ESPN Hockey (I can´t be alone can I?)

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:07 pm

[rantI just got back from a stop at the SR boards and could not believe how much negative vibes are being thrown ESPN Hockey´s way. I think it´s the best hockey game ever released so I was shocked to see all of the negativity. I noticed comments about the cpu not scoring at all and I was floored. I play sound defense and the cpu scores on me (All Star level). I tried playing HOF and was down 3-0 after the first period.
 
 You don´t like the camera angles, whatever. You think the cpu just skates in your zone and fires the puck at your net, whatever. I don´t mind the camera angles and I´ve never noticed the cpu carrying the puck in my zone and blasting it at all. In fact a majority of the time the cpu dumps the puck in since I stand them up at the blue line.
 
 Goalie passing accuracy a problem. I guess you suck then because I´ve seen no problems at all unless I make a stupid mistake in the heat of battle. I pass it to the left, the puck goes to the left, I pass to the right, the puck goes to the right. What´s the problem?
 
 I´m sorry to go off on a rant here but I just can´t believe how f#cked up people have become recently in regards to sports games. This game is 50 times better than last years NHL 2k3 yet all people are doing is b*tching and moaning about ESPN Hockey. WTF do people expect? Am I alone in thinking that ESPN is the sh*t? I haven´t noticed too much negative remarks on this forum. Have I lost it? I need your affirmation brothers!!!!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:17 pm

Scoop, as James Brown, live at the Apollo: Are you with me, fellas?
 
 PK, as crowd: YES!
 
 Scoop, as James Brown: Are you with me, fellas? Lemme hear it!
 
 PK, as crowd: YES! Yeah! Yeah!
 
 Scoop, as James Brown: All right, hit it! "Get on up, get on the scene, get on up, like an ESPN NHL machine ... "
 
 Scoop, I´m with you, brother. I´ve played the hell out of this game in the last five days, and I´m still digging the hell out of it.
 
 People need to remember it´s a game. It´s not perfect. No sports game is. But this is the closest I´ve come to pucks nirvana in a console hockey game so far.
 
 Oh, and any excuse I can get to weave "Sex Machine" into a post, I´m going to do it. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_wink.gif"> That song is the sh*t.
 
 Take care,
 PK

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:17 pm

ESPN is the greatest game of hockey ever produced, if you like a sim experience. If you don´t, then go get Hitz Pro and shut the hell up.
 
 I agree with you Scoop...ESPN is great, and I love it. All the haters, need to stop bitching and moaning and go try one of the other games. I too am sick and tired of people complaining all day long about how bad a game is and yet they still own it. I´m the first guy (well after PK) to tell you that if I don´t like a game, it goes back to the store ASAP.
 
 No game will capture the true essence of hockey as well as ESPN...maybe there is a game that´s more ´fun´ but it won´t be more realistic.

lsdean · Post by **lsdean** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:11 pm

Damn PK, that was creative. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif">

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:20 pm

ESPN is great. I like it the more I play. It is vastly improved from last year.
 
 I hear a lot about 1-0 and 2-1 games. My last 4 games have been 4-3, 3-2, 5-1, and 4-3 and I lost both of the 4-3 games!

Jackdog · Post by **Jackdog** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 9:24 pm

Ditto to all above posts. I love this game!!! I got it today and I am into game 22. Damn its tight!!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:20 pm

LS:
 
 I was watching an insanely good show on BET Jazz last night, "Studio Jams," featuring Jeff Coffin, the sax player for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Derek Trucks, Vernon Reid, formerly of Living Colour, and other players, when a James Brown CD commercial came on.
 
 I heard "Sex Machine" in the background, and the song hasn´t left my head since.
 
 Well, it did, but only when I continued to teach my 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son tonight how to sing "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash.
 
 They´re getting good ... damn good. My daughter has almost the entire song nailed, and she plays the fake trumpet between verses by tooting through her mouth in tune. My son really hits the baritone (hell, at least for a squirt) during "Down, down, down" and "burns, burns, burns" in the chorus. But that´s all he can handle now. But he may have mumbled "ring of fire" tonight, wasn´t sure.
 
 Johnny Cash is one of four artists that my daughter can identify immediately when she hears them. The others are Bob Marley, Lenny Kravitz and Shania Twain.
 
 <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_biggrin.gif">
 
 Out,
 PK [ This message was edited by: pk500 on 15-09-2003 19:22 ]

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 10:01 am

Back to the topic at hand, I too am loving this game. Actually, ESPN Football has taken a back seat to this game and here I´m not a huge hockey fan.
 
 What really bewilders me is that hockey isn´t supposed to be a scoring fest. Yes, occastionally you´ll have 6-4, 5-3 type games but generally, you´re more apt to have 2-1, 1-0 games.....but in all honesty the games that have created the most excitement at least for me have been the low scoring defensive battles.
 
