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

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by savoie2006

While I like the idea of Tuner sets, I think last years game was partially ruined because of them. The did so much tweaking to it to counter the online cheese, it didn't feel as loose as it did when the demo came out. I remember thinking the Cpu felt lethal on Offense when I played last years demo and by the time the final tuner set came out, it seemed like I pretty much had to let them into my zone to keep it interesting. I'm hoping they can just release tuners for online only and leave offline alone, barring any major issues. I like the feel of the game right and with some slider adjustments, it should be golden.

I wish this was the case for most EA games.
I think EA needs to realize there's always going to be cheesers online and no amount of tweeking will help that.
Perhaps the best way around this is to force the team to have a human goalie in EASHL games.

[mkharsh33]

Screw the online stuff... Fix this game for OFFLINE players, and those who absorb their time into BAGM. This is what makes me mad... You can't tweak a game for morons, so fix it for those of us who play user vs. cpu and want to play multiple BAGM.

They killed last year's game with those stupid tuning updates - it was like the game would play completely different.

I've been reading comments on the hands-on NBA 2K12 game, and it appears this upcoming game will be phenomenal - they listened to the community and are willing to make major changes. I wish the NHL team cared as much for their fans - not the online cheesers. And then I come to this forum and read many here giving EA a free pass, and almost pat them on the back for all the mistakes. Look, the fact that we're STILL listening to the same old stale commentary after all these years is an embarrassment... But the "well, they've only got 10 months...blah, blah, blah stuff" gets under my skin. How hard it is to lock a couple guys in a room with a microphone and come up with NEW stuff???

The appeasement I'm reading in this thread is laughable... This is the SAME game we've been playing for a few years now, with a few tuning and patched tweaks, but according to a lot of what I read here that is totally acceptable... I don't agree with that...

[SGMRock]

Quote: Originally Posted by mkharsh33

You can't tweak a game for morons, so fix it for those of us who play user vs. cpu and want to play multiple BAGM. They killed last year's game with those stupid tuning updates - it was like the game would play completely different.

At least NHL series unlike the NCAA series gives you the option to use what tuner pack you want instead of forcing you to use the latest one for offline play.

I mean if you liked the game best with 1.0 tuners then keep using them, i'm not sure why you are complaining about that part. I do agree that last year they overtweaked stuff to combat online exploiters but you at least had the choice to avoid using those tuners.

[MizzouRah]

I can't wait for the retail game, I think the game plays great and want the FULL gaming experience.

You could easily play NHL 10 and then skip to NHL 12, IMHO. (which is what I'm doing as I traded NHL 11 in pretty quick last year)

[SGMRock]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I wish this was the case for most EA games. I think EA needs to realize there's always going to be cheesers online and no amount of tweeking will help that. Perhaps the best way around this is to force the team to have a human goalie in EASHL games.

Again like I said above at least they give you the option to use older tuner sets. I think they should almost have seperate online and offline tuners because of the differences between the two. That way they could totally seperation the tuning of them from eachother, one not messing up the others gameplay.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I can't wait for the retail game, I think the game plays great and want the FULL gaming experience. You could easily play NHL 10 and then skip to NHL 12, IMHO. (which is what I'm doing as I traded NHL 11 in pretty quick last year)

Same here. That's probably why I'm enjoying this demo right now.

mkharsh33's arguments are valid. The presentation really needs a major overhaul and I wonder if they added NBA2K's presentation experience if more people wouldn't think this game was simply NHL10.v2.

The gameplay has been tweaked considerably so that game has a more gritty experience.
But with the same models, lighting, sounds, overlays and commentary, it's easy to think the game hasn't been touched all that much.

Saying that, I hope for NHL13, the EA team doesn't spend the majority of their time on HUT or EASHL.
The offline modes of this game need a lot more love. If we could get a BAP that mirrors what NBA2K has done, I'd be in heaven.

[Fiddy]

the issue with saying, just use whatever tuner pack you want etc.. is that, they added some things to the later packs that should have been added to previous versions, small things here and there..

but yeah, at least you have an option, ill give them some small credit for that.

[theglory]

Why is it that no matter what strategy I have my offence set to, two of my forwards are always crashing the net... Hopefully this is just the demo trying to show up net battles and goalie interaction...

Hopefully online settings for retail will have heavily boosted goalie interference penalties. I clipped the goalie once and he slid to the corner of the rink where I continued to check him mercifully.. nothing.

Whatever controls the anticipation ai needs to be toned down a bit too. Too many players are a big defensive liability. If you dont have a 1 pass outlet from your zone, you frequently have 1-2 forwards just sitting at the blue line waiting.. This is even on "conservative."

Edit: Also maybe due to only playing 3rd period hockey, but the CPU defense seems way over aggressive, it is very easy to get them out of position with 2 quick passes in the zone. With a quick cycle kicked out to the D, one of your Dmen gets left alone to just walk into the high slot for a very good scoring chance.

Again the little tweeks in animations and physics are great, but the AI seems worst then it was before.