NHL 14 News Post

NHL 14 Available Now - Post Your Impressions Here

02:07 PM - September 6, 2013 by RaychelSnr

The NHL 14 early release for season ticket subscribers is available now. Be sure to share your impressions of the full retail version of the game below!

Impressions only! Q&A here.

Our review for NHL 14 is coming up next week!

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

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# 1 Steve_OS @ 09/06/13 03:21 PM

Impressions from jb1 (Had to delete the other thread)

Just played three play now games using the Pens on All-Star Harcore Sim (10 min periods) just changing a few sliders. Lowered game speed by 1, Maxed out Penalties, put pass reception ease on zero and increased fatigue effect whilst lowering recovery.

I had good variety of games beating the Flyers 4-2 in a game where they dominated but I hit 3 late goals to steal a win. Won 5-2 in Chicago in a game that I dominated before getting blown out 7-2 in Toronto which included two real softies from Fluery.

No question the game feels a lot like last years but I still enjoyed the games, the hitting feels much improved to me and I do like the fact the CPU will start fights. Still need to let you decline more fights at times I think but I do like that I have to think about who i'm hitting with incase they end up spending time in the box. James Neal ended up in 4 automatic fights in three games due to me laying people out with him including one in the Flyers game late in the third with me trailing.

Penalties seem ok, first game saw 7 (1pp for me), second game saw 6 (4pp for me) and the last game saw 7, (3pp for me). Also seemed good variety but i'll let more qualified people than me decide if we are seeing enough.

Pretty pleased with the shot totals although I do feel the CPU is a bit shot happy once they enter the zone, would be nice to see them set up a bit more. One thing that annoyed me last year (maybe due to my skill level) was that I couldn't get % of faceoffs won anywhere near 50/50, it was generally 70/30 or 30/70 depending on where I had the slider. However all three games had close face-off stats without me touching the sliders.

No need to mention presentation which feels exactly the same as last year, if not worse just because of how stale it is.

Haven't had much chance to get into Be a GM yet but it is much quicker than last year where we were stuck in quicksand most of the time. I should say I don't know how many injuries there are in real life but there seems a lot in simming of games in Be a GM, including many lasting 2-3 months. Seems the same as last year.

That's me done for the day and won't get to play again until tommorrow but overall I enjoyed it. I am concerned however about how quickly I will tire of Be a GM, I did play all 82 games last year but got bored and traded it in straight after. I don't see enough to think that will change but we'll see.

# 2 bad_philanthropy @ 09/06/13 03:56 PM

No gameplay impressions yet, but one really annoying settings bug. Whenever I set the period length in my settings and save the profile it automatically defaults to 5 minutes once I try to play a play now game. So you cannot save your period length as anything for play now. It will always be 5 minutes. You can change it before you actually play the game, but it's just annoying that my setting reverts.

# 3 mbergh22 @ 09/06/13 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bad_philanthropy


	No gameplay impressions yet, but one really annoying settings bug. Whenever I set the period length in my settings and save the profile it automatically defaults to 5 minutes once I try to play a play now game. So you cannot save your period length as anything for play now. It will always be 5 minutes. You can change it before you actually play the game, but it's just annoying that my setting reverts.

I had that as well.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 4

# 4 Qb @ 09/06/13 04:56 PM

Also put that in the bug/glitch thread if you could please, BP. Thanks.

# 5 ccurtis3974 @ 09/06/13 05:11 PM

twitch.tv/ccurtis3974

I am currently streaming early release gameplay on ps3.. game feels a lot tighter ... love it so far

# 6 jyoung @ 09/06/13 05:49 PM

Incidental contact is in...kind of.

You can now trip over fallen players, and I've seen lots of new off-the-puck collision animations.

However, it still seems like you cannot collide with your own teammates, which is disappointing. They have the same old invulnerability force field around them.