 Personally, I believe too many gamers grew accustomed to last year´s Hitz gameplay that they´re much too impatient to play a real game of hockey. This game isn´t going to blow the roof off, but it will force you to play a sim-like brand of hockey. For me, I can´t get into the arcadish games as I once used to. ESPN Hockey is everything I wished for.

Waddupcouzin · Post by **Waddupcouzin** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 1:21 pm

Agreed SportsDan.
 
 I liken hockey to Soccer in that a 1-1 or 1-0 contest can have as much drama or more than a scoring fest.
 
 I too am shocked by the level of dismissal the members of SR have for NHL2K4. I think the game is much better than it´s 2K3 predecessor. I like the camera angles, the graphics are top notch, and the game is very challenging.
 
 I´m beginning to question whether people at SR play games or do they just buy them, play them, complain about them, and then take them back. It´s a disturbing pattern. [ This message was edited by: Waddupcouzin on 16-09-2003 10:23 ]

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 1:29 pm

I couldn´t agree more with the tenor of this thread.
 
 I´m really enjoying this game. I seem to be tired of playing v. the CPU in almost any sports game, and the ESPN NHL online game (for Xbox, anyway) is crisp, and easy to get matchups and all that, as well as playing smooth as buttah (like, 98% of the time for me). There´s no doubt in my mind that this is the best hockey game I´ve ever played, as was last years despite it´s obvious flaws (frustrating though those flaws may have been).
 
 There´s nothing wrong with picking apart the faults of a game, glaring or no; but I think, Scoop, you are right that there is an overall sense of major dissatisfaction in a lot of the posts over there about this one. Just a lot of heavy and deep-seated disappointment going around, which frankly mystifies me.
 
 It´s as if for some reason folks let their hopes get so high that their wishes became almost real to them; get with the program, folks - it´s a game, and it´s meant to be fun. It is by its nature going to have limitations. I mean, do people complain about GR:IT because you can´t take a s*** in the woods? OH MY GOD!!! THAT IS SO UNREALISTIC!!! NO CRAPPING??!!! And then, as is not unusual, people skew their data to fit their hypothsosis, thus the low CPU scoring complaints, or the ´streak in and shoot´ complaints.
 
 I admit it is odd to me that a game would have fewer features than the previous version, eg. camera angles, 5.1 sound, profiles online and so on. There are a lot of such examples in this version I guess. Seems to me though, that a lot of folks have so overracted about those things that they just can´t sit and play the game for what it is.
 
 If ya ain´t having fun, go play something else.
 
 [ This message was edited by: hugo on 16-09-2003 11:39 ]

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:12 pm

"I´m beginning to question whether people at SR play games or do they just buy them, play them, complain about them, and then take them back. It´s a disturbing pattern."
 
 Exactly my thoughts...SR seems to be a place that people go to b*tch and complain more than anything. I have a feeling you´re right though...buy, b*tch, return, repeat. It´s definitely a patter over there. [ This message was edited by: dbdynsty25 on 16-09-2003 11:13 ]

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:44 pm

Not to mention the constant "analyzing" that takes place with every game. Now, I admit I do take to heart many peoples reviews of games, but ultimately it´s yourself who decides if it´s right for you or not.
 
 My general opinion is that most gamers are like many of us posting in this thread. A possible tweaking here or tweaking there of a certain slider and we´re good to go. If you start to over analyze and pick apart everything about the game (while comparing it to real hockey or real football, etc), then you´re in for a rude awakening. I haven´t played one game that full simulates a real sport (High Heat, WE6, and ESPN Football and Hockey have come close.) And it never will.
 
 Who´s to say what´s the appropriate number of shots you have to have on goal to deem it realistic. Just like in real sports, you can never predict before the game what´s going to happen. Heck, look at Lewis for the Ravens. 295 yards rushing. That wouldn´t go over well if it happened in ESPN Football.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:47 pm

It seems as if many people like to bash or nitpick a game to death to sound more intelligent about the actual sport it´s trying to represent.
 
 Even with all the slider posts, while I can appreciate that they may be helpful to some, it starts to seem as if people post them just to impress everyone with their achievement of re-creating the actual sport in the game.
 
 I’m all for intelligently discussing a games positives and negatives, but people do get WAY too deep and tend to lose sight of what the intention is of a video game in the first place.
 
 I don’t know, perhaps since I am getting older and have less time to spend playing a 15 year franchise mode and comparing the stats to actual #’s (actually I never had time and interest for that), I just want to be able to pick up and play a game right out of the box and have fun. To me that means exciting games (with some disappointing blowouts) and some good human interaction playing multiplayer. God forbid if so & so breaks as many tackles as so & so even though in real life he shouldn’t…God forbid that your numbers be off slightly over a simulated 15 year franchise compared to a real life team. That fact that we are even given the option in a game to do that is incredible and should not be totally taken for granted.
 
 I know all is not perfect in these games but I also see a trend of negative posts going on about all these new sports games. Although don’t try to be too positive about anything over there (especially Fever) or DB will put you in your place. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_wink.gif">

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 3:12 pm

"Although don’t try to be too positive about anything over there (especially Fever) or DB will put you in your place."
 
