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

# 341 Gagnon39 @ 08/29/12 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Yeah I've been thinking I'll most likely turn the game speed down one notch. Imo...it certainly isn't bad where it's at now. But I prefer the game to play maybe a bit slower. I mean...I'm getting beat to the puck all over the place. Partly because of poor positioning on my part, but also I think because my reaction time is just plain slow. I think I need a little more time for the thought in my head...to get to my hands.

Really? I've been playing primarily on Superstar and the thing I like the most about it so far is that I can beat the CPU to loose pucks often. That is without question my favorite thing so far. In the past, while the CPU didn't have a speed cheat it was able to initiate the hustle feature quicker and more often than the user. This is non-existent in NHL 13 and I love it.

# 342 Gagnon39 @ 08/29/12 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Yeah Gagnon, this is very good advice for me. I'm sure getting the idea I need the practice. Because thankfully, the game is quite a bit different now. And imo...the game needed to be different at this point. And they sure succeed, nicely. I did spend some time in the Free skate. But more than anything...I was just getting such a kick outta just skating around in freaking circles! It just looked/felt so neat to see the player leaning into the hard turns. And I'd nearly swear I saw at least once, a player kinda putting his hand down near ice level for balance. Unless I was seeing things. But yep...shooting practice is next.

You will notice your dekes can be different if you are gliding. And using the left analog stick (your skates) along with the right analog stick (your stick) you can do some new things. If you do a backhand to forehand deke you can curl the puck around a goalies out-stretched pads. I don't think I ever saw this in NHL 12. Also, as I've said before you can actually score five-hole (on purpose). Before, in previous NHL games you might get a lucky bounce to go five hole every once in a while, but on here you can score a legit five hole goal. Awesome!

# 343 mkharsh33 @ 08/29/12 02:38 AM

Played around 10 games tonight on all-star / hard core. I really believe I like this game better on superstar. some of the animations on all-star didn't really sit well with me. plus, i still think the game is too fast, so without slider tweaking - just don't know. the goalie animations are just so overblown it's not funny.

# 344 jb1 @ 08/29/12 07:26 AM

I've Finally been able to spend some quality time with the NHL 13 demo, managed to play plenty of Play Now (All Star/Hardcore) and HUT matches. I was pretty critical of 12 in the end and ended up getting frustrated to the point where I traded it in pretty early so I was keen to see what 13 offered...

Pros

True Performance Skating - A fantastic improvement which in itself makes this feel like a totally different game. I really like how you can feel the difference when skating with top players compared to 4th liners which was a real issue for me in previous games. The ability to burn past defenders is great, all it takes is a half a second lapse in judgement and you are gone. Likewise on defense it's great to be punished for just ever so slightly being out of position. Also, dekes feel much better and are harder to pull off with lesser players which feels great.

True Broadcast Camera/Graphics - The TBC Looks fantastic and playing games on this view really makes you feel like you are watching a TV broadcast. However I stink when I play with the TBC! I would love to play long term with this camera but with all sports games I play I love to be able to see as much of the whole ice/pitch as I can so I don't know whether I will use this going forward, maybe if we can zoom it out as a custom camera I will try. As well as the TBC the lighting across all cameras seems much better and the player models come across better aswell.

Goal Variety/Goalies - Another problem i've had in the past is goal variety but already in the demo I have scored goals that I simply haven't before. The goalies aren't perfect by any means and at times seem to be too good but I have also felt they let in more realistic goals than i've seen in the past. I also love the way they move with their independent limb movement but maybe at times it needs to be slowed down.

The Chop - A really nice little addition which adds a lot to the gameplay.

Cons

Gaining the Zone - I know there is a dilemma for the devs in that they don't want to push away casual players and turn the game into a pure sim but after seeing Rammer talk about the new difficulty in entering the offensive zone I have to say I am very dissappointed. I should point out that I haven't played on Superstar and please tell me if it is different on that difficulty but so far on All Star/Hardcore I haven't needed to dump the puck in once, the only times I do it are for my own pleasure. Again, it's difficult in a 5 min demo and maybe we will see different strategies become more effective over full games.

