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NHL 12 |OT| aka NHL 09.3
- Thread starter Marvie_3
- Start date
TheVisualizer
Banned
RS4- said:I'm not sure if I'll even keep my game; I think I'll just sell it back to my buddy and just use it for Gears lol
damn first ph33nix leaves us for good, now RS4...
infinityBCRT
Member
NHL 12 is infinitely better than 11. The shooting animations and puck physics are a million times better. Play it on All-Star/Hardcore with authentic puck size/shadow and you'll really get a feel for it. All of the shooting animations actually look good now, there's no more disconnect between the shot animation and where the puck ends up going. The game just feels more live and organic on the ice. It might look the same but when you actually play it, it just feels so much better. Be A Pro is also way better due to changing it to 20 minute games with simming to your shifts.
Loose puck situations and scrambles are great now. So many times in previous games you'd get to a loose puck but completely whiff on the shot, but somehow still have the puck in your possession and be frozen for a few seconds while the animation completed. Now thats completely gone. Your player is also just more aware of the puck and better at reaching out to receive passes from teammates. Its also just awesome to see how the puck bounces around and rolls on the ice realistically now.
Scoring just seems to have a lot more variety too. I was able to score on a rush off the wing a couple of times with Gaborik in an online league game I just played. I never ever ever saw that in previous years. I'm also not seeing the weird puck physics in the past where the puck would bounce up in the air and land on the goalie's shoulder or back and sit there.
All-Star is a little easier which is better for me because I thought Pro was too easy for me and All-Star was too hard in previous years. In reality I think EA should ditch the 5 skill levels and go for difficulty percentage because I'm sure there are people who liked All-Star difficulty last year and now are finding that too easy.
On-ice, the game is almost the complete package. Theres only a small nitpicky issues for me here and there. There are things I'd like to see them do to improve on presentation, customization and modes (such as letting you play the same modes online that you can play on one console, and vice-versa as well) in the future but I'm really happy with the game this year so far.
There are a few bugs here and there that I noticed. The game locked up on me once during be a pro (its happened to others too). Visual Settings in Be A Pro are messed up-- if you don't go into settings before you start a BAP game for the first time since you've booted up the game, it'll have the default visual settings which is annoying. Controller vibration sometimes just gets stuck and I have to unplug my controller's battery pack and plug it back in to get it to stop. But this is also an older build of the game as it doesn't have the Jets logo at all in the menus or at centre ice but the retail build I played a few weeks ago had that stuff.
Loose puck situations and scrambles are great now. So many times in previous games you'd get to a loose puck but completely whiff on the shot, but somehow still have the puck in your possession and be frozen for a few seconds while the animation completed. Now thats completely gone. Your player is also just more aware of the puck and better at reaching out to receive passes from teammates. Its also just awesome to see how the puck bounces around and rolls on the ice realistically now.
Scoring just seems to have a lot more variety too. I was able to score on a rush off the wing a couple of times with Gaborik in an online league game I just played. I never ever ever saw that in previous years. I'm also not seeing the weird puck physics in the past where the puck would bounce up in the air and land on the goalie's shoulder or back and sit there.
All-Star is a little easier which is better for me because I thought Pro was too easy for me and All-Star was too hard in previous years. In reality I think EA should ditch the 5 skill levels and go for difficulty percentage because I'm sure there are people who liked All-Star difficulty last year and now are finding that too easy.
On-ice, the game is almost the complete package. Theres only a small nitpicky issues for me here and there. There are things I'd like to see them do to improve on presentation, customization and modes (such as letting you play the same modes online that you can play on one console, and vice-versa as well) in the future but I'm really happy with the game this year so far.
There are a few bugs here and there that I noticed. The game locked up on me once during be a pro (its happened to others too). Visual Settings in Be A Pro are messed up-- if you don't go into settings before you start a BAP game for the first time since you've booted up the game, it'll have the default visual settings which is annoying. Controller vibration sometimes just gets stuck and I have to unplug my controller's battery pack and plug it back in to get it to stop. But this is also an older build of the game as it doesn't have the Jets logo at all in the menus or at centre ice but the retail build I played a few weeks ago had that stuff.
Mike Works
Member
infinity: how are you finding the hitting physics/animations compared to NHL 11? i've still only played the demo, but I can't get over how janky the transitions are.
CartridgeBlower
Member
No competition = no incentive to innovate. Welcome to Madden, NHL fans.
Mike Works
Member
What are you talking about, you can hit people into the bench now.
sefskillz said:
It is much improved over NHL 11, the tweaks to the game engine alone make it worth it. There is a lot more focus on working without the puck now, there are battles all over the ice now which actually mean something. It is possible to have proper battles behind the net or in the corners.
