NHL 15 News Post

NHL 15 Available Now for PS4 and Xbox One - Post Your Impressions Here

10:52 AM - September 9, 2014 by Qb

Have NHL 15? Want to know what others think of the game before you give it a buy? This is the place for you.

Once you've played the game, post your impressions here. If you have questions about the game, please post them in the Q&A thread. This thread is for impressions only.

What do you think of NHL 15 so far?

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

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Member Comments

# 201 Drakar @ 09/11/14 01:00 PM

board play was perfectly done since 2005 in NHL2k5. It's not complicated. No excuse for the suction cup gameplay they gave us.

# 202 robinson @ 09/11/14 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gagnon39


	It's very disappointing, especially playing as the Blackhawks. Also, I don't know how many of you guys know this as you're probably enjoying your team's completely "rebuilt stadium." But Chicago's stadium is terrible. It's one thing to not have the United Center's naming rights but it's another to just cash it in and not even remotely try to make it look like the UC. No banners, nothing. It's awful looking.

Yea, they better get 'permission' to cutandpaste a pic of the stadium. Rocky always does everything above and beyond. Someone with connections should ask Rocky/front office to get something done about this. If they cant use the united airlines symbol & name, so F what, but get the stadium like all the others. Also, the words Chicago stadium are way better then the name of the team around logo on ice. Do they need 'permission' from united airlines to write the words Chicago stadium, give me a F... whhhat.

The crowds noise are better, but still way off. They go up 1 notch each yr, ut they need to go up 100 notchs in crowdnoise & then dial it down a hair if needed. They need to do overkill on the crowdnoise to make it realistic.

Also, need to have the rinks filled or not full of people based on real attendance stats. Road teams that have a good/better following have moar fans in other teams stadiums...

# 203 robinson @ 09/11/14 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by meep316


	How do they go through testing the game, and not realize that the winger always takes the faceoff on the PK???? How does this get past anybody??

Yea, saw that too. It might be that there just have an auto thing where who has more energy in the fatigue level is who takes the faceoff? It doesn't make sense. Would be nice if they had an option in team settings (like how edit lines work) to pick who takes faceoffs & from which side of rink.

# 204 robinson @ 09/11/14 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hot Kidd


	I agree with everyone who's said the gameplay is awesome, lack of modes sucks. Ive played 2 games with passing acc down, speed down, puck handling down etc etc, and the game is a junked up beauty. Im playing on broadcast view (shooting set at 'always up') so Im still battling with the controller, but this is awesome

Yea, this yr the game speed & acceleration are a bit faster. So I have put all sliders (game speed/acceleration/etc) to 0 and the overall pace and way the guys skate is more realistic. The more games in you get used to the pace and its a good pace...

# 205 jake19ny @ 09/11/14 01:38 PM

*Sigh*....just noticed something else gone. Just played my 5th season game in BeaGM and it does not keep track of stats. No matter how many goals you score with someone each game it will always show as his first. Funny many came to terms with the missing game modes but these things are just inexcusable. I know many are so in love with the gameplay and I am liking it too but its like hooking up with the girl of your dreams and the first few dates are awesome, but you slowly begin to realize the more you spend time with her you realize she's an idiot, you have nothing in common, and can't stand talking to her. At some point you have to accept its just not going to work out. That's how I'm starting to feel.

# 206 robinson @ 09/11/14 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	It's not just the boardplay that feels hard to trigger. I've also seen a lot of body checks just "whiff" right through players, too: Robyn Regehr is rated something like 89 checking in this game, but he can't move Paul Stastny off the puck, despite trying three straight times in this clip. You also see the crazy pass assistance kicking-in here, as the opening pass was supposed to go to the guy wide open in the slot, but instead, the game auto-corrected the pass and sent it straight to the covered defenseman at the point. The puck is traveling on a straight line path to the defenseman's stick before it gets intercepted.

Weve had attributes at 3/6. Maybe the ps4 gen1 putting attributes to 6/6 and puck control to 0 will make a bigger gap between skill levels and separate guy from puck.

I think its better that you cant just decapitate players left and right with checks/hits, that's not realistic. It should happen every 5-10 games or so, not 5-10 times a game...

