NHL 12 Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[exposedaking]

to me, this game plays really stiff...seems like the players are skating in sand....its pretty slow, but this is the best crowd i seen in any sport game to date

[The Amaizen Blue]

Guess I'm the only one who thinks it's terrible. It's like playing against a mirror. The CPU just mirrors whatever you do. I stop, the CPU is already stopped. There's almost no way for teammates to get open whatsoever and they're extremely dumb. It's too difficult to find open space because the defense is like a blanket and clutters you up. I might as well go Bobby Orr on the other team and strictly do end-to-end rushes because passing appears to be useless. Shooting seems unresponsive at times (did they take snapshots out of the game when I wasn't looking???). Animations are too slow and the framerate is unbearable with players skipping and the sound cutting in and out. I even destroyed Chara with Alex Burrows. What a joke.

[BaylorBearBryant]

Quote: Originally Posted by AtomicLegend

There are two things that are really annoying me and I know can be fixed. 1) A.I players, CHOOSE A SIDE AND STAY THERE! I've lost count of how many times I'll be skating down the ice, and my A.I teammate goes right in front of me, then I'm like "Fine, I'll go down the middle" then not even 5 seconds later, he follows me.... seriously.

This kills me. It's I tend to play club or OTP. If you can find a good team, you don't have these issues.

A couple impressions:

Got checked into the opponents bench. Very nice.

Also I definitely was getting pinned out of the crease area as Sedin against Charra. So maybe the net presence does work.

[gopher_guy]

I'm REALLY enjoying it.

The puck physics and goal variety are great, maybe it's because I wasn't really expecting that part of the game to be that much better, but it has me very satisfied. Sure, presentation is not where it should be in this day and age, but this is going to be a great game.

[stew514]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedudedominick

Also want to mention the dekes have been slowed down a lot and your player loses speed while deking so hopefully it stays this way to really make it more of a team game online.

I disagree with you, the deking is terrible because you go backhand forehand and you have lost all momentum. If you have someone like Datsyuk or Zetterberg who are great stick handlers they should lose almost 0 speed while deking.

[BaylorBearBryant]

Just reiterating, can really notice the net presence against Charra.

[RealmK]

Quote: Originally Posted by gopher_guy

I'm REALLY enjoying it. The puck physics and goal variety are great, maybe it's because I wasn't really expecting that part of the game to be that much better, but it has me very satisfied. Sure, presentation is not where it should be in this day and age, but this is going to be a great game.

This! wow really impressed with the puck physics, I've actually seen the puck literately bounce over a player's stick realistically and sit on edge. Scored a sick deflection, goals look really organic this year, game feels pretty good, not a major upgrade over 11 but the subtle improvements, puck physics, net battles etc really feel great. Just need some presentation love going forward.

BTW is the action tracker disabled in the demo?

[Qb]

Quote: Originally Posted by thedudedominick

Also want to mention the dekes have been slowed down a lot and your player loses speed while deking so hopefully it stays this way to really make it more of a team game online.

Quote: Originally Posted by stew514

I disagree with you, the deking is terrible because you go backhand forehand and you have lost all momentum. If you have someone like Datsyuk or Zetterberg who are great stick handlers they should lose almost 0 speed while deking.

I suspect this is something they will be looking closely for feedback on for further tuning. I can see a lot complaining from those used to the old style, so hopefully they don't go too far back the other way. It sounds like a promising change if balanced properly.