NHL 14 Demo Available Now For 360, Later Today For PS3 - Post Your Impressions Here

[Splitter77]

played 5 games on hardcore sim at around 3am when the baby woke up.

not that impressed.
gameplay isnt much different from nhl 13.
i noticed its easy to skate and defend with a defenceman in nhl 14, which is good. Thats problably the biggest difference i could tell in 5 games.
still easy as hell to gain the o-zone.

fights are ok. not as good as i thought they would be.
i was hoping for multiple fights at once.

probably gonna pass on this game this year unless they made create a team easier to make players and sim speed and simmed stats are better. Not looking good.

[Fiddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

What is the difference between Hardcore Simulation setting, and regular simulation setting. People are saying the demo plays much better on Hardcore Simulation... Thanks!

check this thread i created, you can see the difference between the sliders..

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2045374005

[Money99]

I have to say I really enjoyed the NHL94 mode.
I played a number of games with my two boys (10YO, 7YO) and they both loved it too.
They loved the ease of controls, the over-the-top hits and of course the fights.
The only thing missing from this mode is Ron Barr and the old NHL94 goal horn.
I can also see this being a big hit for quick tournament setups - which my friends have already requested I setup.
And I think that's precisely what EA was going for with this mode.
I know some are ticked that they might have wasted time on this mode instead of other parts of the game, but really, I don't think they had to spend that much time for this.
Make the ice blue, add some old sounds and then pre-save settings for no-holds barred hockey.

I also got in a few periods of 'regular' hockey and I was impressed too. I know there are some issues still present in there, but I think because I only played 3 games of NHL13, maybe it's fresh?

Anyway, I'll have to play more tonight to get a better feel of it. I really can't say more after only 4 or 5 periods in the Hardcore sim mode.

[Fiddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Money99

I have to say I really enjoyed the NHL94 mode. I played a number of games with my two boys (10YO, 7YO) and they both loved it too. They loved the ease of controls, the over-the-top hits and of course the fights. The only thing missing from this mode is Ron Barr and the old NHL94 goal horn. I can also see this being a big hit for quick tournament setups - which my friends have already requested I setup. And I think that's precisely what EA was going for with this mode. I know some are ticked that they might have wasted time on this mode instead of other parts of the game, but really, I don't think they had to spend that much time for this. Make the ice blue, add some old sounds and then pre-save settings for no-holds barred hockey. I also got in a few periods of 'regular' hockey and I was impressed too. I know there are some issues still present in there, but I think because I only played 3 games of NHL13, maybe it's fresh? Anyway, I'll have to play more tonight to get a better feel of it. I really can't say more after only 4 or 5 periods in the Hardcore sim mode.

this mode IMO would have been better received if it had a the playoff mode the game itself had in 94. battle through best of 1/3/5/7 playoffs to the the Cup?

no Cup, the winning teams Captain is presented a copy of NHL 94 at center ice by NHL 94 game designer Michael Brook..

LOL, now that would have been better.. bah!

but i did enjoy the mode more than i thought i would. i think the reason i did is bc this is how EA wants the game to play. this is the way it was created to play. ive said it before and ill say it again, if they said this is an arcade game with realistic elements tossed in i would never complain! but they say its the most realistic game.. and well, its not. bah!

[FredoXV]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fiddy

Lol guys.. Talking about a glitch goals bc of a move. For 3 years you can skate in and NOT make a move and score two different ways. Ha. I always laugh at guys trying to dangle the goalie and mess up. When myself and a few teammates skate in, shoot, and score. Works in all modes etc. Don't matter if its practice mode or a game of any sorts. That's just EA hockey. They know those goals are there. They do nothing about it. IMO I wish they would let that goal happen. Let any goal happen. Then the next time a player try's it the game is coded to stop it 100% of time until a different goal is scored.

I think a lot of folks kind of miss the point here. There are a lot of shots/moves in real hockey that are high percentage as well.

Fiddy, I think one of the skate-in-and-shoot "moves" you're referring to here is skate left shoot high right or vice a versa. I play offline Be a GM quite heavily, and this is a really high percentage shot, especially when going in with a sniper. This has never really bothered me, because shooting in the opposite direction you're skating is actually something a lot of players do, and something that's taught at a young age. Get the goalie moving with you, shoot the other direction. If executed, it's a high-percentage play, and should be represented as such in the game.


Within a game, I also think that, provided your sliders are adjusted properly, the defense and goalie do a pretty good job of taking this, and other high percentage or "glitch" goals away. I'd like it a little more if the learning AI went game-to-game, i.e. an emulation of scouting to take certain plays away from you.

One big point with the video here as well, I don't think that the free skate applies the learning AI. Hence, it's like every new shot takes place independently of the ones before it. So the same sick move has a good chance of going in almost every time, especially with a skill player like Toews.

[Fiddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by FredoXV

There are a lot of shots/moves in real hockey that are high percentage as well.

people dont miss the point at all. what you stated is correct, but the difference is, if a player can skate down, get to a spot, shoot, deke, whatever, and score 99% of the time thats an issue.

something needs done to nerf goals like that. if a guy scores a goal or two from the same spot, via no screen, deflection, etc. then IMO EA needs to have the goalie coded to shut that down 100% until that player or team scores a goal from another spot. make them mix it up and score a variety of ways.

best part, they could do this and NOT tell us. it would be great IMO. realistic? nope, but best for a video game? IMO, yes.

