NHL 14 News Post

NHL 14 Demo Available Now For 360, Later Today For PS3 - Post Your Impressions Here

06:46 AM - August 20, 2013 by CupCrazyManiac

The NHL 14 demo is available now for 360 users (queue it up here at 1.46 GB) and later today for PS3 users. We will update this post when it arrives. The NHL 14 demo details can be found here. Please post your impressions here and post your feedback to the developers here.

Game: NHL 14Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 6 - View All

NHL 14 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Russo @ 08/20/13 07:27 AM

downloading as we speak---play a few games before work

# 2 ch46647 @ 08/20/13 07:29 AM

Demo impressions are greatly appreciated! I am at the airport now, cant play until Thursday.

# 3 JezFranco @ 08/20/13 07:30 AM

I'm in europe, got PS3 and no gold membership on xboxlive, so I'll be asking some the coming hours.

Hardcore Simulation - W00T! Could it be, settings that actually are allright?

Is the free skate available, so we can play around with the new skating/pivots?

# 4 Russo @ 08/20/13 08:34 AM

**after one 20 minute period***

-greater fluidity and smoothness to skating, feels 100% better than its predecessor. No more planting like if players are skating with cleats

- no fights, tried initiating but no avail

- Hits seem toned down but when you lay that timely hit, it looks more realistic

more later...

# 5 Rwings832 @ 08/20/13 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russo


	after one 20 minute period* -greater fluidity and smoothness to skating, feels 100% better than its predecessor. No more planting like if players are skating with cleats - no fights, tried initiating but no avail - Hits seem toned down but when you lay that timely hit, it looks more realistic more later...

I know you may not play this mode, but is the coaching aspect of it still in the game?

# 6 mike10778 @ 08/20/13 09:34 AM

Early impressions -

Game feels very solid. Nice fluid skating - game speed still a bit off, but im sure that can be changed.

The fighting is pretty cool - started at random times. Some at the faceoff, some after the whistle...my favorite is after dropping one of their star players, someone will come running for you and engage in a fight. The actual fights themselves are pretty good too - love to see how that will play out with the full game and "better fighters".

Overall, early impressions are pretty darn good.

(Oh, played 20 seconds of the NHL 94 mode...what a gimmick)

# 7 Fiddy @ 08/20/13 10:06 AM

alright...

just played a few 3rd periods and was free skating for about 20 minutes.

ill say this, its BETTER than NHL 13. which, i dont say that much from one game to another in this series.

colors, seems brighter, which is great.

NHL 14 has a better feel, more fluid when skating, everything seems to have been smoothed out.

speed, seems toned down, but feels very good.

net battles dont seem to be as annoying when in front, easier to get off of as well.

fighting, pretty cool. such a shame we had to deal with that 1st person fighting these last so many years. no option to turtle in a fight from what i seen. ive started fights, seen 2 started automatically after a hit i put on a player etc.

one touch dekes, hmm, i can see this being a problem online.. very easy to do and can do them very quickly. the other dekes seem to be the same, if you know how to do them, they work per usual, smoother as well.

poke checks, toned down a ton, i can see a ton of tripping calls in the future.

checking, seems like you have to have the player lined up even more so than in the past, which is a good thing. players not getting sucked into hits as much in years past.

breakaways, my same 3 breakaway moves still work at a high rate. a forehand move, backhand move, and one that really isn't a move lol. i scored on 18 of my first 20 attempts in the free skate. i dont skate around like a jag, right in on goalie, make move, score.

wrist shots, i scored 4 of my first 5 shots, all 5 hole.. same as last year from that spot!

if they dont know about those, then i dont know what to tell ya.

overall though, much better product than last year. even with the demo at an early build, its much much much better than NHL 13.

actually enjoyed the way it has played in the demo, which is shocking..