# 207 robinson @ 09/11/14 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jake19ny


	Another note on hitting and penalties. I noticed in NHL 14 if the CPU hit me often 20+ a game I would get 3-4 power plays a game if it were in the single digits I would have 1 or none. So far no matter what sliders I try the CPU on hits me about 6-7 times a game. Not Good

gamespeed-0
acceleration-0 (cpu-1)
aggresivness-4 (cpu-6)

# 208 MizzouRah @ 09/11/14 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jake19ny


	I have spent the past few days since release complaining about all the missing modes and features. We all know about it and are mad as hell so the last thing I'm going to say about that is I can live with no season mode by playing BeaGM just please patch in full roster control and player edit. That's the last I mention it. On to game play. I have now spent a few days in BeaGM and have played 4 games. I really like the improvements and if you tweak sliders you can tone down the glue like passes. I find lowering pass accuracy, reception ease, and puck control to one for both sides loosens up game play a lot. I find most sliders either to a lot or very little but I'm sure I can tweak them to find a setting I like and I'm close. There are four major flaws that continue to bug me though in every game played no matter the settings. 1) This is by far the worse and its been mentioned. The CPU/Teamate AI of the defense is just horrid. If I control a Dman and chase the puck carrier into the corner my CPU teammate defender follows me right in as well leaving a guy camped right in front of the net...If he does not leave, as soon as the puck is past towards the slot he skates away leaving the guy open. Also when I control a Dman and skate backwards with an on coming forward, if I play it well and close him off he just does this little spin around on a dime while my guy floats away. 2) No penalties called. I know some of you are getting them and we have this discussion every year. Some guys get them and some of us don't and we never figure out why that is but Add NHL 15 to 14 and 13 where the CPU just doesn't take penalties. In 4 games I have had 3 power plays (11 min periods) The CPU has had a decent amount against me, about 12 but I can still crush a guy away from the puck and have nothing called as well as boarding. I get away with that 9 out of 10 times. Also gone seems to be the ability to bait the CPU into a penalty after the whistle which I used to manage at least once a game in NHL 14. The penalty sliders seem to do nothing for me. 3) We all complained about the suction action on the boards when you hit the pin button the past few years but now its the opposite....Its almost impossible to pin somebody along the boards and having some of the board play would really add to the experience. 4) Why is it so damn easy to score on an empty net? The CPU pulls their goalie and seems to stop playing. my last game it was a 6 on 4 since they pulled the goalie on a power play and I found myself able to skate from behind my net straight up the ice over the line and score. Funny I have shot accuracy on 1 and miss the net from right in front several times a game but when the nets empty its like there is a magnet dead center and the puck laser beams into the net every time. These things can all be fixed with tuners I hope (Except penalties because we have been waiting 3 years for that fix and will never see it)

Spot on! I agree with all of this!! Please post your slider settings when you get some time, I'd like to see them.

# 209 MizzouRah @ 09/11/14 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jake19ny


	Sigh....just noticed something else gone. Just played my 5th season game in BeaGM and it does not keep track of stats. No matter how many goals you score with someone each game it will always show as his first. Funny many came to terms with the missing game modes but these things are just inexcusable. I know many are so in love with the gameplay and I am liking it too but its like hooking up with the girl of your dreams and the first few dates are awesome, but you slowly begin to realize the more you spend time with her you realize she's an idiot, you have nothing in common, and can't stand talking to her. At some point you have to accept its just not going to work out. That's how I'm starting to feel.

Yeah, with all the missing stuff in this game and saying they focused on game play and presentation, things like you mention should not happen. I was hoping they changed that and even comment in the game, "Oshie scores his 23rd league leading goal" or something like that.

I'm beginning to wonder how much actual work was done on the game.

# 210 canucksss @ 09/11/14 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	This is a good example of the kind of defending I've seen regularly so far: That was from my first game with the retail version. G�bor�k just stands there and completely ignores the guy he's supposed to be defending.

This is one of the things that shakes my head when people praising EA NHL gameplay. Sure its an improvement of NHL 13...but still there are annoying plays present before like in NHL 10 onwards and still being IGNORED by EA.

# 211 canucksss @ 09/11/14 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jake19ny


	Sigh....just noticed something else gone. Just played my 5th season game in BeaGM and it does not keep track of stats. No matter how many goals you score with someone each game it will always show as his first. Funny many came to terms with the missing game modes but these things are just inexcusable. I know many are so in love with the gameplay and I am liking it too but its like hooking up with the girl of your dreams and the first few dates are awesome, but you slowly begin to realize the more you spend time with her you realize she's an idiot, you have nothing in common, and can't stand talking to her. At some point you have to accept its just not going to work out. That's how I'm starting to feel.

EXACTLY....... I have this game for free....I am FRUSTRATED what more those who bought this game and paid the whole price????

EA is still silent when are they going to patch this....perhaps they are looking for enough sales b4 doing it or else they will ignore?? IDK.... I am really tempted to curse this product.