 Nothing against you Spooky...but Fever didn´t do very much positive to warrant such praise. Read and Lead was the only thing that made me play the game...otherwise it´s pretty horrible. Ok, maybe the presentation is pretty good too...except ESPN pretty much blew that out of the water when it was released. [ This message was edited by: dbdynsty25 on 16-09-2003 12:14 ]

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:12 pm

That´s cool DB. To each their own my man.
 
 For my needs, I have trouble finding anything really wrong with Fever this year. Plus I like the whole XSN idea (so far). I think they made a fun game that balances nicely between sim and arcade. They also improved some of the things that made it unplayable for me in the past such as the overly floaty passing.
 
 Again, the older I get, the less time I have to get too deep into these games (even though I keep trying & wishing I could). So what suits me best right now is a game that is fun out of the box and has some fresh perspective and elements to keep me from feeling the ´been there, done that´ phenomena.
 
 I love sports. I love the feeling I get when I have a nail bitter game with a friend over X-Box LIVE. I love the artistry and detail that go into the presentation of video games and watching them evolve every year. I love the new technical advancements for network play and stat/league tracking. I love the fact that I can now play games with friends without having to be right next to them (we all are starting to have families and other major responsibilities). This is why I continue to play sports video games.
 
 I wish I had time to get deep into all these games have to offer, BUT, on the other hand, it seems that those who have the time and effort to get that deep are just ending up frustrated so maybe I am better off... !?!?!?
 
 
 BTW, what was your major beef with this years Fever ???? Just curious.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:40 pm

Let´s see...it´s been about a month since I´ve had the game so I´m kinda just going off the top of my head:
 
 1. The control to me was very off. The momentum seemed to be overdone and I didn´t feel like I had control of the game. This was my main gripe and it´s also the main reason I got rid of it.
 
 2. Running was too easy, even on the highest setting (ESPN is kinda like that, although I´m only averaging 5 yards a carry with Ricky in my franchise).
 
 3. Read and Lead was a great idea, but it was too much for me to handle on an everyday basis. Too many button presses to throw to a single receiver resulted it too many sacks. There needs to be a more simplified way to incorporate this next year.
 
 4. Defense against the pass by the human was damn near impossible. Guys would go into animations and never come out of them in time to even come close to stopping the player catching the ball. This goes back to the control issue.
 
 That´s about all I can think of, but they are all very fundamental things that lead to the enjoyment or demise of said game. In this case, it was it´s demise.
 
 I find ESPN a much more complete game from head to toe, as I did last year as well. There are flaws, of course, but from a control standpoint, it can´t be beat.

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:42 pm

XSN is okay, but ESPN´s PS2 network is even better.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:43 pm

Details? Reasons? Curious to hear your take. Otherwise, this is nothing but flame bait that should be ignored or taken to the IGN boards.
 
 Out,
 PK [ This message was edited by: pk500 on 16-09-2003 13:44 ]

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 4:46 pm

It´s Resin...what do you expect. He´s ´taking me to task´ over at SR right now as well.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 5:15 pm

Thanks for the support guys. It´s nice to know I´m not alone in enjoying the hell out of ESPN Hockey. I still don´t understand everyone´s complaints and I guess I never will. I just replied to Brandos POST OF THE CENTURY at SR about sliders in hopes of understanding the issue better. As for me, I´m basking in the glory that is ESPN Hockey. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_wink.gif"> [ This message was edited by: ScoopBrady on 16-09-2003 19:28 ]

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 8:43 pm

DB,
 
 I have had NONE of those issues yo describe.
 
 Yes there is momentum, but I think it is very well done.
 
 Running is definitely not too easy for me. I have to work for it.
 
 Read & Lead takes a little getting used to but I got the hang of it after about 3 games. I do not see it leading to more sacks than average at all.
 
 My pass defense is really good. I have not encountered what you describe.
 
 Funny how two people can have the opposite reaction on the same game...
 
 Beleive me, I am no MS fanboy ( I couldn´t stand last years version) I have just found the control in this years game to be very much to my liking.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 12:01 am

Another great night of ESPN NHL. I lost 2-4 and won 3-2 in OT. I had the goalies down a notch or two, but I think I am ready to move the goalie sliders back to default Pro (CPU offense up 4 notches and no other adj) or move to All-Star (had a couple great exhibitions last night on that level). Sundin beat me on a breakaway and it was a thing of beauty. I believe people when they say the CPU can´t score, but I´m just not seeing it. I can´t suck *that* bad. I will admit that I have trouble hitting the shot block button, but the CPU does a good job of getting the puck in. When I go to hit them in the neutral zone right before I hit them more than not they will dump it in or quickly pass.
 
 I am getting a lot better at cycling the puck and creating scoring opportunities. This game is substantially better than 2k3.

RAMMZZ · Post by **RAMMZZ** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 9:54 pm

Easily the best hocket game I have ever played. Only game thats any where near as good is last yrs NHL2K3.
 
 The crybabies???let em cry