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!
Well that was confusing the city gave Bjorn a billboard touting him as the next great thing. Then the team told me I barely made it and was almost sent down before pre-season.
As someone who hated (and I mean HATED, as in I despised everything about the game and the producers for a time) the gameplay of NHL 13, I am truly impressed with NHL 14. I came in with the lowest of expectations, being unimpressed with the demo (so much so that I deleted it within minutes), and in my opinion the game really delivers. I'm quickly discovering that Hardcore Sim is the only way to go and that I'll have to adjust some stuff but it is nowhere near as "broken" as I felt it was last season and I could easily join an online league and be happy with the default settings anyway. So far, again in my opinion, it's a positive grade.
Sadly it seems (so far at least, 5 games in so I'm not writing it off just yet) but the teammate AI in Live the life still isn't the greatest. If i lug the puck in the zone on a wing(I'm a centre) BOTH wingers seem to follow right behind me, leaving me with nothing to do except turnover the puck ~_~.
As someone eluded to in their review, the "Interviews" feel really random, and not at all cohesive.
So, to me the game feels, and looks exactly the same for the most part, until a fight breaks out anyways.
That being said, i LOVE the new fighting engine.
The commentary is still the same old same old.
It still looks really nice.
Rosters... wtf EA? Im the wings... No alfredsson, no Weiss... Really not sure whats up here. I'll have to check and see if there's a roster to download after i finish this game im in the middle of here.
Faceoffs... man oh man... I can't win one if my life depended on it and i never used to have a problem. Anyone got any tips?
So, to me the game feels, and looks exactly the same for the most part, until a fight breaks out anyways.
That being said, i LOVE the new fighting engine.
The commentary is still the same old same old.
It still looks really nice.
Rosters... wtf EA? Im the wings... No alfredsson, no Weiss... Really not sure whats up here. I'll have to check and see if there's a roster to download after i finish this game im in the middle of here.
Faceoffs... man oh man... I can't win one if my life depended on it and i never used to have a problem. Anyone got any tips?
The skating is much better as well. The default roster is brutal, but the first update at least takes care of the NHL for the most part.
So, to me the game feels, and looks exactly the same for the most part, until a fight breaks out anyways.
That being said, i LOVE the new fighting engine.
The commentary is still the same old same old.
It still looks really nice.
Rosters... wtf EA? Im the wings... No alfredsson, no Weiss... Really not sure whats up here. I'll have to check and see if there's a roster to download after i finish this game im in the middle of here.
Faceoffs... man oh man... I can't win one if my life depended on it and i never used to have a problem. Anyone got any tips?
There is a roster update and it has Weiss and Alfie on the Wings. I'm fact there is a roster update, a tuner update and then a secondary tuner update
Faceoff spam is still in online...... even though EA said they fixed it.
Yup. I can confirm that as well.
My first online versus game was brutal. Don't know if it was lag or the old turner, but my guys were in sand. The second one was much better. Maybe a little too fast, but better.
One thing I don't like is how fast guys can skate backwards and there isn't much seperation from the top speed guys like Taylor Hall and Zdeno Chara. I know why they did that because last year was a breakaway fest, but it just doesn't look good.
So it's just me? Nobody else is playing an online high paced massive hitfest? Offline will hopefully be a little different
Online and offline will always be different. Unless you somehow play a guy that's 100% dedicated to playing sim online will be at least a little more fast paced. I didn't think it was a hit fest though. If you just make a couple passes and are aware of what's around you it's not hard to take advantage of someone going for tons of hits and end up with a lot of odd man rushes in your favor.
So after downloading and installing I will say that the in game play is a huge improvement over last year it seems fluid and more realistic, the AI seems better too. The cut scenes and pregame visuals are the same as last year. The fighting engine is a breath of fresh air that seems pretty neat so far.
I just wish instead of wasting time on the NHL 94 mode that they improved the creation teams etc...it's embarrassing when franchises like fifa and ncaa you can use team builder and creation centre and in NHL you STILL CAN'T NAME YOUR TEAMS, you half to use their preset names and cities, I dunno I'm in the minority here that would like too see more attention to this. Also it would be cool to see a roster share or something of that nature.
Well, I'm always afraid that when EA implements a new feature they will over-do it. Usually I'm pleasantly surprised when they do not, but in the case of NHL 14, my fear is justified.
While the fighting is cool the way they start is often as unrealistic as possible. This may not bother some casual fans because they have no idea which players fight in real life and how penalties are handed out in an actual hockey game. Let me just put it this way...
I just played a game (I was Chicago) against Dallas.
First period, I smoked a player into the boards on a questionable hit with Duncan Keith. Another Stars player (I don't remember who) skated across the ice to me, threw his gloves off and we instantly fought. I had no choice but to fight. I thought, fair enough. I've seen Keith fight a few times here and there and it was a questionable fight. I'll give the game the benefit of the doubt so far, even though this concerned me when it was about 4 minutes into the first game I played.
But then, I get a penalty for boarding along with a five minute major for fighting. Anyone that knows anything about hockey would understand that the Stars player should have received an instigating penalty for starting the fight. For those that are unaware, you cannot skate across the ice with the intention of starting a fight. Its "instigating," and any player who does this is given a two-minute minor penalty. So we should have been even strength.
Now, that's not THAT big of a deal. I guess. But the problems got worse.
Second period.
I hit another player with Brandon Saad and the EXACT SAME THING happens. This was the exact same scenario. Penalty for boarding to Saad, no instigator. Stars powerplay and I was forced to fight with Saad. I've watched A LOT of Blackhawks games and I might have missed three or four games all year last season and the best I remember Brandon Saad never got into a fight. But he is, after all, the "man child" so again, benefit of the doubt. Maybe it could happen.
Then...
The third period. I accidentally trip a Stars player with Viktor-freaking-Stalberg (who is no longer with the Hawks and never fights because he wouldn't want to mess his pretty face up). What happens? A Stars player skates across the ice and starts a fight. And... I received a tripping penalty on top of it.
This is just plain stupid. No other way around it. And I seriously question how something like this gets overlooked.
Here's what needs to happen...
#1 - First and foremost, this needs to be toned down. Period.
#2 - Instigator penalties need to be added.
#3 - An enforcer (or the most capable fighter on the ice at the time) needs to step in when players like Stalberg are challenged.