I don't understand why teammate collisions are in EA NHL 3 vs 3 Arcade but not in the main NHL series.

# 7 cake612 @ 09/06/13 05:50 PM

Played 3 online games, I think I really like it so far. The hitting is pretty fun, I've only used the Bruins and I absolutely ran a couple guys over with Lucic and Chara and caused a couple injuries. Saw all sorts of goals, deflections, rebounds, a bullet with Chara from the point right in the upper corner. Passing seems a little more assisted than it has in the past maybe, but I didn't play a ton last year and it's been awhile.

I think the goalie play feels a lot more consistent, there didn't seem like there were any of the garbage goals of years past where it seemed like the AI would just randomly decide to let a shot go in from a poor angle with nobody in front. AI positioning feels pretty good on offense as well, guys go to the net and get open. The D-men were at the point a little more consistently than in the past which is nice when your in trouble and try and dump it back to the point in the offensive zone.

Default rosters are brutal, no Seguin trade but there's an update for online play that has it.

# 8 jyoung @ 09/06/13 05:55 PM

Also, from Live the Life:

"You were on fire tonight, how would you describe your performance?"

B) My Vietnamese black bristled potbellied pig passed away, so that's what motivated me.

No joke, that's a real response in the game.

# 9 jyoung @ 09/06/13 05:59 PM

Pre-draft interview with Anaheim:

"If you could choose to have any super powers which one would you pick?"

A) To fly
B) See through walls
C) Walk through solid objects
D) Score goals like Stamkos

I guess this is why Anaheim hasn't been able to get very far since 2006-2007.

# 10 SinisterAlex @ 09/06/13 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	Pre-draft interview with Anaheim: "If you could choose to have any super powers which one would you pick?" A) To fly B) See through walls C) Walk through solid objects D) Score goals like Stamkos I guess this is why Anaheim hasn't been able to get very far since 2006-2007.

Who wrote these questions.... who even asks that in real life to a player?! *facepalm*

# 11 jyoung @ 09/06/13 06:11 PM

After winning the Memorial Cup, I got drafted 1st overall by Winnipeg, and they've got me centering the first forward line to start the preseason.

Normally that would be weird, but looking at their center depth, I see I am actually the highest rated center on their roster at a 76 overall.

I also got myself on a billboard in Winnipeg.

# 12 jyoung @ 09/06/13 06:26 PM

Looks like some attention has finally been given to recreating accurate red lines in each arena.

Nashville has a checkerboard red line now in Bridgestone Arena.

However, the logo texture that runs across the checkerboard is such a low resolution that I can't even make out the text on a 1080p monitor or when zoomed in on a replay.

Edit: Winnipeg's jet design is also in for their red line. So is St. Louis' music note red line.

# 13 Moose Factory @ 09/06/13 06:59 PM

Been playing for a few hours. It's really NHL 13.5 . Yes the gameplay feels tighter but here are some random things that irk me about this game. I for one notice the presentation aspects and think they play a big role in overall immersion.

� No changes to Create A Pro. No Gameface!!! What pisses me off about this is that they use the "enforcer engine" fighting mechanics pulled from Fight Night, which is a 3 year old game and that HAD GAMEFACE IN IT! This would have added so much more replay value. Being able to create a legend like Messier and take him though a career would have been amazing. Same old 200 generic heads and faces that I have no emotional attachment too.

� No new legends at all. In fact they've taken away all but Gretz, Mario, and Roenick and have active "legends" rounding out the rest. Brent Seabrook and Mike Green are legends? Come on. Only new addition is Cammie Granato. Who I'm sure is a lovely gal but come on. Hockey has a rich history that needs to be represented better in future games. 2k handles this flawlessly with NBA2k's legends teams. Hell even NHL 09 had the greatest Montreal Canadiens players of all time as a team.

� Absolutely no change to in game presentation whatsoever. Same visual and audio introduction, with no new commentary. Only visual addition is that jerseys look a little more detailed. Whoopie.

