NHL 15 News Post

NHL 15 Available Now For EA Access Subscribers, Post Your Impressions

07:03 AM - September 4, 2014 by CupCrazyManiac

NHL 15 is available now for EA Access subscribers. The game will be limited to 6 hours of gameplay.

Based off of early feedback, there is no player edit mode, create a player is in. Play a few games and let us know what you think.

Game: NHL 15Reader Score: 6.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 16 - View All

NHL 15 Videos

Member Comments

# 241 sweetjones @ 09/04/14 07:02 PM

Did they change the "X" button from changing strategies which in-turn exited cut-scenes?

# 242 Stobzilla @ 09/04/14 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cujomatty


	im not at all belittling your opinion but would you really have been less upset if you found this out 2 months ago? I honestly think they did their best with limited resources. we are always in a position of what have you done for me lately. I think the EA hockey guys have shown in the past that they care about putting out a quality product. the one thing that I keep thinking is at least they gave early access so you can decide if you want to skip this year. they easily couldve skipped early access and put a review embargo if they wanted to mislead you. thats why I feel these guys are like "here you go". you can condemn them for life but I feel like they did what they could. this to me is better than a bunch of broken things because they tried too much. im not a hardcore hockey guy though lol.

This for me, I have been far from an EA apologist in the past but the overall tone surrounding this release seems to be one of "we are trying, please stick with us"

# 243 VeryEvilAsh @ 09/04/14 07:04 PM

Going to throw my impressions in here real quick. I set up a Be A GM as the Philadelphia Flyers. Just played 2 quick games. I usually play All-Star but figured I'd start with Pro until I get a grasp of things. I'm not going to post too much on AI since I was playing on Pro but I noticed shots from everywhere and anywhere went in easily (even for the CPU)

7 min periods with penalties maxed.

Lost vs Boston 5-3
Won vs NJ 6-3

Pros:

-Graphics look pretty nice. Giroux was missing his tooth which was pretty nice to see.

-Players colliding with Goalies looks pretty realistic. I was on a break with Voraeck and was pulled from behind. He fought off the check and did a hop to jump over Schneider's stick and his skate got caught up on Schneider's helmet. Voraeck fell flat on his face and smashed his ribs on the goal post and his body curled up. Looked burtal.

-The Wells Fargo Center looked amazing and was very detailed.

Cons:

-Scored a Hat Trick with Giroux (at home) and no hats were thrown on the ice. Announcers acknowledged that it happened but fans didn't really care I guess.

-The new commentary is just plain bad. In the two games Ive played I must have heard "kitty cornered" about 10 times. It's also very quiet between plays too. Not just with commentators but fans also. You can hear a pin drop before the puck drop. It's very eerie.

-The crowd is also very quiet when a huge check happens. Bodies are flying all over and it's like nothing happened.

-Both Mason and Emery I believe have the same exact mask. I could be wrong but they both looked very typical of a stock Flyers mask

-It so odd to score and two players are skating toward the scored to congratulate him but once the first guy goes in for the hug the second guy skates away with his head down.

Kid's awake now. I'll post more later....

# 244 tman2k4 @ 09/04/14 07:12 PM

So let me get this straight.

I play a tom of hockey online with my son. Fun as hell.

This version of NHL15 does not allow 2 people on the same console to play together against someone online ?

Seriously? Is this 1995 ?

PLEASE tell me I am wrong!

# 245 adayinthelife @ 09/04/14 07:20 PM

Finally managed to get three 5 min period games in. My overall hype level for this game was tumbling down a hill all day, and more or less rolled right off a cliff after spending more than 10 mins with the game. Some point form stuff:

- Visually, it seems like the early access X1 version looks slightly better than what I remember from the demo, which I played mostly on PS4. Maybe I'm crazy, or maybe they just had more compressed assets in the demo, not sure. Still doesn't really impress me, though the actual ice surface looks great.

- Gameplay feels virtually identical to what we've been playing for YEARS. The improvements made to the skill stick are nice (I like that it looks slightly more natural, and you can't go all crazy on the backhand with it), but they honestly feel like they fly right out the window once you start actually playing.

