NHL 12 Checking & Puck Physics impressions

[TNA Equalizer]

This one was co-wrote by myself as well as SCARFACE from the EA Forums.

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Hey there guys today embarks the lift of another embargo on NHL12, and so TNA and I are here with our write up on Physics in NHL 12. We decided to combine our write ups and focus on specific areas of the physics in NHL 12, I know it's a bit of a long read but hopefully you guys find some valuable information in there

Feel free to ask questions pertaining to the Physics in NHL 12 either in this thread or on twitter at:

@SCARFACE909
@TheNHLequalizer

First and foremost I want to state that what we tested at community day was not the final, finished version of NHL 12. It still falls into the category of ‘Work In Progress’ and was undergoing tweaks, tuning, and fixing. That said here are my honest thoughts and opinions of what I saw.

Hey guys TNA Equalizer here again with another write up for the community about NHL 12. This time it’s about something I was extremely interested in seeing myself the second year of physics in the NHL franchise. I’ll be discussing the Full-Contact Physics Engine I saw when testing out NHL 12 at community day.

When it came to the Full-Contact Physics Engine in NHL 11 It fell short of what I was hoping to see. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it was clear it needed some work and tuning. So when I sat down with NHL 12 it became apparent right off the opening puck drop that a second year of development the checking contact physics was much closer to where I hoped to see it. How so? Well the hitting looked more believable. What I mean is that I saw less of the mass spinning, flailing post check where it looked unneeded. It would happen from time to time, but far less frequent than what you would see in NHL 11. The video below shows what type of hits I was seeing in my test time with the early build of NHL 12.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPu4o...layer_embedded
(This is more in the style of what I saw for Full-Contact Physics Engine in NHL 12.)

Yes, the checker’s momentum is factored into hits now with the physics. Meaning he may lose his footing and fall when throwing the check. Hits look far more believable and fluid in what I played of NHL 12. I do recall moments when I played NHL 12 that I even saw resiliency in the checker’s target from time to time where the checker would fail on his attempt to knock down an opposing player and his target would maintain his footing. That said not all successful checks meant that the victim of the hit would go spiraling down to the ice. Sometimes they would get knocked down to one knee or both knees and quickly get back up. When you initiate the hitting physics with throwing a check it felt more responsive in NHL 12, polishing to the system was definitely noticeable. It felt far more on par with the actual hitting aspect you see in the NHL on a game to game basis.

With the term I’m sure you’ve heard NHL 12 Line Producer Sean Ramjagsingh say in previews and trailers ‘Everything is live’ I’m sure there’s those of you who are interested in hearing an example of it. Now this past regular season there was a certain hit that caused a bit of debate amongst two rival teams. In my brief time with NHL 12 I actually managed to line up a hit along the player benches much like the Zdeno Chara – Max Pacioretty incident and rode the target out to the stanchion where he made contact and reacted to it appropriately. It was neat to see as I really wasn’t trying to recreate it on purpose.


As for the physics when a goalie and skaters collided it was interesting to see it in action. For the most part it worked rather well, but being the first year of implementation it had moments of awkwardness where you could tell it was still a work in progress. Even for an early build the vast majority of incidents where physics were triggered it looked really well. Skaters nudging goalies and affecting them created solid, not too over dramatized reactions. Scarface did manage to have a great collision with the goalie which he explains next.

Quote:

SCARFACE909 wrote:When I played BAP, the goalie came out to stop the puck on a dump in and I went behind the net to get the puck and we collided with each other without pressing up on RS to check and we both fell and took the net of the moorings. It was very fluid and realistic looking and just plain AWESOME

As long as they keep polishing the Full-Contact Physics Engine between players and goalies up until launch I’ll be anxious to see the final product when the game hits retail in September. That said if this is year two of a physics plan in terms of hits, I’m interested to see where year three is heading.

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Hey guys SCARFACE here, I’m here again with another write up of my impressions of NHL 12, I will be concentrating on the puck physics in NHL 12.

So without further ado, Puck Physics in NHL 12.

