NHL 12 News Post

NHL 12 Updated Hands-On Preview

07:17 PM - July 11, 2011 by ChaseB

At E3, I got my first chance to play NHL 12. I came away relatively impressed by the gameplay additions, but at the same time, I was absolutely terrified by how the games themselves were playing out on the ice. The checks were out of hand, glass was breaking during every period, and essentially it was more like NHL Hitz 12 than NHL 12.

Thankfully, sanity has returned in a post-E3 environment. The developers have tuned the game to bring it more in line with what you might actually see in an NHL arena, and this has excited me all over again for EA's annual hockey franchise. In short, I'm finally getting to see what NHL 12 is all about on the ice.

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Game: NHL 12Reader Score: 7.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 26 - View All

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# 21 SGMRock @ 07/13/11 09:02 AM

I can see where presentation may be behind a bit in NHL games but to be honest I don't think the NHL has a lot of TV Presentation. I watch over a 100 games a year on TV and really they don't do much but site behind a desk and talk about players and keys to the game. Sometimes they show some replays or between periods they show some replays and talk about what teams need to do better or what they have done well so far.

Its not like the NFL where you see Ray Lewis in the huddle with his team chanting and stuff to pump people up. I'm really not sure where they could do a lot in that area.

Commentary though is a big thing in the NHL. I mean if action is slow good commentators like Doc Emerick will fill the void with good stories and stuff. Times when the game is 6-1 or something you can hear him talking about old times with Eddie or something :P. It would be fun to have more options in play by play commentators but thats a lot of disk space to add more voices.

The one thing I really hate about the commentary though is when you have played a few seasons and they are saying canned stuff about your team or players that doesn't apply anymore 3 or 4 seasons into a be a gm or be a pro mode.

# 22 ChaseB @ 07/13/11 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogie Vachon


	Chase, Did you see the goalies pushing back at all when players were getting in their business? Or were they the ones always just taking abuse? How do the goalies play the breakaways? Can the goalies poke check eny more effectively? Did it seem like the majority of defelections ended up as goals?

Goalies push back and all that down low.

Goalies seemed to be playing better on the breakaways. This was partly due to some new animations, and then partly due to positioning. Still definitely can beat them but doesn't feel as automatic so far.

Didn't see many instances of poke checking so far. The big deal for cross-crease stuff is that you can body up to offensive players as defenders, which in effect can cancel out that pass without feeling like the puck went through you and all that. Should really help minimize that tactic in a lot of instances, which might force people to try more ways to score. If you're looking for a negative, I did see one goal where the goalie tried to cover the puck but missed, and then it led to one of those easy goals since the goalie is in Hungry Hungry Hippos mode.

No, deflections didn't feel like a new money goal or anything, they just are a lot more fun to do now because of the interactions down low. I know in OTP this year I just drill guys with shots or never really get many deflection goals -- or when they do go in it's usually on really soft shots rather than "better" shots. It really just feels more like a tactic that can be effective more than an easy goal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGMRock


	I can see where presentation may be behind a bit in NHL games but to be honest I don't think the NHL has a lot of TV Presentation. I watch over a 100 games a year on TV and really they don't do much but site behind a desk and talk about players and keys to the game. Sometimes they show some replays or between periods they show some replays and talk about what teams need to do better or what they have done well so far. Its not like the NFL where you see Ray Lewis in the huddle with his team chanting and stuff to pump people up. I'm really not sure where they could do a lot in that area. Commentary though is a big thing in the NHL. I mean if action is slow good commentators like Doc Emerick will fill the void with good stories and stuff. Times when the game is 6-1 or something you can hear him talking about old times with Eddie or something :P. It would be fun to have more options in play by play commentators but thats a lot of disk space to add more voices. The one thing I really hate about the commentary though is when you have played a few seasons and they are saying canned stuff about your team or players that doesn't apply anymore 3 or 4 seasons into a be a gm or be a pro mode.

I agree that commentary needs to be number one, but even if you don't think there's a lot of presentation, there is certainly a lot of camera work and so forth that goes on in NHL games that is not present here. Whether it's cuts to the coach, the man between the glass, crowd shots. When you see the zoomed out shot of the rink for the 10th time in a game, you have to sort of realize that, hey, maybe more could be done here.

Plus, they could add more differentiated replays between stoppages and a host of other things; it's about keeping things varied as much as anything else.

# 23 Vikes1 @ 07/13/11 07:29 PM

Hey Chase....

Did you happen to notice if the AI controlled players seems more aggressive towards the puck carriers? Ie....less of an up and down playing game.

Thanks.

# 24 abjsuperstar @ 07/14/11 04:29 PM

i havent gotten NHL sense 09, should i get it to thoughs who are hockey experts, im more of a football, baseball expert

# 25 Money99 @ 07/14/11 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abjsuperstar


	i havent gotten NHL sense 09, should i get it to thoughs who are hockey experts, im more of a football, baseball expert

I think you'd enjoy it. The controls are addictive and the game is good as a quickie type game.
I like baseball games and have played my share of football games, but neither is good for a quick 15 minute break.
NHL is great for that. The demo will probably be out mid-August. Give it a try!

