NHL 13 News Post

NHL 13 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

06:14 AM - August 21, 2012 by Steve_OS

This video is also available on the OS Youtube channel, please subscribe while you're there.

The above video showcases everything that is in the demo. Sliders, cameras, options, etc.

The NHL 13 demo is available now for the 360, later this afternoon for PS3. (We'll update this post when it is available.)

Queue it up right here, if you're not near a console. The NHL 13 demo weighs in at 1.33 GB.

The NHL 13 demo features four different modes. Play Now, NHL Moments Live, Hockey Ultimate Team and Free Skate.

In Play Now, you will control either the Los Angeles Kings or the New Jersey Devils in the 3rd period with a random score each time you play.

To learn more about the NHL 13 demo, click here and check out the latest blog.

Post your impressions here!

Game: NHL 13Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 23 - View All

NHL 13 Videos

Member Comments

# 181 Cletus @ 08/22/12 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Section_25


	Injuries seem to be more realistic this year also. Just put a monster hit on someone, dude went flying practically over the entire net and he never got up. Arm injury. No penalty was called, was playing as the home team though so that might have been a factor. lol I'm liking it !!!!

I hit a guy and made him do a cartwheel off of his head. Not sure about the realism, but it was hilarious. He went off with a head injury. Wish we could save replays.

# 182 kerosene31 @ 08/22/12 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cletus


	I hit a guy and made him do a cartwheel off of his head. Not sure about the realism, but it was hilarious. He went off with a head injury. Wish we could save replays.

I had something similar. I was streaking in on the wing and as I got the shot off got shoved down from behind. At first my player fell normally and looked to pop back up (wasn't even a hit, just a shove). Suddenly, he's on his head with his skates in the air rag dolling around. I'm hoping these are just demo issues because they could get annoying during the play. Of course I was basically a man short while my player was break dancing for the fans.

# 183 Majingir @ 08/22/12 01:05 PM

Hit power(and hit assistance) is almost maxed in the sliders, so that's why hitting is crazy like that.

I still see the goalies do that snow angel like move in the ice(I even let in a goal because of that).

Anyone else find HUT harder(meaning it's easier for AI to score on you) than the exhibition Devils-Kings game? AI scores 1-2 goals against me each game, in Devils-Kings, it's 0-1. Even though HUT is Pro and Devils-Kings is all star.

# 184 Cletus @ 08/22/12 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Majingir


	Hit power(and hit assistance) is almost maxed in the sliders, so that's why hitting is crazy like that. I still see the goalies do that snow angel like move in the ice(I even let in a goal because of that). Anyone else find HUT harder(meaning it's easier for AI to score on you) than the exhibition Devils-Kings game? AI scores 1-2 goals against me each game, in Devils-Kings, it's 0-1. Even though HUT is Pro and Devils-Kings is all star.

HUT is always like that for me. It's one of the major reasons I don't play it. I will have an olympic champion forward line and not score against a CHL goalie. Meanwhile, the Kings specifically in HUT, will skate in shoot short side and it's a goal. Even happens against me if my goalie is Quick.

# 185 mkharsh33 @ 08/22/12 01:42 PM

Just played the NHL Moments Live - twice. First time I lost with only a minute left in the SECOND OT (so they do let you keep playing, which is really fun!). I won it the second time rather quickly. (Can this only be played on "pro" level?).

Not a complaint necessarily, but the "immersion / celebration factor" was near non-existent. The commentary didn't really have that "WOW - we're going to the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!" feel to it. The whole thing felt numb and rushed. I wanted that "jump out of my seat" feeling by winning this game, but it wasn't there.

Also, why did the player - goalie interaction get removed? That was a nice feature added last year, but now it appears to be gone.

Agree with the sentiments above regarding the hits - way too strong. I can gain the puck with relative ease just by watching my players bump the opponent off the puck. Hopefully slider tweaks will fix this.