In the Middle

The CPU Offensive AI - I'll start off by saying I really like the pressure that you can get put under in your own zone at times however i'm still seeing worrying AI plays on offense. Last year a real gripe of mine was that on too many occasions the CPU would dump the puck and get nowhere near it meaning an easy turnover and they are doing it again, yes when they up the pressure it is more difficult to get out of the zone but it feels like I can force the CPU to dump almost at will while I can just freely skate in to their zone at will. Another issue I still have is with the CPU's shooting decisions, to me they take too many bad shots and at times they can rack up 4 or 5 shots in no time but none of them are decent scoring chances which the goalie has no problem dealing with. This was a real concern for me last year and although it's better this time around there is so much improvement needed here for me.

Strategies - I'm in the middle on this because even though I love the additions they have made here and I hope that over a full offline season every team will feel different to play against i'm not convinced yet that the CPU is making good decisions with them. It's a little difficult to assess this over 5 min periods so i'm still hopeful these will add a lot to full game.

Penalties - My biggest problem with the game last year (apart from freezing issues) was the lack of penalties. I just couldn't play an NHL game with hardly any penalties being called. So far in the demo i'm 50/50 on this, i've had runs of upto 4 periods with no penalties (despite me spamming buttons almost looking for them) but i've also had single periods with two being called when I wasn't looking for them. Of course if the slider works properly then great but right now I am concerned.

Overall

Despite my concerns I do feel that the new skating engine makes this feel like a whole new game and I came away from my time with the demo wanting to get my hands on the full game so in that respect it has done it's job.

I am a little fearful though that as an offline NHL gamer only I may be trading this in early again. The key for me keeping the game over the whole year will be whether or not we see realistic or at least near to realistic penalty calls and that all Be a GM games don't feel the same again, I want to feel that different teams have different styles and hopefully the new strategies will do just that.

# 345 JezFranco @ 08/29/12 08:10 AM

I haven been able to grace all 41 pages yet, but here we go anyway.

First off a few questions... the manual passing in play now seems to be working fine, if you play on hardcore its fully manual, no assist. But When I play the HUT matches the passing is clearly assisted even if the (greyed out) sliders show manual passing on, and 0 pass assist.
I never played HUT that much before, maybe it's supposed to be like that?

Also, assigning points in HUT to players seems buggy, but it might be part of the new player style thingy? I add skate points, and the player looses shot points?

Ah well, anyway, the demo is great. It was a definate buy before, and it is even more definitive.

Pros
The skating of course. Everyone's covered it already, but what I really love with the new skating is combining it with the old quick dekes. Those quick dekes are so effective now when done correctly.
The new skating is reminding me of what you say about poker... it's easy to learn, but'll take a lifetime to master.
It's so revarding to go full speed, go into a glide, then take the new quick step right and then deke left. It's not always easy, but when you nail it, and see the defender lose momentum as you pass him... ahhhh.

The Loose puck. Nice.

The chop & poke check.
The little addition of the chop and the more effective poke has made board play a new game. Now I can literally spend a minute straight or more battling for a loose puck around the boards. Very nice addition.
I also like how the poke/chop kinda make a transition into a check when you take a chop at someone close to the boards.

Small checks... contact.
Sometimes it seems you can do a check on someone that was previously a instantanious interference call, but in 13 you can nudge people, without taking a call because the check is kinda subtle.
Weither this is a problem with penalty sliders, or a new design I dont know.

Some great AI on display sometimes.

So.... cons:
Backskating.
To easy, and the CPU doesn't seem aggressive enough when you do it.

Same thing with an old problem... When you have the puck in the offensive zone, and pull your stick out for a wrist shot, it seems like the CPU freezes a bit. On a few occations I've been able to just pass a defender by loading a wrist shot, and then going back to neutral. On Pro, but anyway.

Some horrible AI moments on occations.

I dont know's:
Penalties.
Are they broken? No. Are there to few? Yes.
The slider is above half, but there still seems not be enough penalties.
But it's hard to say from 5 minute periods, because as mentioned above, there are times where I see a few penalties in a short time, but then there are 3-4 periods of nothing.

I love though that there seems to be a somewhat chaothic design in the penalties, which is kinda human.

On one occation the CPU was on a breakaway, and I came up behind him. I pushed X and did a hooking, which made the CPU player loose speed, but there was no call. I did it again, and this time the penalty came up, and the play was stopped after the CPU took his shoot. Now, I'm not hping that this happens all the time, but sometime... just sometime a player should get a way with a hooking or an interference.