# 26 Qb @ 07/15/11 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abjsuperstar


	i havent gotten NHL sense 09, should i get it to thoughs who are hockey experts, im more of a football, baseball expert

Talk about a perfect pass into my wheelhouse for the one-timer:

But to be serious, Money gave you some good advice... check out the demo in August.

# 27 abjsuperstar @ 07/15/11 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	I think you'd enjoy it. The controls are addictive and the game is good as a quickie type game. I like baseball games and have played my share of football games, but neither is good for a quick 15 minute break. NHL is great for that. The demo will probably be out mid-August. Give it a try!

thanks for the reply! i will try the demo to see how it goes

# 28 abjsuperstar @ 07/15/11 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	Talk about a perfect pass into my wheelhouse for the one-timer: But to be serious, Money gave you some good advice... check out the demo in August.

haha thats funny

# 29 ChaseB @ 07/15/11 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Hey Chase.... Did you happen to notice if the AI controlled players seems more aggressive towards the puck carriers? Ie....less of an up and down playing game. Thanks.

I think the play in the neutral zone is a bit more prevalent just because in general guys are reading lanes/passes a bit better. This causes less jumbled masses of players and thus less room at points.

# 30 ChaseB @ 07/15/11 04:26 PM

Oh yeah, one other thing. I forgot about the discussion about a lack of "ratings spread" for teams in the NHL in this game.

Most of the NHL teams are still chunked together, and as I understand it, they do this because of all the leagues in the game. They have trouble finding a proper spread because they always have to account for team overalls for all the other leagues. So if the NHL is the big times, then all of those NHL teams generally have to be higher rated than all the other squads. So it acts more like a tiered system for each league than an actual varied spread per league.

# 31 speels @ 07/18/11 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseB


	Oh yeah, one other thing. I forgot about the discussion about a lack of "ratings spread" for teams in the NHL in this game. Most of the NHL teams are still chunked together, and as I understand it, they do this because of all the leagues in the game. They have trouble finding a proper spread because they always have to account for team overalls for all the other leagues. So if the NHL is the big times, then all of those NHL teams generally have to be higher rated than all the other squads. So it acts more like a tiered system for each league than an actual varied spread per league.

And this is the issue that some don't understand. If your worst NHL player is rated a 50, what would that make your worst WHL or DEL player rated, or for that matter, what would it make your best player in those leagues rated? EA requires 2 sets of attributes per player, one for the league they are currebtly in, and one for their NHL equivolent ratings.
For example, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the first overall pick would most likely be a 90 compared to others in the WHL, but only about a 68-72 when compared to NHL players. The current system forces EA to have the best junior players rated so low that playing with those leagues is not as much fun. Now, using WHL players instead of NHL players is a little far apart, but asssume DEL players and NHL players. Both are professional and have great players, however, right now if you have a 90 rated player in the DEL he would most likely, in a BeaGM mode, get picked up by the NHL teams, which would lead to highly rated teams anyway.

Like I mentioned, 2 sets of ratings would make this game great and allow the NHL team to better separate the players of the NHL. The other thing.....get rid of overalls. Tomas Holmstrom is not a 90 rated player, unless you are considering net presence as the deciding factor, then he may be worth a 99 overall. By making different attributes add up to the total and having them different for different types of player, you really are just setting yourself up for controversy.

I am so excited for this years game and I look forward to hearing more about it.

# 32 FBeaule04 @ 08/08/11 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flakeypastry


	As long as the AI is truly improved, and the goalie physics works, I'm all in this year . Just add some good presentation next year, eh EA?

If the AI and goalies are better than NHL 11, I think we could be up for one of the best game since a few years. Again, they'll be few modes that would lack works, but when you have so much on the plate, it's almost normal.

# 33 stever75 @ 08/22/11 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pringles


	they really need to put a camera in the net for realism especially with all the contact that will happen with the new goalie physx and replays to decide if the goal stands or not. i mean with us being able to now make contact with the goalie and the net can come off its mournings this will make goal review a lot more interesting and the best replay view is the overhead or the one in the net.

Not sure why this reviewer has such a hard on for presentation. The presentation in the NHL series has ALWAYS blown away every other sports game.

# 34 Money99 @ 08/22/11 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stever75


	Not sure why this reviewer has such a hard on for presentation. The presentation in the NHL series has ALWAYS blown away every other sports game.

Are you being sarcastic? The EA NHL series probably has the worst presentation of them all.
Play 5 minutes of NBA2K11, The Show and even MLB2K11.

It's not an exaggeration that NHL11 could have the most shallow presentation of any sports game on current-gen systems.

# 35 ChaseB @ 08/22/11 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Money99


	Are you being sarcastic? The EA NHL series probably has the worst presentation of them all. Play 5 minutes of NBA2K11, The Show and even MLB2K11. It's not an exaggeration that NHL11 could have the most shallow presentation of any sports game on current-gen systems.

I feel like it has good elements, just not enough effort or time put into them.

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