Clearing the zone feels more realistic than in previous versions too and also, if you can keep the puck in the zone when it looks for the world it is going out, you can really take advantage.
There seems to be less poke-check[transition] breakaway type flaws in the game too.
Online I noticed that players can still hold A and avoid hits with a bit too much ease, but it isn't as bad a last year and hopefully can be addressed in the next tuner set.
For me, Jimmy Howard lets in too many slapshots from outside the slot, but it is a weakness only he seems to suffer from at the moment. Player personalities are there, you simply cannot do the same skill moves with Holmstrom as you can with Datsyuk for example.
I find the 'new' features such as breaking the glass, hitting into the boards and nets off the moorings happen about right too. I have only seen the glass break ONCE in my time playing the demo (around 30 games) and since having the game (38 Ranked, 20+ EASHL, 25+ offline) whereas the hitting into the bench I see maybe once ever 3-4 games and the net off the moorings once to twice a game, and sometimes not at all.
The puck feels like a separate entity now too, rather than something that was part of a previous canned animation, passes are less magnetic, which means passing into open ice is a viable option. Same with checks and creating loose pucks. Some of the net scrambles are amazing too and seem to happen at the right level.
AI can still be a bit suspect and won't always do the obvious thing you'd hope, but again that should be fixed with tuner updates.
My review of the game is still pending (we have a large queue of other games to get out first) but for me it is a must own for hockey fans, maybe less so for casuals.
Ardenyal
Member
I don't know, 12 seems really unbalanced when compared to 11.infinityBCRT said:
Some random things that have bugged me playing as D in EASHL:
- Stick lifts are close to useless now. You need to be positioned perfectly to be able to pick up the puck before your opponent. Sometimes it takes like 5 stick lifts to get possession of the puck.
- Poke checks are really useless now. Just won't connect and will only glide you out of position when you are stuck in the animation. No more slowing down / redirecting the attacks by staying at sticks length away. This causes a lot of coast to coast action and a LOT of shots (30 shots is not unusual, in 11 I think 15+ shots would have been considered a lot. 20-30 shots on 5 min periods... pfft)
- Net battles sometimes work, most times not. Short passes cross crease are a lot harder to intercept in 12 so you either have to dive (stupid, not to mention risky as the opponent can easily pick up the puck) or engage net battle.... Except it just won't connect. Usually you are just left in the check animation pose unable to intercept passes or do anything.
Ardenyal said:
Can't comment on stick-lifts as I hardly use them.
Poke checks are fine, just need to get the timing right. Look to see how the player is moving the puck and tap the RB at the right time. No real need to press and hold in 12, as player auto swing the stick now.
In our EASHL matches we have had a mix of game. Many are up and down, but that is the nature of EASHL, players aren't pro and often many will play without understanding the need to cycle the puck, which in turn can lead to game being very fast. Get two teams who can play and it is a much better game of hockey. Maybe we have been fortunate with this though.
Cross crease passes are fine to stop, I find a lot more than 10 and 11, you just need to be positioned right, rather than actively trying to press buttons to block the pass. Net battles are taking a bit of time to get used to though and hopefully in future releases they will allow more options on the RS for both the defending and attacking player. It is however very effective for creating traffic and screening the goaltender, it is also good for pulling a defender out of position.
HadesGigas
Member
So here's why there's a create a girl option now:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/girl-wins-bid-to-play-virtual-self-in-nhl-video-game/article2161727/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/girl-wins-bid-to-play-virtual-self-in-nhl-video-game/article2161727/
KnightAttack
Member
HadesGigas said:
That explains a lot......but really, I don't care at all.
I don't mind that girls play hockey, but as I've watched it over the years I've realized that I cannot watch it anymore. It's just so....painful to watch....the NHL is getting close to this way though too. Since when do coaches teach players to go into corners with their backs turned? That Never use to happen!
infinityBCRT
Member
I'm not sure what you mean by slapshot charge ups? Usually I use vision control (LT) before shooting to control the shot myself. The issue I had in previous games was that your guy would clearly get possession of the puck and still miss the shot, and I haven't seen it happen yet.buhdeh said:
I'm not going in and watching replays but from a gameplay perspective I like what I see. The only issue I have is that sometimes you still bounce off the boards or a player without some sort of physics animation going on-- usually it happens with very low speed collisions, but I still think it feels awkward and there needs to be some visual feedback to the player to make it look natural. Its one of the small things that I have against the game which I'd definitely like to see fixed next year but its something thats not nearly as bad in previous years when you'd ram into someone head on and you'd bounce off them (without an animation) at times.Mike Works said:
Meh. Not EA's fault, and I still don't think they've plateaued. There's still stuff that 2K did right which EA needs to fix (skating physics, faceoffs, fighting, pokechecking) but by in large EA has done a great job here.CartridgeBlower said:
They've made the best "Superstar" mode in a sports game to date. I haven't even seen HUT yet but I'm excited by the 24/7 stuff they've put in there. EASHL so far seems to be really fun. I haven't seen any cheese yet online. I wonder how things will shake out when people are starting to level up to legend and stuff-- in previous years I didn't like how much influence your XP made to how good your player was because its kinda dumb to reward very good and dedicated players by making their players way better IMO.