� Not enough updated player faces. The technology is there. Hire some damn interns to scan roster photos.

� Noticed some locked jerseys that I assume will be the new ones that some teams are rolling out (Sharks, Buffalo's awful 3rd, Carolina, etc.) so hopefully those can be unlocked soon. Same generic National country team jerseys. Vancouver's maroon "V" jersey is in, pretty sweet!

These things probably seem nit picky and don't affect gameplay but still. For someone who has played NHL 13 almost everyday since it was released you start to notice the little things.

For a dev team that didn't have to sweat a next-gen title crunch lots of things just come off as lazy. The development team said they read the forums and listened to feedback and their biggest take aways from that are a better fighting system, one touch dekes and blue ice 94 mode? Gee thanks for hearing us.

# 14 jyoung @ 09/06/13 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moose Factory


	Noticed some locked jerseys that I assume will be the new ones that some teams are rolling out (Sharks, Buffalo's awful 3rd, Carolina, etc.) so hopefully those can be unlocked soon. Same generic National country team jerseys. Vancouver's maroon "V" jersey is in, pretty sweet!

There's an "NHL 14 Jersey Code" option in the main menus.

I assume the code will be released sometime soon.

# 15 Moose Factory @ 09/06/13 07:18 PM

Yeah I saw that too. Glad they're working on implementing the new jerseys.

# 16 dererstesoldat @ 09/06/13 07:19 PM

Wow, really enjoying this so far, will try to get up some real impressions after I've had some time with it this weekend but I just had to put this up now because it was pretty awesome.

Playing Hurricanes (me) vs. Rangers and Nash lines up one of my guys and destroys him in my D-zone(!) while I'm trying to get the puck out. Bergeron comes over to stand up for Harrison and Nash won't take the bait. Fine. Well this gets Callahan in a bad mood because I'm messing with his guy so he comes over. Whistle blows. Ruutu comes over as well and gets into it with Callahan and they drop the gloves where I receive a decisive beatdown. Rough minors for Bergeron and Nash, fighting for Ruutu and Callahan. 4-on-4 ensues.

I was so confused and giddy all at once that I had to go back and watch it all unfold a few times. Great stuff!!

Edit: I know you can't record replays in the game, but does anyone know if there is any rule against putting up video? I took one of the replay of the above on my cell and will put it up if it's not breaking any rules?

# 17 Retropyro @ 09/06/13 07:31 PM

Playing on the higher difficulty with simulation tuning and I really like it. I enjoyed last year after spending weeks playing around with slider settings. But so far out of the box I really like it.

# 18 onac22 @ 09/06/13 08:02 PM

Bjorn Pluss, drafted sixth round by Nashville Power forward out of WHL. So far game is fun. Live the life is good. Answered questions for pre draft interviews. Played as the Hurricanes in the memorial cup, needless to say wooped every game. Bjorn scored two goals in the first two games and fought six times, really have to account for the hits.

Watched the cpu fight in the second game, very entertaining. The minutes felt right and the Hurricanes lost to the Moosheads 4-3, and the knights 7-2, simmed final game and lost 6-0.

No real stats to report just that it all looks fun so far. Experience is much harder to gain. Despite scoring two goals my player only gained 22 exp. But that seems to be a more realistic sum since they asked for 120 overall in the tournament and the team didn't fair so well.

# 19 jyoung @ 09/06/13 08:02 PM

Pinky and the Brain reference?

"Your team comes into Edmonton on a winning streak. How do you keep it going tonight?"

A) We just do the same thing we do every game, try to take over the league.

# 20 onac22 @ 09/06/13 08:09 PM

OH and new message board in both BeaGM, and LTL. it is convenient trade block updates and what not. Other than that had a post draft interview with Nashville,that's right post draft, they signed me to three years after the interview. My player is only eighteen so maybe that has to do with juniors and pro.

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