# 186 Dazraz @ 08/22/12 01:46 PM

The visuals look much crisper. As for the gameplay sliders will need to be adjusted before a judgement can be made. For me the single best feature I got from the demo was the True Broadcast cam. Totally changes the look & feel of the game.

# 187 DJ @ 08/22/12 02:15 PM

Thanks for the impressions, guys. I've downloaded the demo for both the PS3 and 360, but haven't had a chance to play either yet. Hoping to get a few games in tonight.

# 188 gopher_guy @ 08/22/12 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkharsh33


	Just played the NHL Moments Live - twice. First time I lost with only a minute left in the SECOND OT (so they do let you keep playing, which is really fun!). I won it the second time rather quickly. (Can this only be played on "pro" level?). Not a complaint necessarily, but the "immersion / celebration factor" was near non-existent. The commentary didn't really have that "WOW - we're going to the Stanley Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!" feel to it. The whole thing felt numb and rushed. I wanted that "jump out of my seat" feeling by winning this game, but it wasn't there. Also, why did the player - goalie interaction get removed? That was a nice feature added last year, but now it appears to be gone. Agree with the sentiments above regarding the hits - way too strong. I can gain the puck with relative ease just by watching my players bump the opponent off the puck. Hopefully slider tweaks will fix this.

I think goalie-player interaction is still there, but I think they toned it down a lot. In the free skate you can bump into the goalie, it's just not as easy to do. I seem to remember a lot of people complained that it was too easy to bump into the goalie.

There were a few times in 12 where my goalie got glitched out of the goal because of incidental contact with a player, leading to an easy goal for the CPU.

# 189 Qb @ 08/22/12 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joborule


	Really like the new skating engine, but kinda bummed how the defensive A.I. is far to passive defensively still though.

I noticed you were playing on All-Star with default settings. Try playing on the hardcore game style. I noticed that aggressiveness is only set at three on the normal style (not sure about default), but is raised to five on hardcore. That might help some.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flamesfan102


	The best controller layout setting to use when playing True Broadcast Camera is 'Always Up'. It's the most effective, didn't know if you heard that from the livestream or not.

Yes, I tried always up controls as well. I need to keep playing around with it. It's just a bit much all at once with the new skating and other gameplay elements.

Lots of quick hitters:

Did anyone else notice your player will stand up in at "at ease" animation if you don't move? I went behind the goal to set up a controlled breakout and my guy stood up straight with one hand on the stick while I waited for my teammates to circle back.

Looks like there are some new animations for board pinning and going for the poke after the pin isn't nearly as effective (user or CPU). I was able to grind it out in the corners & behind the net with the Kings bigger forwards.

I think it was our good friend Lionel Hutz who said one-timers are really hard to set up, perhaps even artificially so. I had a few in tight after some cycling that the shooter seemed to mishandle or take a second to settle, even on what looked to be a good pass. Also notice a lot of them going wide from farther out. I need to play a lot more before I can say it's too hard, but I'd much rather be closer to that end of spectrum than have anything resembling the "rocket passing" and reception ease of NHL12, especially in tight around the net.

I like what I see thus far in terms of goal distribution (not a big fan of "goal variety"). I see clean shots from scoring areas, shots through traffic, a few deflections, and some rebounds. Some were even combinations of two or three of these; my favorite goal was a point shot into a net battle which hit the attacker then rebounded from the goalie's pad to the defender's skate before the attacker scooped it up and put it into a fairly open net. It looked so much like something from a real, especially from the net cam.

Along those lines, the puck seems more loose around the goal, not being sucked to a defender or the goalie. Also, since the goalies are more aggressive and responsive to the play in front of them, they'll sometimes be out of position after the initial shot. This helps with those dirty, gritty rebound goals I love to see.

Finally, I love the new skating engine. Not sure if anyone else has mentioned that yet.

# 190 kicker @ 08/22/12 02:40 PM

The game is nicer all around but.....

I see a huge problem in this game and hope it's corrected with a tuner. You can basically skate backwards as fast or faster as you skate forward and the agility while skating backwards is ridiculous.