Speaking of which they've also improved your player's progression by giving more increments so you'll have like Amateur level 1, Amateur level 2, etc. Just makes it feel like less of a grind to level up your character.
As I said before I really like BAP due to the 20 minute periods now and ability to sim the parts when you're not on the ice. I also like how you can just decide not to play the rest of a game if you're up by 3 goals and just Quit & Simulate the rest of the game (and this is available for Be a GM too I believe). Or you can do the opposite and simulate the start of the game and intervene. The only thing you can't do (which I believe you can in Madden) is to start simming the game entirely and then intervene again. If they added that feature and the ability to save games in progress they'd really allow you to jump in and out of your BAP or Be A GM mode quickly and I think in general more people would stay interested in the mode that way as it makes it even less of a grind.
Stick lifts were way too effective in the past. I think they are perfect now. If you try to lift while behind you're gonna get a penalty because you're just gonna end up impeding the player's progress. If you've got position on the puck then you'll be able to steal it.Ardenyal said:
I'm not having a big problem with pokechecks. In my BAP my player isn't leveled up that much so hes not amazing at it but I haven't ever seen a situation where I clearly contacted the puck and it didn't get deflected. I am playing on All-Star/Hardcore though. I know on Hardcore the puck is a little more reactive to deflections and stuff than it is on Normal.
I've really stopped trying to see if stats are realistic in sports games. Until the time EA starts building the game to have realistic stats at 20 minute periods, and then allow you to scale down to 5 minute periods with a slider which adjusts the gameplay to have realistic gameplay or realistic stats, theres no point. That being said in my Be a Pro which is 20 min periods I'm seeing shot totals of like 20-30 per team per game.
As far as intercepting passes, again I'd like to know what setting you have the game to. On hardcore the puck is way more susceptible to be deflected or intercepted in those situations.
Edit: I see that you were talking about EASHL. I guess it could be your player hasn't leveled up enough? Also, stats in EASHL is even more irrelevant because you're playing with/against people who don't know how to play their position properly.
Stick lifting is pretty useless. You hardly ever win the puck back. I have no clue if the stick checking attribute plays into this.
Stick checks? Ha. Worthless. It hardly ever makes a connection when it looks like it should be and this is from playing 40+ online games. Guys can still figure skate all around your pokes.
Adding in stick collisions would be ridiculous and totally kill the flow of the game, but it would address these problems.
Stick checks? Ha. Worthless. It hardly ever makes a connection when it looks like it should be and this is from playing 40+ online games. Guys can still figure skate all around your pokes.
Adding in stick collisions would be ridiculous and totally kill the flow of the game, but it would address these problems.
infinityBCRT
Member
I've only played 1 drop in game so your thoughts are probably more accurate than mine on that. But I have no issues with those things offline.
Edit: I believe offensive awareness determines how good you are at gaining possession of a loose puck
Edit: I believe offensive awareness determines how good you are at gaining possession of a loose puck
infinityBCRT said:
Pretty much agree with you. Stick lifts work fine if used in the right way. I hated that before the stick lift could be spammed.
Again, the poke check is all about timing and positioning, it shouldn't be easy just to connect with the puck every time.
And spot on with the EASHL stuff. When we play, we tend to play out positions right and we can defend well as a unit and attack at a unit. Again a lot of making physical challenges for the puck is about timing. I tend to worry more about getting into the passing and shooting lanes, rather then trying to stick lift and poke check, which seems to work well.
Ardenyal
Member
I'm not spamming them, I know when to use what move but they just don't work despite conditions being optimal.bradigor said:
This happened earlier today in our EASHL match. The opposing player shoots from left, the Dman shoot from right. Dman positioned to his left side right beside him so he should definitely be able to connect a stick lift. Conditions are almost perfect, but.... *click*
infinityBCRT
Member
Ardenyal said:
No way. First off the dman is out of position and trying to catch up, and hes also on the wrong side of the player-- he should be on the inside to defend. And he did the stick lift way too early which caused him to fall behind. Thats a super low percentage play by the defenseman.
Marvie_3 said:
haha I still don't know. It's not like I really want to play Gears either and the only games I really want are just UC3 (but I have to buy a new PS3 again if I can't fix mine) and BF3.