# 212 Drakar @ 09/11/14 03:04 PM

Its not like they don't have talented AI programmer at EA. My friend worked on the FIFA AI this year and from what everyone is saying, its very very good.

The game has been tweaked into a arcade game with some real puck physics. The CPU AI is definitely faster, has eyes behind the head (for passing), outstanding toe dragging stick abilities, can be lay flat on the ice, stand-up and still remain in possession of the puck. It will double/triple team and suck you to the board while your teammates are watching the show.

None of this is new to the NHL Series. It just got worse over the years. For an AI that was build from ground up, it has a lot of the same behavior has previous installment. So what the point of redoing the A.I, if you are going to rebuild it the same ?

I tried be a pro goalie and I was sitting 1 hour in the menu simming games because they don't send you back to CHL/AHL. Worst than that, I was put on the ice in 5 games (a period) while it was simming. All the stats that was on my career weren't even mine. I gained point to spend for simming in the menu. Its absolutely garbage.

There is so many thing to fix in the core gameplay.

# 213 bigwill33 @ 09/11/14 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelAngeloTMNT


	If you're a fan of Hockey or the NHL, buy this game. Don't punish yourself because the things that were left out. The gameplay is incredible, prb would have game of the year all of the Modes were put in. Buy the game, play it for a few months and then trade it in. Worth trying just for the gameplay.

It is funny to me that I see this post right after jyoung posts several videos detailing the horrid gameplay that has plagued this series for years now.

Keep up the work, jyoung. My hopes were that with the new media features of next gen consoles that I could finally give greater detailed explanations to EA about what is wrong with their series. They were proactive in making such a shell of a game that I wasn't given that opportunity as I saw no reason to justify a $60 purchase for this.

# 214 gopher_guy @ 09/11/14 03:13 PM

Sure, the AI is going to break down from time to time. This is nothing new. Happens in every sports game.

# 215 bigwill33 @ 09/11/14 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jyoung


	I even have all of my defensive lines set to "collapsing," and I still notice that my AI player's coverage of the slot and the crease is awful. Something has definitely changed in the PS4 defensive AI, because "collapsing" defense still works like it should on Xbox 360.

I brought this up in my impressions and mentioned that almost every goal against me was a result of the backside defender not doing anything correctly while I used the strongside person to attack or cover the puck carrier.

Defensive settings only marginally made a difference.

And some of it is a result of their removing the player "tie-ups" in front of the net. But thank god they did that because that was the most ridiculous excuse of a feature ever. It was just suction and was unrealistic. In real life it would be called holding or interference if it occurred anyway.

But rather than work with it or improve it they just canned it and didn't replace it with anyway to defend the net front. Wonderful!

What needs to happen is the weakside defender would attempt to gain positioning and keep the attacking player on the outside. Keeping themselves between the puck and the attacking player is the first rule of that positioning right there.

Secondly, there needs to be some sort of a stick tie-up or countermeasure in place to prevent these things. In real life, as a defender, my job would be to keep their stick pinned to the ice or even lift it. They teach you not to play the puck around the net, but to play the stick and tie-up the man. If your opponent can't get his stick on the puck then he isn't likely to score there.

EA is clueless about all of this apparently and this year is exceptionally horrible because you cannot rely on the AI to do its job behind you as you are out trying to defend or recapture the puck. Furthering frustrations is the fact that you cannot reverse the roles because the AI would never be aggressive on itself and attempt to regain possession for you while you are busy playing proper net front position and defending that pass across that is an easy goal in this game.

Just a mess!

# 216 Drakar @ 09/11/14 03:19 PM

This games needs 6 vs 6 OTP really bad. The physics is actually pretty decent. its everything else that false apart.

# 217 bigwill33 @ 09/11/14 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gopher_guy


	Sure, the AI is going to break down from time to time. This is nothing new. Happens in every sports game.

Time to time? This happens all of the time. And it has been happening on the regular in the NHL series every year since Littman has been off of head producer.

The only way this game can even beat me now is when the AI takes advantage of its own mess and abuses the other cpu players like in front of the net for the easy goal.

Otherwise, this is the 4th year in a row that I turned on the game and was easily scoring 4-5 goals out of the box on advanced levels. Last year in club alone I was averaging 3.2 points per game during the first week of games. That was on a supposed "new" game. My OTP stats after nearly 1000 games were pushing 6pts per game. They change nothing, they fix nothing. In fact they create new problems more than they address the old ones.