- I noticed that the "Ignite" logo is on the main screen when the game is loading. I don't know what kind of bull**** this is, but I don't see how this isn't the exact same engine that we've been playing since NHL 07. With all of the legacy issues, reused animations, and the fact that those players who don't have their proper faces still have the same ones they had last year and the year before, and the year before that, I just can't believe that this is some sort of completely new "from the ground up" game. It's simply not true.

- The menu's look decent, but continue to be laggy. This game is 720p and shouldn't be coming remotely close to pushing these new consoles, so I don't understand how even details like this could be so poor. Perhaps this is the one area where the fact that there's not many modes to flip could be seen as a positive.

Overall this is one of the most mailed in efforts I've ever seen in a video game. What exactly have these guys been doing for 2 years? How could this game not have released last year, with an improved version ready for this year?

I've been defending this series for a long time, but this is pretty sad. I've also been an advocate for competition within sports games (I'd always have EA and 2k), and have never wanted it more than this year. I really think that at this point the entire dev team needs to be shuffled around. These guys are clearly a one trick pony, and that pony is a geriatric by now. There's no direction here, there's no passion and there's no effort.

# 246 meep316 @ 09/04/14 07:35 PM

2:14....Why the **** does the AI not stay on the boards there?? He moves to the middle for no reason when there's a million miles of open space on the boards. But he moves to the middle when there's nobody he's switching with, and it makes it impossible to break out because now there's a defender right in the middle of the passing lane.

THIS is what is wrong with the game. Stuff like this. Just BRAINDEAD AI doing ridiculous stuff for absolutely no reason. A pee wee wouldn't do this. Idiotic. I'm glad EA is finally receiving so much backlash, but it shouldn't be for lack of features. It should be because of garbage like this still being in the game after all of these years. Horrible.

# 247 csamuelsvt @ 09/04/14 07:44 PM

Idk what it is, way really excited to play the full version after the demo...maybe i played the demo too much, but the full version is "meh."

Hopefully it will get better..

Also can't stand how the CPU will abuse the one timers down low

# 248 piffbernd @ 09/04/14 08:44 PM

Can you customize roster ?

# 249 CRIXUS81 @ 09/04/14 09:11 PM

Does anyone know or have any guesses on why EA pulled off the HUT gold packs from the marketplace? You can still purchase bronze and silver but not gold. It's not like EA to pull something that costs more money and something people are willing to spend on.

# 250 s_mkheidze @ 09/04/14 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piffbernd


	Can you customize roster ?

You can't edit players but I think you can move guys around.

# 251 jyoung @ 09/04/14 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRIXUS81


	Does anyone know or have any guesses on why EA pulled off the HUT gold packs from the marketplace? You can still purchase bronze and silver but not gold. It's not like EA to pull something that costs more money and something people are willing to spend on.

From the EA forums:

http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/10163385.page

Quote:

Originally Posted by EA_HLT


	As part of [tonight's server] maintenance, we are working on the store, so you may notice some HUT packs missing from the store front temporarily when service is restored.

# 252 CRIXUS81 @ 09/04/14 09:24 PM

Awesome, thank you!

# 253 jyoung @ 09/04/14 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piffbernd


	Can you customize roster ?

From what I've seen today, you can make trades and edit any team's line pairings, but that's it.

Customizable team AI looks to be out, as does editable player ratings/equipment.

Keep in mind that you can always change your own team's AI settings from the "tonight's matchup" screen before you load up a game. But you can't edit the rest of the CPU teams' settings like you could in NHL 14. Previously, you could change the tendencies for every team in the game.

# 254 ajs41072 @ 09/04/14 09:33 PM

First game I played online tonight, I get the faceoff glitch one minute into the 2nd period. In general I'm not seeing AI players go after the puck. http://www.twitch.tv/shady2529/c/5065307

# 255 OCDHost @ 09/04/14 10:01 PM

After playing for a few hours, here are some of my first impressions. Keep in mind I wouldn't consider myself a "hardcore" EA NHL player but I still love the series and like all of you, want the best game we can possibly get.