The canned animation for whiffing one timers still sucks though.
brb, going to upload a video that shows one of the things I don't like about the physics (but checking and everything else is still better than previous years)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8X201RqhSo
infinityBCRT
Member
I love that stuff. They need to work on the animations but they are opening up the potential of the game to be way more than it was by implementing physics collisions whereas they probably could've polished it up to look really nice in an animation based system but eventually everything would start to look so canned and long in the tooth.RS4- said:
BigJonsson
Member
I guess I'll have NHL 12 sometime this week, time to start getting XBL again
infinityBCRT said:
Take a look at NBA 2k12's "My Player" mode
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150285386202267
infinityBCRT
Member
Ah I see what you're saying. The problem is theres not enough friction on the ice. Yeah they definitely need to fix it. I liked when they added momentum to collisions so that when you fell on the ice you continued moving but the problem is you continue moving at the same speed as when you fell whereas you should slow down.RS4- said:
Again this really goes back to them implementing a full physics based skating engine. They said they had a 3 year plan to implement physics across the game so next year should be the year where they fix this.
infinityBCRT
Member
Its not out yetbuhdeh said:
We'll see how it is. The one thing that a lot of superstar modes get bogged down in is a lot of side stuff thats not related to the core gameplay like practice/training camp mini-games or answering interviews that are really meaningless. Unless they are going to go the Fight Night Prison route and make a full fledged story campaign, I prefer the way NHL handles it and keeps the focus on the ice and to your performance.
infinityBCRT
Member
I think they needed to put in the most CPU demanding thing in first which was checking because thats the only way to know if it was even feasible to go down this route. Fun fact, when they first put physics in the game it was only running at 5 FPS. They had to do a lot of optimization to get it running at 60FPS with the physics.Marvie_3 said:
Anyway, the improved shooting/puck physics is in there this year. Play the game on All-Star/Hardcore with Authentic Puck Size/Shadow and the puck physics feel close to being as good as some of the better NHL 2K games IMO.
infinityBCRT
Member
Thats a loaded statement. That touches on the following thingsMarvie_3 said:
- most people play 5 minute periods and the game is balanced for 5 mins so theres more shots on net than you'd see in a real NHL game
- I'm seeing more variety of goals including shots from far out, so while theres some places on the ice that have decreased as a good shooting area, other places have become better shooting areas... before there was way too many goals being scored via close in sharp angle shots, haven't really seen that so far online
Quick said:Anyone going to a midnight release? I wasn't going to, but I realized that I won't be working until the evening tomorrow, and I have nothing better to do, so I'll be swinging by the EB Games nearby in a bit.
Pretty sure a midnight release for NHL 12 is a Canadian thing.
I'm fairly certain I'm the only one who has pre-ordered the game from my Gamestop. Not a lot of hockey fans in small central texas towns.
Got to EB at around 11:30 and it was just me and around 10 guys watching NHL 12 with the AI playing. Jets vs. Leafs. We were all just chilling. Crowd grew to I'd say 40 people by the time 12:00 am hit.
I'm playing a Battle for the Cup game and they finally have Staney Cup Finals patches on the jerseys.
I'm playing a Battle for the Cup game and they finally have Staney Cup Finals patches on the jerseys.
Since the game is out tonight/tomorrow, I figured I'd pass along another open invite to everybody for the NeoGAF NHL 12 team.
360 only.
360 only.
HadesGigas
Member
Game comes with a $20 gaming coupon (usable next week through October 20something) at Kmart if you're in an area where Kmart still exists.
KnightAttack
Member
I was going to go and see if I could meet Evander Kane, but once I saw the lineup, I realized there was no point. There was at least 600 people in the lineup, so I changed my mind rather quickly. I'll be picking the game up later today.
In anyone interested,
I will be creating a PS3 GAF team. I can't make Topics yet, which is why I'm posting it here. If someone else already has made one, then I won't, but I don't think that's happened. Feel free to add me on PSN as well: Knightattack
In anyone interested,
I will be creating a PS3 GAF team. I can't make Topics yet, which is why I'm posting it here. If someone else already has made one, then I won't, but I don't think that's happened. Feel free to add me on PSN as well: Knightattack
KoruptData
Member
As someone who has not played a hockey game since the ps1 days and does not follow the sport and does not really know the rules, how should I approach this game? I just bought as I want to try something new. What settings, what controls, etc should I do. Thanks.
Mike Works
Member
Any (Canadians) here have any experience ordering online with Futureshop? I preordered the game a while back because of a discount. I'm looking at my order now, and it's stuck on "Checking Availability".
Is it possible to pick up a copy in store, or do I have to let them ship it to me?
Is it possible to pick up a copy in store, or do I have to let them ship it to me?
Square Triangle
Member
PS3 players, add me. After I get off work tonight I'm gonna jump online.