Passing.
As mentioned before, the manual passing when playing HUT seems very assisted. Hope its not a problem.

# 346 JezFranco @ 08/29/12 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gagnon39


	You will notice your dekes can be different if you are gliding. And using the left analog stick (your skates) along with the right analog stick (your stick) you can do some new things. If you do a backhand to forehand deke you can curl the puck around a goalies out-stretched pads. I don't think I ever saw this in NHL 12. Also, as I've said before you can actually score five-hole (on purpose). Before, in previous NHL games you might get a lucky bounce to go five hole every once in a while, but on here you can score a legit five hole goal. Awesome!

Actually, five hole goals and curling the puck was there at the start of NHL 12... but it seems it was tuned away.

# 347 Millennium @ 08/29/12 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkharsh33


	To clarify - I have NO idea why Realm got banned. I also want to state that I sent him a personal note of apology last week, well before he was banned, so this has nothing to do with me. But to say I "taunted" him simply is not true. I had a "disagreement" with him regarding what I was seeing in this demo. I was objective, and though he felt some things weren't to his liking, he seemed to take objection to ANYONE who found fault with this demo. OS is a better place, I believe, because of people like me who have given back a lot to this community with rosters and sliders. But you're entitled to your opinion of me, and that's fine.

What part of drop it don't you get?

The next words about it result in a ban.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

# 348 lockjaw333 @ 08/29/12 08:57 AM

Those of you who know me know that I'm primarily a 2K guy. NHL 2K8, for me, was the most realistic hockey game ever made, even despite its glaring flaws in the hitting and AI departments. And while I still think shooting should be separate from right-stick puck handling (a-la 2K8 where "X" was shoot and you could shoot while stickhandling), I think EA has finally made a hockey game that will put out that fire I've had burning for 2K8 all these years.

My initial reactions to the demo were a "more of the same" sense of disappointment. However after playing a bunch of games and really learning the nuances of what they've had, I have to say I quite like it.

Pros:

Skating: Excellent. The best of any hockey game to date. My favorite part is the emphasis on gliding. NHL players are not chugging their legs constantly, most of the time they are gliding whether on offense or defense. In general you can't do most of the intricate things players do in hockey while also skating at 100% max effort, so its nice to see that gliding is a huge part of the game now. It looks realistic, and it definitely helps with the flow of the game.

Neutral Zone play: Still not great, but a BIG improvement over '12. The CPU AI only skates in circles a little bit before eventually dumping the puck. In '12, they wouldn't even dump the puck. Also the neutral zone strategies look much better and really help in the realism department. The neutral zone is a huge part of hockey that was all but ignored by this series in the past.

CPU Offense: Wait, hold on...did I just see the CPU...cycle? I didn't think it could be true, but then they kept doing it, and pinning me in my own zone. Finally! Never felt pinned before in any NHL game. Now you have that feeling of "we need to clear the puck out of our zone". Not enough of a sampling size to see if all of the CPU offense is just predetermined paths and cycles (like in the past), but so far it seems pretty reactionary to what you give them.

Player differential: Kovalchuk feels like Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk does not feel like Jody Shelley. Finally!

Left stick dekes: Might be my favorite addition. This is how players in the NHL deke in open space. They don't hold the puck 5 feet away from their body and sling it around like a yo-yo. Unless you want to lose the puck, you keep it close to your body, and more than anything use your feet and body to change direction and make subtle moves. R-stick dekeing would only come into play on breakaways, and even then it looks pretty silly. I will probably almost exclusively use L-stick dekes. They look explosive and awesome.

Cons:

Puck physics: They feel the same, which isn't a good thing. Goalie rebounds are the worst offender. You either get 1) a rebound shot out of a rocket pod that flies into the corner, 2) a balloon ball pop-up, or 3) a rubberband rebound that flies out of the zone and down the other end. The puck just doesn't behave naturally, and its hard to put my finger on why. It needs to be more dense and weighty, if that makes sense.

Teammate AI: For the love of god, get out of my way on breakouts! Also, why do your teammates never ever go into the slot on offense trying to find open space for a pass or one-timer? They are always in the weirdest spots in the slot that give you no chance to make any sort of play.

CPU Defensive AI: Still far too passive. You can still set up a powerplay during 5 on 5. And there are still "dead zones" where if you just hold the puck, everyone on the ice completely stops and doesn't move.