This will be a huge glitch as you can basically skate backwards up the ice while defenders either bounce off or simply fail to tip the puck off the skater.

Anyone playing the demo will see what im talking about right away. It doesnt matter what difficulty level you are playing, it is very easy to skate around backwards into the teeth of the goalie and fire a shot.

I hope the development team realizes this.

# 191 Methlab @ 08/22/12 02:44 PM

This may be a dumb question but I only got to play the demo for a few minutes. I like the default controls but hate passing with the triggers. It sucks. Can you use the buttons and not have to switch to the 94 setup? I dont remember having an issue with the new controls in the 09 version (the last one I played). Maybe it's just been a while.

# 192 mkharsh33 @ 08/22/12 02:46 PM

I saw a cool animation today where Kovalchuk whiffed at the puck BUT very quickly was able to get a quick shot on net. It looked very real.

Agree with QB above regarding board play. In 12 and 11, you could EASILY steal the puck away while pinning a guy to the boards - near automatic. This year they've made it balanced, and the weight of the players seems to really matter, along with the ability to handle the puck.

I got around 10 more game periods in today, and must say, the more I play it the more this looks like EA's best work ever for the NHL title. I had my concerns about speed bursts from great players, but the puck control isn't overly done once they get the puck and solid defenders seem to be in good recovery position, along with better goalie AI (in which a video was posted here a few weeks ago on their smarter play with regard to player - puck instincts).

I've been critical of this title, but with some slider tweaks, I think this game has a 9.0 + rating given to it, and rightly so. I believe in past years this game was overhyped in pre-release magazine / blog ratings. It wasn't until a LOT of people started playing it that the holes in the game became obvious.

I only wish I had MORE teams to play with.

# 193 Panicshade @ 08/22/12 02:52 PM

They could have at least had 4 teams like the Madden demo.

Maybe next season for one of their many vote campaigns like they do with the covers they can ask people what teams they want to see in the demo.

# 194 Qb @ 08/22/12 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kicker


	I see a huge problem in this game and hope it's corrected with a tuner. You can basically skate backwards as fast or faster as you skate forward and the agility while skating backwards is ridiculous.

I haven't gone out of my way to attempt backskating all over the CPU, so I can't speak to how easy it is. However, I'm leaning towards the need for the speed/agility of backskating, and perhaps the speed of transition, to be reduced when in possession of the puck. I'm not sure about without the puck, as that seems like it might be better balanced. But I need to spend more time with the game before declaring that anything needs to be tuned.

# 195 mikko1995 @ 08/22/12 03:15 PM

First impression on the game is good; I like it, it feels realistic.

With that being said I find the CPU on Superstar/Hardcore settings a lot easier in the Demo than the NHL 12 Superstar/Hardcore was for me. I'm able to dominate the games with ease, if I do make a mistake, I can always cover them up by myself with a poke, hard backcheck or just positioning myself so I can get a blocked shot. In the offense I can gain the zone easily and then I'll cut to the middle between the D and the trailers, stop and pass to the forward trailing how is entering the slot or wait and pass to the D and start a cycle.

All in all it has been real fun playing the game, sliders will fix the CPU thing I'm sure.

# 196 gopher_guy @ 08/22/12 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panicshade


	They could have at least had 4 teams like the Madden demo. Maybe next season for one of their many vote campaigns like they do with the covers they can ask people what teams they want to see in the demo.

That would be a cool idea!

Have the 2 SC teams, and then have the community vote for 2 other teams to be in the demo.

# 197 Vikes1 @ 08/22/12 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Section_25


	If the sliders work better than last year we are in for some seriously great games for months to come.

Agreed.

If we can take what we seem to have now, and customize the gameplay to our personal liking with really effective sliders...yep, that'll be huge.

# 198 franch1se @ 08/22/12 03:41 PM

is there a way when dangling with L1 and hitting a direction to not lose the puck? Everytime I try it always ends up behind me or my guy side steps to the left and the puck goes the other way. I have never used the new controls but I want to try to learn them this year.