We played connected GM with 12 users last year and I played ever single game. My record was 78-4 on superstar with sliders heavily in favor of the CPU because we are very good at the game. I didn't lose to the CPU once and even had one player with 100 goals, Grabner would just fly down the left wing side with nobody to ever stop him from an easy entrance into the zone. You could stall and then step on the speed again once in the zone and easy short-side goal every time on the CPU goalie. Awful! No reason to even try to do other things, even though I have dozens of ways to easily score when I need a goal.

I've lost one game in 2015 so far, in OT. It is exactly the same bs. And I impose things to handicap myself against the CPU when I play offline by myself. I always bring the puck in the zone and set up a real offense. I never push the transition play when I don't have the rush numbers. And from game number one on NHL 2015 I have easily dominated time on attack by a 3-1 margin. Shots on goal by a 7-1 margin at times. Why? Because it is the same damn game and it is not good overall. Fix it, EA!

# 218 Drakar @ 09/11/14 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigwill33


	Time to time? This happens all of the time. And it has been happening on the regular in the NHL series every year since Littman has been off of head producer. The only way this game can even beat me now is when the AI takes advantage of its own mess and abuses the other cpu players like in front of the net for the easy goal. Otherwise, this is the 4th year in a row that I turned on the game and was easily scoring 4-5 goals out of the box on advanced levels. Last year in club alone I was averaging 3.2 points per game during the first week of games. That was on a supposed "new" game. My OTP stats after nearly 1000 games were pushing 6pts per game. They change nothing, they fix nothing. In fact they create new problems more than they address the old ones. We played connected GM with 12 users last year and I played ever single game. My record was 78-4 on superstar with sliders heavily in favor of the CPU because we are very good at the game. I didn't lose to the CPU once and even had one player with 100 goals, Grabner would just fly down the left wing side with nobody to ever stop him from an easy entrance into the zone. You could stall and then step on the speed again once in the zone and easy short-side goal every time on the CPU goalie. Awful! No reason to even try to do other things, even though I have dozens of ways to easily score when I need a goal. I've lost one game in 2015 so far, in OT. It is exactly the same bs. And I impose things to handicap myself against the CPU when I play offline by myself. I always bring the puck in the zone and set up a real offense. I never push the transition play when I don't have the rush numbers. And from game number one on NHL 2015 I have easily dominated time on attack by a 3-1 margin. Shots on goal by a 7-1 margin at times. Why? Because it is the same damn game and it is not good overall. Fix it, EA!

I don't mind dominating or losing. It how about the CPU AI goes about its business that bothers me and how my own CPU AI Teammate don't react or play the same as the opposite CPU AI.

# 219 jake19ny @ 09/11/14 03:32 PM

I have a theory on fixing the defense problem but if I'm right I'm afraid to see what I lose from the game as a result. Back in the good old computer days of the NHL series when guys could mod the crap out of it, someone came out with the Total Control Editor. Similar to NHL view this allowed us to tweak sliders with number values and it even opened some AI not available for tweaking in the game itself. Well back then it was determined by the creator of that fine application and agreed upon by the community after trial and error, that if you up the Aggression of players one of the downfalls was CPU teammates skating around out of position chasing the puck carrier. Now I have not seen this to be the case in the past NHL releases on the PS3/Xbox 360 and upping the Aggression seemed to make the game better, however with NHL 15 I immediately put the Aggression up to 5 and of course I am having the problem we are all having. I upped it to max and forget it guys were all over the place and it was the highest scoring game I played yet. Last game I moved it back to the middle and saw much better coverage (not perfect) in front of the net. It was only one game so I have to try a few more. Anyone else try this or notice this?

# 220 jyoung @ 09/11/14 03:46 PM

Quote:


	The game has been tweaked into a arcade game with some real puck physics.

This sums up my initial impressions as well. The puck physics really are phenomenal on PS4. Watch how this wrister goes from being completely flat during the shot to spinning all over the place after the save, which Bri�re then slaps into the net out of mid-air:

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigwill33


	And some of it is a result of their removing the player "tie-ups" in front of the net. But thank god they did that because that was the most ridiculous excuse of a feature ever. It was just suction and was unrealistic. In real life it would be called holding or interference if it occurred anyway. But rather than work with it or improve it they just canned it and didn't replace it with anyway to defend the net front. Wonderful!

I didn't notice it until you mentioned that, but it does seem like they've taken those "tractor beam" tie up animations out of the game for PS4. I'll have to start watching more carefully to see if I can spot it happening.

The AI's lack of awareness for the puck seems to be the biggest problem. They just don't track it very well when a pass comes into the slot/crease.

Then you add that to the fact that sticks and limbs can still clip through everything on the ice when catching passes and taking shots, and you end up with goofy goals like this that should never happen when the defender is in such good position:

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