Goalies: Better this year wiith limb movement, but still too Terminator like and robotic. Barely a sense of momentum and having to push off. Goals seem arbitrary or randomly decided rather than earned.

To me, this last item is the biggest negative this series has going right now. As an earlier poster mentioned, the goalies in NHL 2K8 are by far and away the best in any hockey game ever made (not in looks, but in behavior and movement). I think goalie play is an extremely undervalued part of a hockey game. To me, it really is one of the 2 or 3 aspects that larely determines whether the game feels realistic. The goalie play in 2K8 made of for so many other deficiences in that game.

The goalies just don't feel real in this game. Other parts of this game are getting there, but the goalies really haven't changed much. To me that affects so much. A large part of the unpredictable nature of hockey is that scoring is not only dependant on what the skaters do with the puck, but also the human element of the goaltender having trying to stop the puck. If that aspect is flukey, then it drags down the rest of the game in my mind. And for me, its still totally flukey.

The best way I can summarize it is, a shot on goal doesn't seem like the most dangerous thing you can do in this game. And in my opinion, it always should. Rebounds feel predetermined or artificial, so you lose that whole sense of "anything goes" once the puck is put towards the net. Theres not much of a sense of puck scrambles in front. Huge part of hockey that just isn't there.

Having said that, like I said, coming from a 2K guy I have to admit this game is quite good. Perhaps for the first time, it actually feels like hockey in most areas. Maybe this year I won't be done with it by October.

# 349 Vikes1 @ 08/29/12 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gagnon39


	Really? I've been playing primarily on Superstar and the thing I like the most about it so far is that I can beat the CPU to loose pucks often. That is without question my favorite thing so far. In the past, while the CPU didn't have a speed cheat it was able to initiate the hustle feature quicker and more often than the user. This is non-existent in NHL 13 and I love it.

Me never using the hustle feature is another one of my problems.

In fact Gagnon...I probably use 10% of the controls available. Heck, I don't even aim my shots most times. So my problems are of my own making.

The game has gotten to the point now were I may be forced to learn how to use at least more of whats there control wise.

# 350 bwiggy33 @ 08/29/12 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lockjaw333


	Goalies: Better this year wiith limb movement, but still too Terminator like and robotic. Barely a sense of momentum and having to push off. Goals seem arbitrary or randomly decided rather than earned. To me, this last item is the biggest negative this series has going right now. As an earlier poster mentioned, the goalies in NHL 2K8 are by far and away the best in any hockey game ever made (not in looks, but in behavior and movement). I think goalie play is an extremely undervalued part of a hockey game. To me, it really is one of the 2 or 3 aspects that larely determines whether the game feels realistic. The goalie play in 2K8 made of for so many other deficiences in that game. The goalies just don't feel real in this game. Other parts of this game are getting there, but the goalies really haven't changed much. To me that affects so much. A large part of the unpredictable nature of hockey is that scoring is not only dependant on what the skaters do with the puck, but also the human element of the goaltender having trying to stop the puck. If that aspect is flukey, then it drags down the rest of the game in my mind. And for me, its still totally flukey. The best way I can summarize it is, a shot on goal doesn't seem like the most dangerous thing you can do in this game. And in my opinion, it always should. Rebounds feel predetermined or artificial, so you lose that whole sense of "anything goes" once the puck is put towards the net. Theres not much of a sense of puck scrambles in front. Huge part of hockey that just isn't there.

100000000%!

You nailed everything I've been trying to say for quite a while. Worst part about EA hockey. If it were changed to how we want, everyone would finally see how much of a difference it would actually make to this game.

# 351 Gagnon39 @ 08/29/12 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikes1


	Me never using the hustle feature is another one of my problems. In fact Gagnon...I probably use 10% of the controls available. Heck, I don't even aim my shots most times. So my problems are of my own making. The game has gotten to the point now were I may be forced to learn how to use at least more of whats there control wise.

I would highly suggest that. I still learn new things (especially dekes) all the time. But I feel like I have a pretty good grip on how to do most things. It makes the game so much more fun.

# 352 jakeywakey911 @ 08/29/12 11:30 PM

Demo was great!

new skating system works awesome! sad part is, I just bought Madden and I'm already looking more forward to NHL early release then playing Madden anymore aha

# 353 Vikes1 @ 08/30/12 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakeywakey911


	Demo was great! new skating system works awesome! sad part is, I just bought Madden and I'm already looking more forward to NHL early release then playing Madden anymore aha

Hopefully within a few years, Madden's physics [especially for the player movement] will be where NHL is now.

