At the risk of overstepping my bounds, I thought it was a good time to kick-off the NHL 11 hype. This year, that means physics, and lots of added realism. It looks great. The risk here is, will it play great?
That's the dude who gave us our hands-on demo at E3 as well. Tall doesn't begin to describe that guy. lol
I'm definitely jazzed about NHL '11. The new physics system is huge and I love the improved ability to control the draw on face-offs. The only real question is going to be how well they balance it out of the box; they really had it amped up in terms of hits and broken sticks for the E3 demo stations. I'm sure they'll tone it down for release, but striking a balance there will be a challenge.
This looks interesting, but I'll admit that I couldn't get into the previous NHL games on the 360 simply because the controls had such a steep learning curve for someone like me who has never played a sports game. All of the controls are introduced at once and are required right away for gameplay (understandably). I might give this one a shot, but I wouldn't be surprised to see myself give up in frustration before the end of the tutorial if they don't have graduated levels of control a la Forza 3.
Clockwork, if you have a Wii, I'd also recommend at least looking into EA's NHL Slapshot game for that platform. I admit the hokey hockey stick controller seems bizarre at first, but it genuinely look like a good fun game of hockey without having to learn a ton of different controls.
I'm pretty sure I need not mention that my desire to play this is quite high.
Well... this is certainly... a thing.
Well... this is certainly... a thing.
They're just unlocks. You're just saving yourself some time buying them.
I find it hard to get upset about stuff that's unlockable in-game being sold, since it's truly optional.
Demo drops this Tuesday!
http://kotaku.com/5611715/nhl-11-dem...
Yippee!
*fap fap fap*
ColdForged wrote:Aaron D. wrote:Demo drops this Tuesday!
http://kotaku.com/5611715/nhl-11-dem...
Yippee!
*fap fap fap*
That puts a whole new spin on these posts.
Sounds like someone's jonesing for some hairy manflesh!
Son of a Female Doggo. I had just enough time to download it this morning with no time left to actually play.
I wish I cared more about online modes :(. Perhaps online franchise is what I need.
So...ummm...I will be get NHL11 and I may be getting Live. This information might be interesting to some people.
Time to take back the 360 from the kids, I believe.
So...ummm...I will be get NHL11 and I may be getting Live. This information might be interesting to some people.
Indeed. I just preordered. Yes, I broke two rules: don't trade in and don't preorder. Truly I am a shameful gimp.
Got a few games in and I like what I see. Each year since '07 they've been gradually improving the organic, flowing feel of the game. '11 has a lot of quality "flow" that really looks like hockey. It's hard to explain but it involves the puck being more of a free entity, taking bounces and not being harnessed as essentially part of the player's model. The physics engine is part of it, but when you have the puck behind the net and there's a scrum between 3 or 4 players, there are many changes of possession and fewer instances of frozen guy or frozen puck than in years past. Even stick lifts and board play don't feel as contrived and stilted, instead flowing about how you'd expect.
I have yet to feel a difference with the new hustle control. I don't know whether I'm not doing it right, but so far I got nothing. The hitting engine feels far better -- and I dig having a separate "hip check" control along the boards... lining one up right feels quite righteous -- and well-executed ones are rewarding. Everything overall feels tightened up considerably feel-wise. The one thing that's gone downhill is the line change control; the new effect for the line change screen coming up adds an unnecessary lag to it that is annoying.
I admittedly don't quite "get" the Ultimate Team mode yet. Chemistry is beyond me. As shuffled my chemistry was decent but I had players like Malkin on the 3rd line with AHL scrubs on the 1st. In attempting to make lines that appeared to make sense my chemistry went to hell and I couldn't get anything that really worked. I'm unsure how much time I'd spend in that mode. I'm really a season kind of guy. I like playing as the 'Canes as they are.
This is encouraging. I own NHL09 but held off on NHL10.
GAWDDAMN. The AI is dangerous. As Pronger (the big galoot) I had Sharp all lined up and ready to land him on his candy ass. Went for the hit and Sharp had other plans, deking around me making it a 2 on 1 then firing a wrister past Leighton short side. Made Pronger look like a tap dancing fairy. Not that that's hard.
I wish there was replay because I scored the most believable deflection goal. Pass back to left defenseman, whip it across to right defenseman and I look up to see Leino starting to head in front of Niemi. I waited for some space and shot a low slapper (yes, I use manual aim). Leino angled his stick and leaned his body and even his skates looked believable as he redirected it up off the blade of his stick and past for the goal. I was so surprised that Leino did the stick ride for about a second for the "celebration" then stood there casually.
I dig how really hard, high angle passes sometimes deflect off sticks or skates instead of always being received. I love how the AI makes me pay for my positioning snafus.
I want the retail version now, please.
Hit me up for a game anytime you want, Cold. You prick!
AVATAR WIN!
EDIT: I've still experienced the best videogame hockey moments ever. I've gotten deked out of my skates on several occasions, seen the goalies absolutely humiliated with beautiful dekes by the AI, and even drew a delay of game by pressuring Niemi on a dump in when he tossed it over the glass. The penalties are believable, the movements of everyone are smooth and glorious.
The animations have been tightened up. For example, there's a goalie animation when he's trapped a puck in his pads and he looks left and right then stands up and tosses the puck down. Previously the transition between the looking and popping up was jarring. Now some transitions have been added that makes it just right.
They've even decreased the loading times to about 7 seconds from the time you get the game configured to the time you can hit the ice. That's a nice touch.
Here's hoping the music system is the same this year.
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