# 8 The Visualizer @ 08/20/13 10:11 AM

i played for about an hour and here's what stood out:

OFFENSE

biggest change seems that slapshots are now lethal, you can get goals from unscreened slapshots a lot, scored a clean 5 hole slapshot goal
the reverse spin-o-rama move is different, faster and more fluid. It might be really useful this year
You can't fake a wrist shot while you have it curled, click the right-stick does nothing, like you are locked into that animation now
Backhand forehand move is hit or miss, you still fake them out just as much but even when it feels like you have them beat clean if the puck isnt lifted their pad will stop it more than not now
you only lose windup fake slapshots moving side to side. Moving forwards and holding it down for awhile you now pick it up seemingly 100% of the time
there is now a short windup fake slapshot that works consistently well, this works well for D-men at the point not getting locked into the long windup fake and turning it over
shot power in general seems a lot higher for all shots, saw an unscreened wrist shot go in for just inside the blueline top shelf
juicy rebounds are still there on most weak shots
full charged passes are received 100%, no bobbles
fully charged pass power seems lower
no more accidentally hitting people when trying to shoot on rebounds because right-stick isnt body check anymore (despite what the controls diagram says when you load the game up)
quick deke toe drag is pretty nasty and useful

DEFENSE/FIGHTING

weird pivoting is gone
hitting feels really good, you have to commit most times and build up a little momentum but when you catch someone, as long as its not someone tough like Chara or Lucic they go down. Because you need to drive at someone to take them down there is a lot more nudging and bumping if you dont build up the momentum needed to knock them down especially in close corners along the boards and in corners which feels/looks good. which means a power forward might be able to control/protect the puck now along the boards without getting dumped as easy
ive hit tons of guys REALLLY late and not 1 penalty has been called, chimp tactics look to be legal still
you can deflect slapshots during a players windup or as they are following thru even if you are late closing players down, last year there was some invulnerability to this and they could shoot thru you
no more autoaim poke check that works while skating the wrong way
guys stumble sometimes after getting up from being knocked out in fights
they show replays of the fights
goalie throws the puck out in traffic a lot more
chop takes getting used to but works good now that the game doesnt pick and choose for you, still some wonky times where you miss when you shouldnt
lots of grabbing after the whistle, looks good, should prevent chimps from trying to knock you down all the time

# 9 Fiddy @ 08/20/13 10:26 AM

there is also an option in the control settings to turn off left stick hitting..

edit -

NHL 94 Mode.. have to use NHL 94 controls right?

wrong.. go to controller select, select skill stick, boom. now NHL 94 mode is just "casual" or "high impact" mode, skate speed/acc boosted, shot acc boosted etc.

it plays exactly like i have had set up on NHL 13 when this mode was announced. i wanted to see if thats what it was going to be and i was right. siiiiiiiiiiiigh!

edit 2 -

i just looked at the sliders in game in NHL 94 mode.. other than 3 sliders, i had them set EXACTLY the way they do in my NHL 94 Mode NHL 13 season.. HILARIOUS!

# 10 Qb @ 08/20/13 10:39 AM

Wait... Is checking a contextual animation that we initiate by simply running into people? Is the right stick now free-poke?

# 11 nunogomes @ 08/20/13 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	breakaways, my same 3 breakaway moves still work at a high rate. a forehand move, backhand move, and one that really isn't a move lol. i scored on 18 of my first 20 attempts in the free skate. i dont skate around like a jag, right in on goalie, make move, score. wrist shots, i scored 4 of my first 5 shots, all 5 hole.. same as last year from that spot! if they dont know about those, then i dont know what to tell ya.

Was waiting for your impressions on the demo Fiddy! Unfortunately i was hoping not to have to read this... the game might be better as you said but this 90% sure goals kills it (kills every game that has it really)

Maybe it will receive an update. They did got a few ones out last year...

# 12 JezFranco @ 08/20/13 10:46 AM

How's the poke chop" working out (R1/RB + Right stick)?

# 13 Al_Tito13 @ 08/20/13 10:48 AM

I played 6 periods of play now and two full HUT tournaments so far and I have to say that I loved how the game felt. I played on Hardcore Simulation. However, it's still way too early to be able to have a good judgement on the game.