Going into community day I know a lot of people are eager (me included) if they have updated the puck physics, making the puck act more realistic on the ice would make the gameplay much better than it currently is. Currently at times the puck almost seems like a rubber ball with the way it bounces after a puck check or any kind of contact. When I played I was very pleased to see that the puck physics have been updated in NHL 12 and the puck reacts a lot better and seems way less “bouncy” then it currently is. I did have one instance where the puck was poked and bounced a bit far, but other then that one time I was very pleased with what I was seeing during my time with the game.

Also noticeable with the puck physics this year is the way the puck will bounce more realistically and roll on edge off of rebounds and even on dump ins along the boards. Also one thing I noticed that bugged a lot of people is I did not see once the puck laying on the goalies shoulder after a shot. Also the puck when loose didn’t seem so magnetically attaching to players stick, seemed much more fluid looking. Also the puck when on someone’s stick it does not seemed as “glued” on as it currently does, the puck felt much more loose, especially when trying to do a pull around slap shot, more times than not your player would whiff because the puck was loose and not “glued” onto your stick which is really great and makes the gameplay a lot more realistic than previous installments.

Of course are the puck physics perfect in NHL 12? By no means yes, but is it becoming more realistic and fluid looking? Definitely. I’m really going to look forward to how much they’ve tweaked the puck physics from the time I played at Community Day to release date, I can say that people who have been griping over puck physics will be pleased with what they see.

[Money99]

Great stuff! Thanks for posting!

[Vikes1]

Thanks guys for posting this!! Very well written!

Things are sounding pretty darn good. The more loose puck really has me interested. This could be a real game changer. Imo...yep, the puck in '11' does seem kinda glued to everything. From sticks, to the goalies. This alone, could go quite a ways towards having less of that scripted feel to the game.

Great write up, and very encouraging read. Thanks again!!

[plaidchuck]

Gotta admit it's sounding better especially coming from people who played it... all I hope for the hitting is simply 1) less big hits, and 2) none of the random hits where you hit someone from behind and they fall backwards at the same time.

[TNA Equalizer]

Quote: Originally Posted by plaidchuck

Gotta admit it's sounding better especially coming from people who played it... all I hope for the hitting is simply 1) less big hits, and 2) none of the random hits where you hit someone from behind and they fall backwards at the same time.

First: Thank you guys for the replies. As the Non Disclosure Agreement and EA permits me I'll be doing more write ups about what I saw at the community day last month.

Now: As far as the huge hits from behind that would cause guys to flip/react unnaturally like you see in NHL 11 I really can't say I saw any of that anymore. The real variable is how the refined second year of hitting physics plays out when it goes live with the EASHL/OTP. From what I saw it seemed like the hitting was scaled back in terms of the physics of them. It looked more on pace with the real product on the ice.

It's hard going back to NHL 11 after playing NHL 12. I've had my numerous gripes with the series for a while now, but I came back from EA Sports Canada with a far positive outlook for 12 and the future. I can't wait to share more when I'm allowed to do so. For now NHL 11 will do since I'm a huge hockey fanatic.

[Vikes1]

Quote: Originally Posted by TNA Equalizer

It's hard going back to NHL 11 after playing NHL 12. I've had my numerous gripes with the series for a while now, but I came back from EA Sports Canada with a far positive outlook for 12 and the future. I can't wait to share more when I'm allowed to do so. For now NHL 11 will do since I'm a huge hockey fanatic.

Love hearing this!

Really looking forward to any and all the info you can provide us TNA. Much appreciated.

[bonannogiovanni]

I'm pleased to hear that the puck is less bouncy, my major gripe in previous installments of the game, thanks guys.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Vikes1

Love hearing this! Really looking forward to any and all the info you can provide us TNA. Much appreciated.

Me too.
I just pray the CPU AI has been worked on and we'll see more differences between the various player types.

The one thing I'm worried about is how EA seems to tune their games based off online play.
They basically destroyed Fight Night for offline gamers because they were trying to tune the game to stop cheesers online.

Just give me a good offline representation of the sport please.