Anyways, I still can't score. I have been messing around with HUT and I won 2 games before losing to the Kings in the semi's and the only way I win is in shootouts in way extra rounds haha.

Using HUT, its very noticeable on the speed difference between players and i really like using Stamkos and just flying past the D.

It's funny, the sports I've never played in my life are what I'm the best at (NCAA, Madden) but the sport I have played my entire life (squirts-college hockey) I can't play well haha.

# 199 kicker @ 08/22/12 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qb


	I haven't gone out of my way to attempt backskating all over the CPU, so I can't speak to how easy it is. However, I'm leaning towards the need for the speed/agility of backskating, and perhaps the speed of transition, to be reduced when in possession of the puck. I'm not sure about without the puck, as that seems like it might be better balanced. But I need to spend more time with the game before declaring that anything needs to be tuned.

You will see what I'm talking about when you attempt to backskate all over the place. It's definitely scary when you do so because the AI defense can't knock you off the puck and before you know it you're in their zone with a shot attempt.

Being a defenseman for thousands of club/OTP games, I realize the importance of being able to skate backwards with decent agility. That said, the fact you can skate up the ice backwards with ease is nuts.

The only remedy I see for this is to tune the game where a puck carrier attempting to backskate is able to be knocked off the puck/off his feet much easier than going straight ahead. This would leave the defenseman out of it since if they were backskating back into their own zone without the puck and they were hit, it would be an interference call.

Another problem with this is that the backskating can be combined with a number of shots that are 100% guaranteed to go in if done correctly. I was able to go 25 for 25 with the goalie while backskating and using a number of shots. If i'm able to do this as a non-glitcher, I will guarantee the true glitchers out there already know about this and will exploit it if not addressed by the development team.

I know this type of information shouldn't be normally shared but this will be common knowlege among the better players in the game as soon as they try the game out. It's better to get it out in the open and have the developers fix the problem before we see this on a daily basis in club/otp.

Anyone who has played this game for a few years and has seen all the BS players pull will take notice of the above. Like I said, I hope they address it because this game has the potential to be incredible.

# 200 plaidchuck @ 08/22/12 04:49 PM

Well my impressions pretty much mirror everyone else's, but as other have said it will come down to how well the sliders work. Some of my big pros/cons:

Cons:

The AI was business-as-usual bad when using position lock; playing as a forward the dmen and other players seemed to ignore me even if I was wide open for a pass, not sure if playing tendencies or strategy was affecting this. Forwards also went offsides way too much when receiving a pass into the offensive zone (eg. standing just offside when taking the pass). The D men also would either let people waltz right into the slot to take one timers or do the ol' "stand behind the goalie" routine. Pretty sad because if this what the end product will be like BAP will once again be nothing more than a grind in order to not pay for eashl boosts.

Live goalies seem to be gone, the only interaction I noticed is that the skater gets knocked down when touching the goalie, nothing else.

Penalties are borked from the gate, after about 3-6 total hours of playing the demo I have seen just one slashing penalty. Blatant interference, checks from behind and even trips haven't been called.

The backskating. Nuff said.

Goalies seem to be super tough, and scoring seems to be random, e.g. sometimes the goalie will make a save no matter how badly he is out of position, other times a routine shot will go in.

Pros:

Overall the skating is nice and not that hard to get used to. Hopefully this will force players to constantly weigh risks and rewards of aggressive forechecking/pinching versus establishing a good position on both offense and defense. An ice friction slider similar to the one in the 2k games would be nice though.

The new overall and line strategies are good, but this was really one area that could do nothing but improve, same with the presentation.

Player faces look a lot better.

Verdict: Still not enough to justify preordering or a day 1 purchase. GM connected may be nice but other than that I think the offline will be as bad and boring as 12. Hopefully the EASHL will be better with the new attribute caps. Other than that though, I will at least wait until I see multiple reviews of the eashl especially and till they have a patch or 2 under their belt this year.

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NHL 13 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)