If Madden gets to that point, and adds a working Learning AI...I'd seriously think about buying it again.

# 354 slickdtc @ 08/30/12 10:13 AM

Just played one game. It was laggy and choppy, felt like I was playing on a bad connection or something even though it was offline. I think my PS3 needs a reformat... I don't think it had anything to do particularly with the demo. Unless that's a widespread problem.. Don't really know, haven't kept up with the discussions here.

Anyway, love the new physics. It really will make this a completely different game. And from a guy who is still playing NHL 11 -- I could immediately tell the difference. This game has a different look to it, as well. Looks more... Real. Cut scenes are real time too, which I always loved about the 2K series.

I think this one is gonna be a real winner. Put this series back on the map.

# 355 Vikes1 @ 08/30/12 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slickdtc


	Anyway, love the new physics. It really will make this a completely different game. And from a guy who is still playing NHL 11 -- I could immediately tell the difference. This game has a different look to it, as well. Looks more... Real. Cut scenes are real time too, which I always loved about the 2K series. I think this one is gonna be a real winner. Put this series back on the map.

This is about spot on how I feel, too.

I've been really enjoying NHL for the last several years...but the game did imo, need a kick in the pants. Another year of seeing rather small upgrades that you kinda forget about just a few weeks after buying the game, would have been pretty tough to swallow. Something kinda big needed to happen for '13'. And imo, it did.

# 356 Hotstreak @ 08/31/12 01:36 PM

Does anyone else find that goalies fall down too much? I don't mean just go down to the ice to make the save, I mean that it seems like every other save animation is of the goalie stretching to make the save, then losing their balance and falling on their ***.

# 357 bad_philanthropy @ 08/31/12 02:04 PM

I still don't like the feel of the goalies. Others have pointed to how they play in the 2k series, and I agree with that as the gold standard.

That said, the skating is fantastic. I'm still learning the ins and outs of how and when to glide, and starting to unleash the power of gliding and lateral movement. Great mechanic overall.

Superstar/Hardcore is going to need a few slider tweaks, but overall I'm impressed with the baseline here. Going to play the hell out of NHL this year lockout or not.

# 358 18 eighty 5 @ 08/31/12 11:57 PM

Have spent some time with this demo and I love the obvious changes to the skating engine. It looks and feels so much more authentic. The true broadcast camera is also a huge addition. These two additions make the whole EA experience fresh.

A strange thing has happened to my demo download. I played only a few minutes of the Play Now game between the Kings and Devils and since then I cannot play it anymore. When I go to try the fixture is always San Jose vs LA and the game hangs when I try to play.

This has meant that my time with the demo has been split between free skate and the NHL Moments game between LA and Phoenix. It is enough though to make me really look forward to picking up my retail copy. However, the coyotes game draws attention to some of the same old CPU things that have been in EA's game all this generation. The CPU still retains the puck even after getting crunched by two of my guys along the boards and can skate off to advantage. That feeling of boosting is present and I understand this is a do or die playoff game for Phoenix but it feels a little less organic because the CPU can swarm like crazy like every other year and i doesnt feel nor look true to the sport. The goalies still warp too.

Funnily enough, on the old camera angles I don't find the need to learn to be as creative with the new skating engine anywhere near as much as on the true broadcast cam. Probably my play style but it has sold me on committing to playing NHL 13 on the true broadcast view as I feel I get the freshest and most exciting hockey experience we have had in a video game for some time.

Despite any short comings I have, I love what we have with this demo. It is only a demo but I find myself loading it up and enjoying myself with it rather than playing other games and whe I am playing other games I am thinking about playing this demo.

Well done EA on producing something tangibly fresh and very fun. You have captured the authenticity of hockey better than you ever have before.

# 359 MizzouRah @ 09/01/12 10:18 AM

Ok, I've played the demo to death. Time to delete it and prepare for the retail version.

# 360 BlueNGold @ 09/01/12 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MizzouRah


	Ok, I've played the demo to death. Time to delete it and prepare for the retail version.

Friday night (early release) can't get here soon enough.

Thankfully Madden has been holding me over.

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