Quote: Originally Posted by FredoXV

Fiddy, I think one of the skate-in-and-shoot "moves" you're referring to here is skate left shoot high right or vice a versa. I play offline Be a GM quite heavily, and this is a really high percentage shot, especially when going in with a sniper. This has never really bothered me, because shooting in the opposite direction you're skating is actually something a lot of players do, and something that's taught at a young age. Get the goalie moving with you, shoot the other direction. If executed, it's a high-percentage play, and should be represented as such in the game.

im not even talking about shooting like that. im talk skate in on goalie, withing a few feet, and just scoring that way. not the skate one way and shoot the other way and top shelf it, like guys do from out high a bit.

in general, NO slider adjustments rid the game of those issues. check out my slider thread for NHL 13, the CPU has the advantage everywhere. i still have to force myself to mix up my gameplay and score a variety of ways. if i score on a move, that move is then banned for me to use the rest of the game vs the CPU.

i have to make house rules like that to get great games vs the CPU and get any value out of the game offline.

in all honestly, this goes for all sports games and sliders, i just want to play a game and get pretty dang close to actual real world statistics. playing the game or even via simulation! like an OOTP game, but one we can control the players etc. bah.. that will never happen!

[adayinthelife]

Well, this demo release sorta snuck up me. Life is too busy these days combined with some serious series fatigue on my end when it comes to these games basically left me with no expectations (outside of reading some impressions here) heading into the demo.

I liked NHL 13. I would say that on first release, to me personally it felt like the biggest year-to-year improvement since maybe 08. Eventually some nagging issues creeped up as they tend to do in this series, and in the end I only played through 1 seasons + playoffs (though truthfully, I haven't been able to play through multiple seasons since 09 at this point).

Based on playing 4-5 periods in the demo, even with the crazy default settings, this actually does feel like it's been improved in every area. I don't feel like any one single area is really light years ahead of where it was last year, but it just feels like the entire game has been tightened up, you know? I think they put a lot of pieces in place last year to make the game better, and this year (based on incredibly limited play time obviously) it seems like they spent their time organizing those pieces.

Skating feels tighter, and while I don't like it in the demo, it doesn't feel like it will be impossible to improve upon when we have sliders. Shooting and passing feel tighter/snappier all around - it feels like if you're able to get time and space on the blue line you can really let one hang vs. trying to get a quick shot off with defenders in your face.

Checking, arguably the worst part of 13/12 finally feels good. Way too many big hits still, but again with sliders I'm confident there will be a happy place for this. Really, I'll take too many big hits over the weird awkwardness of the hits the past couple years, it's just looked/felt terrible for too long.

The fighting engine was something that I really disliked (first person fighting that is), but honestly would've been happy with more intensive gameplay improvements rather than a revamped fighting engine when they first announced it. Having played it now though, how did they not do this sooner? Outside of having like 5 fights in a period (I assume this is cranked up in the demo), it's pure gold and actually feels like it has more of an impact on the game. I love that the cpu challenges - I hit Kane from behind into the boards with Eriksson only to have Bickel come in and grab Eriksson. This has been in the game for a few years now, but what I liked is that Eriksson made no attempt to drop his gloves and instead I was given the option of having McQuaid come in and grab Bickel. The fighting itself is vastly improved, as anyone can see, but it was just the fact that a non-fighter laying a dirty hit on a non-fighter resulted in 2 fighters defending their teammates going at it that really made this for me. I assume we'll be able to tone down the aggression with sliders, as I really don't want to have 15+ fights every game, but for all my negativity I am actually blown away by this.

I also tried NHL 94 mode for... half a period. Waste of time IMO. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread that they had a custom slider/camera set in NHL 13 that recreated this type of a game, and this is seriously all they've done here with the exception of adding in blue ice and star controller indicators. This seriously just feels like NHL 14's version of goalie fights.

Overall, I'm going to be getting the game and I'm sure I will enjoy it for a time. I don't know that it's really going to have any more longevity than the last few years of the series if only because I just want something different at this point. It seems like it's going to be the most refined game in the series, and I guess that's the best you can hope for in what is likely to be the last release in the series for this gen. I'm hoping they bring something fresh to the table for next gen with NHL 15.

[jake19ny]

I for one am one of the few who enjoyed NHL 13 despite its many flaws. I find the mixed reviews interesting since most all of you have been playing the series for many years. Some are saying how much improved it is while others are saying its the same as last year. My personal feeling after a handful of games is there are many improvements most very subtle. I like many of you are very disappointed that no presentation changes were made but I did not expect to see any seeing that this is the last version on current gen. If they were going to work anything Im glad its the game play. I do expect big changes presentation wise on the next gen release. The fighting is a really good change but I cant stand the fact that if I hit someone hard with Hossa I have no choice but to fight with him. This should be addressed before the release or I hope you can adjust the sliders to tone it down. That brings me to my next point. It seemed to me in NHL 13 the many sliders did little or nothing at all and I hope thats not the case with NHL14 also I find that many patches and updates fixed one thing and screwed 5 things up I also hope that does not happen. NHL 13 was much better out of the box before a ton of patches and updates destroyed what little sim action I found worked. Again I hope this does not happen with NHL14. I am very concerned that after about 5 games I have not had a single powerplay....this was a major issue in NHL 13 and Im worried it still exists. Overall I love hockey and have come to accept I will never get a perfect sim game and I am looking forward to NHL 14.