What I Like About the NHL 14 Demo:
- Hitting: more realistic, with accidental contacts and some big hits.
- Skating: more fluid, pivoting is better and strafing is a great addition.
- Passing: more responsive, cycling and team play are better, one-timers too.
- Fighting: so much fun.

What I Want to See Improved or Changed:
- No penalties for shooting or hitting after the wistle, which always starts a fight. It will get abused.
- Even if they are fun, fights happen way too often in the demo. And we should always have the choice to start or decline a fight.
- Faceoff spamming is still possible.
- Game pace is too fast.
- Goalies rebound control is still not that good.

To me, the main problem with NHL 13 was superhuman goalies, so I'll have to play more games with 14 to see if goalies were tuned down enough. So far, it seems better, but I may even have to wait for the real game to make a final idea. I'm also not sure that I like the changes made to poke checks, I will have to play more games for this too.

# 14 Fiddy @ 08/20/13 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	there is also an option in the control settings to turn off left stick hitting.. edit - NHL 94 Mode.. have to use NHL 94 controls right? wrong.. go to controller select, select skill stick, boom. now NHL 94 mode is just "casual" or "high impact" mode, skate speed/acc boosted, shot acc boosted etc. it plays exactly like i have had set up on NHL 13 when this mode was announced. i wanted to see if thats what it was going to be and i was right. siiiiiiiiiiiigh! edit 2 - i just looked at the sliders in game in NHL 94 mode.. other than 3 sliders, i had them set EXACTLY the way they do in my NHL 94 Mode NHL 13 season.. HILARIOUS!

l also want to add, even though the user can use skill stick controls in the NHL 94 Mode, the CPU does not use any advance controls. no dekes, no nothing!

# 15 The Visualizer @ 08/20/13 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JezFranco


	How's the poke chop" working out (R1/RB + Right stick)?

the new controls take some getting used to, but its a big improvement know you won't accidentally do a pokecheck now or vice versa

there are still times where if you get too close to the puck and try it wont trigger the animation or it will perform a slower animation where you whiff on the chop

I've found the chop is now a good move to use for defenseman if a puck is dumped in around the boards and you dont look like you will have time to pick it up and pass. I just chop it to keep on going thru to the other side now and it works great

I think high level players will find some good uses for it moving around players in the neutral and offensive zones this year now that it is somewhat reliable

now that it's consistent I think it can be move useful as a weapon in the neutral zone

# 16 Brewskie19 @ 08/20/13 11:10 AM

Not that NHL 13 was broken in any way, it was an awesome game, but I notice 0 difference between NHL 13 and the NHL 14 demo. The anniversary mode is a huge waste of resources, other than the blue ice, star indicator and the controls (which you could play in previous versions), nothing is different and not sure why they wasted time on making this mode. The game will be good, but I wonder how much a new version is justified.

# 17 TDNY @ 08/20/13 11:20 AM

Feels like 13 with easier way to hit and new way to fight.
Poke checking is toned down.
Seems like you freeze sometimes after delivering a hit
Sometimes i can't get the puck off someone no matter what i do
Teammate A.I. is still bad
I wish they had replays in (seems like they do this to hide problems)

# 18 Fiddy @ 08/20/13 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brewskie19


	Not that NHL 13 was broken in any way, it was an awesome game, but I notice 0 difference between NHL 13 and the NHL 14 demo. The anniversary mode is a huge waste of resources, other than the blue ice, star indicator and the controls (which you could play in previous versions), nothing is different and not sure why they wasted time on making this mode. The game will be good, but I wonder how much a new version is justified.

im one of the games biggest critics and IMO there is a HUGE difference in the skating. much better, more smooth, more fluid.

# 19 BlueNGold @ 08/20/13 11:26 AM

Are your AI teammates any better at getting open and giving you passing options in the offensive zone this year?

Last year it seemed like every forward without the puck was almost always stuck in a net battle.

# 20 murph17 @ 08/20/13 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fiddy


	actually enjoyed the way it has played in the demo, which is shocking..

yes it is

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NHL 14 Demo Available Now For 360, Later Today For PS3 - Post Your Impressions Here