and I was chasing behind him with one of my forwards. My two defensmen had already got back "home" standing in their default position in the slot. The CPU opponent rushed with the puck in the middle of the ice into my zone and then went out along the boards. I was as mentioned chasing just behind him and accelerated and caught him with a nice check to the boards with my forward. But just before I checked him, both my defenders left their spots in the slot and came to "my rescue" by the boards so all of a sudden we were three players surrounding their center by the boards, and he of course just passed the puck into the slot before being mashed, where his two wingers were all alone with my keeper. Did I press the 911-button or what? I've never seen both defenders leave the slot like that before... It was just a quick game on the UT so I can't tell who the defenders were but they gotta have the Stupidity sliders maxed out.

That's lame.
I haven't had that happen yet, fortunately.
Although, i do with there was a button like in FIFA10, to have your nearest player come towards you.
It would help a lot for behind the net play, so you could actually come at a guy from both sides and try and trap the puck.
Also, a button to tell your guy to move forward in the neutral zone instead of staring at you would be cool. Also like FIFA10.

# 593 goosedennis @ 08/24/10 08:19 PM

A clip for the ages:

Chara was taking a slapper from the blue line, hit my guy's stick, it broke, then went in the goal. The ref came in, waved it off, and reviewed it. Called no goal and the game went to OT because it hit his glove. Off the faceoff, Richards tied up Backstrom and Gagne took it. Chara laid him out and Doughty went the other way, and hit the crossbar. It hit off of the back of the goalie's head and in.

EA, I love you.

# 594 idrisguitar @ 08/24/10 08:38 PM

you know wha. EA canada are the best sports game developers in the world, probably without question.

so the fact their NHL game is the best by a fair margin makes sense since its canada's most popular sport. im not complaining, more fun than any soccer/football/basketball game for me and cant wait for the full version

i play fifa 10, get frsutrated then play this demo and its just alarming how much control and realism this game has compared. stupid things like bad AI, predictable movement etc. in fifa are the opposite in nhl, it feels alive, dynamic, and most importantly you as the player retain control throughout. that the key point. its why this has blown me away compared to older versions of nhl, where magnetic forces played a big part, but its feels free and fair and you are in control of the result out there.

id say 90% of sports games have code iin them that makes the game feel like its cheating you. PES and fifa especially. im hoping the full version of nhl 11 like the demo breaks this trend.

# 595 06woz @ 08/24/10 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goosedennis


	A clip for the ages: Chara was taking a slapper from the blue line, hit my guy's stick, it broke, then went in the goal. The ref came in, waved it off, and reviewed it. Called no goal and the game went to OT because it hit his glove. Off the faceoff, Richards tied up Backstrom and Gagne took it. Chara laid him out and Doughty went the other way, and hit the crossbar. It hit off of the back of the goalie's head and in. EA, I love you.

Goal shouldn't have been disallowed. . . Sorry if that ruins your moment.

# 596 DJ @ 08/25/10 02:20 AM

Finally got to spend some time with the 360 version of the Demo and came away very impressed. I still play NHL 10 and NHL 11 just feels like a very polished version of that game, with some nice additions.

I switched to Manual passing several months ago in NHL 10, so I thought the passing in the Demo was just fine. It felt a bit more responsive than 10, which I liked.

I'm sure it is there but I didn't notice a huge difference in terms of the new physics engine that they put into the game.

I like that goalies are more aggressive to play pucks behind the net.

Goal variety seems improved from 10.

Graphics are a little crisper than 10, but not a huge difference (and I wasn't expecting there to be)

Now comes the hard part, deciding on whether to part ways with NHL 10 right now and trade it in towards 11, or hold on to the game, play it for a few more weeks and get 11 later in the year, perhaps as late as Christmas?

# 597 goosedennis @ 08/25/10 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 06woz


	Goal shouldn't have been disallowed. . . Sorry if that ruins your moment.

I thought that I typed that he punched it in, but apparently not.

# 598 CS10029 @ 08/25/10 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djwlfpack


	Finally got to spend some time with the 360 version of the Demo and came away very impressed. I still play NHL 10 and NHL 11 just feels like a very polished version of that game, with some nice additions. I switched to Manual passing several months ago in NHL 10, so I thought the passing in the Demo was just fine. It felt a bit more responsive than 10, which I liked. I'm sure it is there but I didn't notice a huge difference in terms of the new physics engine that they put into the game. I like that goalies are more aggressive to play pucks behind the net. Goal variety seems improved from 10. Graphics are a little crisper than 10, but not a huge difference (and I wasn't expecting there to be) Now comes the hard part, deciding on whether to part ways with NHL 10 right now and trade it in towards 11, or hold on to the game, play it for a few more weeks and get 11 later in the year, perhaps as late as Christmas?

All I can say is get it now. Playing a full game in NHL11 is gonna be awesome, then think about a whole season. Oh no, I've gotta go lie down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goosedennis


	I thought that I typed that he punched it in, but apparently not.

And that, is pretty cooooool.

# 599 Vikes1 @ 08/25/10 02:34 AM

Had a game tonight that went into OT tied at 2.

Playing on All-Star [normal] there was a lot of neutral zone play with this one, along with several AI controlled checks that were great to see. And even a fair amount of turnovers. Both myself and the AI had some great scoring chances that provided some real "Wow" moments.

The game ended at the 19:50 mark of the second OT with me scoring on a garbage goal down deep, after a scramble for the loose puck. "Rewarding" is how the whole game felt...and it's ending felt really rewarding.

I suppose I should have more balance with my posts, rather than always so dang positive all the time. But I just having found much of anything I don't really like.

Edit: I did think of something I wish was in the game that isn't....getting thrown outta the face-off circle.

# 600 JezFranco @ 08/25/10 07:47 AM

Does anyone feel like switching player is more defensive in it's mechanics than earlier.

In 10 there was occations we're I wanted to switch to one of the D's when the game turned in the offensive zone, but I kept switching to the two guys closest to the puck.
This was before (just a few months ago) I realised that if you hold down R2/RT you always switch to the D-man.

But now in the demo, it's like it's the other way around... When the play turns in the offensive zone and the CPU goes on attack I keep switching between my two D's instead of the guy (forward) closest to the puck, unless he's really close.
It is deffinately better, this is not a bashing... but with the new hustle feature I've felt many times that I wanna chase with a forward and let the D's position themself automatically.

Anyone else notice it, and is anyone aware of any "hidden" player switching features? (holding down R2/RT wasn't in the manual last year was it?).

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