Pros:
-The game looks very good, they really went all in on the graphics and animations (while some animations still look a bit awkward, they are definitely better and more fluid)
-Be a GM is basically the same (with everything that is going on with this game, this is very good)
-The gameplay is fun, the AI seems to be an improvement over last years AI
-The skill stick is a nice addition to the game
-The new player and puck physics are a lot better (the puck is no longer and bouncing mess and seems to bounce more realistically)
-HUT seems to be the same (again, with everything that was scrapped, its nice to see this game mode still has its core)

Cons:
-The play by play, its just boring and monotone (tbh I didn't really expect much)
-The lack of user controlled drafting in Be a GM
-The lack of Live the Life
-The menus can be very confusing at times and take way too long to navigate (that could just be my incompetence)
-Back handed shots are WAY too overpowered
-Where is the sim to next shift button in Be a Pro?

As someone who didn't play any EASHL and much online other than HUT, I wasn't as devastated with its exclusion, however I do empathize with those who loved that game mode. While I am a bit disappointed with this game, it still looks like i'll buy it since I mainly play GM and HUT. Hopefully they can patch in some features and tweaks that will help make the game better but I won't get my hopes up. Lets all remember this is a transition year and at the end of the day its not completely the developers fault. They are owned by EA which means they need to bend to EA's will. If you are going to be mad at someone, be mad at EA. The developers are just doing their jobs and for what its worth, its a very pretty game with a ton of potential. Hopefully, they can reach that potential through patches and future iterations of the game (NHL 15, etc.).

# 256 Brady2Moss81 @ 09/04/14 10:05 PM

I have to say that if the gameplay is there then I'll still be purchasing this. I'm a franchise player anyways and if I can keep it entertaining with that it'll be a well spent 60. My main gripes from what I've seen off my friend who has Access is that the crowd, while they look phenomenal , sound comatose. I'd literally take the game as is if they would just make the crowd provide NOISE. The United Center( or Chicago Arena lol) and the TD Garden should be absolutely jumping in the playoffs or a tight game and that does not seen to be the case once again.

# 257 lockjaw333 @ 09/04/14 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meep316


	2:14....Why the **** does the AI not stay on the boards there?? He moves to the middle for no reason when there's a million miles of open space on the boards. But he moves to the middle when there's nobody he's switching with, and it makes it impossible to break out because now there's a defender right in the middle of the passing lane. THIS is what is wrong with the game. Stuff like this. Just BRAINDEAD AI doing ridiculous stuff for absolutely no reason. A pee wee wouldn't do this. Idiotic. I'm glad EA is finally receiving so much backlash, but it shouldn't be for lack of features. It should be because of garbage like this still being in the game after all of these years. Horrible.

Seriously anyone here who can watch that video and say the gameplay is not 95% the same as NHL 09-14 is kidding themselves. I hear people saying things like "well the gameplay is so improved that I will buy it just for that".

Seriously???

Echoing someone else's sentiments above, this is one of the worst mail ins I've ever seen.

# 258 bigwill33 @ 09/04/14 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lockjaw333


	Seriously anyone here who can watch that video and say the gameplay is not 95% the same as NHL 09-14 is kidding themselves. I hear people saying things like "well the gameplay is so improved that I will buy it just for that". Seriously??? Echoing someone else's sentiments above, this is one of the worst mail ins I've ever seen.

It's true, the game play is not even upgraded and it was awful to begin with.

# 259 meep316 @ 09/04/14 10:49 PM

For those of you who have looked at HUT, I know for NHL 14 they put in some stupid thing where it tells you how much each card sold for last, the average price it sells for, etc. Is that still in the game or no?

I hope not. I liked having to follow market trends on my own, and getting steals due to my knowledge of the market. Having that thing to tell everyone what a card is worth almost takes the fun out of it. It certainly waters it down.

# 260 Gagnon39 @ 09/04/14 10:55 PM

Dear Lord, can you please let Fallout 4 be released in 2015! I really need it after all this.

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