jdpatri

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So there's a sampling of the new features. What does this actually mean?

Having downloaded and spent a few hours with the demo last night, I'll break it down for you.

The biggest addition/fix will be that Be A GM/GM Connected improvements. The fixed load times alone are worth the price of admission. GM Connected was the best addition to NHL13, but it was also nerfed by obscene loading times. Unfortunately this mode is not sampled in the demo.

But what about the actual gameplay?

Well....

Skating is much improved, making the game faster and the collisions are more varied and result in a number of different check animations. Size matters more. I tried to check Lucic with Tavares and Tavares fell down.

The ENFORCER ENGINE needs work. I hope that this is not a finished product in the demo. If it is, there better be a slider to turn that shit off. The demo allows you to play the last period of the Stanley Cup finals. In that ONE PERIOD, there were at least a dozen post-whistle scrums from snowing the goal, poking the goalie, standing generally anywhere near the goalie, etc. It's more annoying than the online shits that just skate around checking everybody for no good reason after the play stops. Next up, if you lay a big hit on anyone, someone's going to grab you and give you the business. And by business, I mean fight you. Another Tavares example. I checked some D-man with Tavares. A solid, open-ice body check. From across the ice some schmo races over, grabs me and forces me to fight with my star center. The fights are too frequent. Every big hit seemed to warrant my guy getting pummeled.

Passing is more erratic. That's right. I said MORE erratic. Because we must spiral ceaselessly into the black hole of reality... in NHL 13, you could set yourself up with great vision, lay a nice pass through a pair of defenders to a rushing teammate... and have the pass go nowhere near your goddamn player. Good news! That's still a feature. But now you've got the added bonus of that rushing player just not being able to receive the pass. They'll fumble it or miss it entirely. Watch your perfect pass go sailing into the cosmos. Same goes for passes between the D. Oopps! Did you want to go D-to-D? I'm sorry. I thought you wanted to pass it backwards all the way down the ice so the opponent could get it and lay in a nice juicy breakaway. Reality in video games is over-goddamn-rated.

Offsides is more variable and unpredictable! Yay! Skate full speed ahead, no dekes. No shuffles. No moves. But your teammate goes offsides! Bonus!

Goalies are smarter about angles! But dumber with the five-hole!

So if not for the improved GM modes, I might be passing on this altogether. It's just more.... annoying, despite some very nice improvements to puck physics, skating and collision. Although in past years significant tweaking has been done between the release of the demo and the full game... so we'll see.

musick

pass ..... will wait for next year and next gen (PS4)

astrochimp

I like the NHL 94 mode. Will it be playable online?

jdpatri

I haven't seen anything specifically mentioning whether the NHL 94 mode will be playable online. However, past precedent suggests it won't be playable as anything other than a standalone single-game mode, hell, maybe you'll get a tournament. I'd like to be wrong. I'd also like the NHL 94 mode to actually, you know, play NHL 94. This is some Frankenstein-cross between NHL 14 and NHL 94.

jdpatri

The Enforcer Mode is dumb. I'd rage some more about this game but I don't have it in me right now.

Anyone else pick it up yesterday?

astrochimp

I decided to stick with 13. Previous one before that was NHL 10, so I will probably be back for NHL 16.

cnicholls44

a little frustrating. I played a game with the penguins and got in 4 fights because of hits. 2 with kunitz, 1 with neal, and 1 with bennett.

jdpatri

This game is becoming more stupid by the minute. The puck is bouncing all over the place erratically because of new "puck physics." What this mean is that the computer can react to the ping pong ball and you cannot. Also slappers from the blue line go in without any obstruction. For the computer. You? Not so much. Players still randomly just go offsides because your AI teammates are magically hyper-speed but still dumb as shit.

cnicholls44

I like the game overall. Are we still playing the gm connected from 13 or are we starting one here?

jdpatri

What do you want to do with the NHL13? Advance to the end of the season? I was going to advance the next period today...

Does everyone have NHL14?

jdpatri

There are some hyper annoying things that can be fixed with sliders. However, HUT and other online modes are going to require tuner updates to make them tolerable.

cnicholls44

I haven't played 13 in 2 weeks. I think my brother was going to get 14 but I don't think r2 is getting it.

nickdawgy

I got the game on Tuesday. It's fun, I'd say maybe an 8 out of 10. One cool thing I like is the guys on the other team will try and pick fights if you do something stupid. For example, a teammate was called offside, and out of frustration shot the puck into the net just missing the goaltender. Anyone who plays or watches hockey knows that's a dick move, and in the past you could do it without fear of anything happening.

Just a cool touch.

I do have gripes, though. I hate it when I am challenged to a fight and have to accept. I hate the fact they have the wrong Kings ice (the shield logo is now their center ice logo), and absolutely shitty rosters (guys on teams three years ago), and divisions named A, B, C, and D.

I like the fact when you fight you get scars throughout the game, but they seem to disappear afterward.

superdeluxe

Question, in the 'life of pro mode'. I'm trying to see where the xbox controls are at for the different commands. Right now B is slap shot, but I have no clue how to snap/wrist shot.

Also I don't know how to call for pass, or lay down to deflect the puck, or how to do those juking motions during shoot outs. Any help where u can edit controls or tell me what controls do what