NHL 13

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:13 pm

I suck at this game! I really do, but I'm sure I will enjoy it for as long as I can stand it. As always I will be ready to jump in with both feet for the amazingness that is the EAHL club play. At least until the college kiddies who play 100 hrs a week make it not fun at all. But hey, I'm an optimist, and I always have hope that the changes to the engine will be enough to make that time come much later.

Hackenbush will be ready. Ice Dragons will rise again. And then fall, but then maybe rise again after that, maybe.

The reality is if I play the game more, of course I should get better and better. But the footie games, especially since I am definitely getting both, and the madden will make it hard for me to put in a lot of single player time with NHL, so I will demonstrate much suckage in the EAHL club. Although I will say the leveling works much more simply than in FIFA, and the drop in games are much more fun and satisfying than in FIFA.

Whatever. Right now the game seems super slow to me, which is not a bad thing. And I have a hard time scoring. But dump and chase does seem to have an upside because I've not really seen the magical pick of the puck off the boards we are used to, so that second guy can knock it loose and you get a bit of that messiness that makes dump and chase viable. Plus I agree, there seems to be a bigger diversity of player speed and agility so the forward on the weak side has the advantage over the defender who has to turn and then get to the corner to gain the puck.

I'd love to play some head to head in this demo. Oh well. And I will say the new modes are intriguing. I'm especially curious about how the online dynasty could work. Co-op OTP with real teams in a dynasty format is enticing but I don't really see how that could actually work with our real life schedules.

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:23 pm

From an EA article last month:

EA SPORTS Hockey League Improvements

In NHL 13 we have revamped some of our matchmaking parameters to help find closer matches in skill and location.

Hopefully this works because when we had matchups of similar skill levels the games were a lot of fun.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:35 pm

vader29 wrote:From an EA article last month:

EA SPORTS Hockey League Improvements

In NHL 13 we have revamped some of our matchmaking parameters to help find closer matches in skill and location.

Hopefully this works because when we had matchups of similar skill levels the games were a lot of fun.

Absolutely.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:39 pm

Zeppo wrote: Hackenbush will be ready. Ice Dragons will rise again. And then fall, but then maybe rise again after that, maybe.

I am ready!!

I just played the NHL Moments Live like 6 freakin times until I beat it. Damn that was a b*tch. Brodeur was unconscious but I finally got him on a rebound. Digging the feel of the game.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:50 pm

Diablo25 wrote:
Zeppo wrote: Hackenbush will be ready. Ice Dragons will rise again. And then fall, but then maybe rise again after that, maybe.
I am ready!!

I just played the NHL Moments Live like 6 freakin times until I beat it. Damn that was a b*tch. Brodeur was unconscious but I finally got him on a rebound. Digging the feel of the game.

Weird. My NHL moments in the demo was the kings vs the coyotes game 6 OT. Hmmm.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:01 pm

Haven't done much single player but head to head its brilliant, really hard to make clear chances , gotta move the puck quick or its poked away really loose play as a result.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:03 pm

All my Live moments games have been between the Kings and Yotes.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:22 pm

Zeppo wrote:
Diablo25 wrote:
Zeppo wrote: Hackenbush will be ready. Ice Dragons will rise again. And then fall, but then maybe rise again after that, maybe.
I am ready!!

I just played the NHL Moments Live like 6 freakin times until I beat it. Damn that was a b*tch. Brodeur was unconscious but I finally got him on a rebound. Digging the feel of the game.
Weird. My NHL moments in the demo was the kings vs the coyotes game 6 OT. Hmmm.

Lol, I forgot it was Phoenix

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:40 am

Wow.. this is sports game of the year territory.

Ok.. a bit premature.

But.. the new skating engine is all of that and then some. The game really feels like a hockey game. Put it on AS and I've seen a little bit of everything, loose pucks, dump and chase, penalties, scrums, offsides, teams being pinned in without being able to give up the puck, breakaways, etc..

What an excellent job they have done this year - especially where it matters most, gameplay and AI. My teammates finally have a hockey sense! Can't wait to see the full product!

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:42 am

Lighting is better.. player differential is much improved.

Oh.. and you broadcast camera people.. NO WAY.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:52 am

I can't draw too many conclusions after just a few periods, but the new skating immediately jumps out. Much more realistic IMO, and more deliberate. Between the greater disparity berween inate player speeds, and the greater top end speed, you need to be careful on defense. I like it a lot.

It also seems to me it is much easier to knock the puck off an attacker's stick if they come at you. All this makes it a much more positional game, which I like.

Lastly, the goalies flop around a lot more which is neat to see. They feel more alive. Also the 5-hole appears a little more open.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:38 am

This demo is stunning me: It's the first hockey video game I can remember in which you're rewarded for playing REAL hockey, not video game hockey.

The skating and momentum engine reminds me of a PlayStation hockey game from more than a decade ago, NHL Championship 2000. That game had a fantastic, realistic, physics-based skating and momentum engine. Too bad the rest of the game, especially the AI, was deplorable.

But NHL 13 has excellent AI. I was ready to snicker at another year of a failed attempt by EA to match all that tasty frosting with a moist, delicious cake. But the boys at EA appear to have baked the entire cake this year.

I'm VERY impressed.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:44 am

I do love the skating. It makes retreating to collect a loose puck and transitioning to a breakout much more realistic than before. I also love that when you're charging up the ice and the puck turns over your player really has to dig in to turn around. Very realistic. I'm really interesting to see how this all plays out in EASHL. Hopefully the backward skating ability doesn't lead to cheese-goal techniques.

I also like being able to whack at a loose puck. I'm not sure I'm doing it right as it doesn't always work, but again, it's very realistic and highly useful now that it's much harder (realistic) to collect the puck off the boards and accelerate away. Better to just slap it around the boards to a teammate.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:05 pm

pk500 wrote:This demo is stunning me: It's the first hockey video game I can remember in which you're rewarded for playing REAL hockey, not video game hockey.

The skating and momentum engine reminds me of a PlayStation hockey game from more than a decade ago, NHL Championship 2000. That game had a fantastic, realistic, physics-based skating and momentum engine. Too bad the rest of the game, especially the AI, was deplorable.

But NHL 13 has excellent AI. I was ready to snicker at another year of a failed attempt by EA to match all that tasty frosting with a moist, delicious cake. But the boys at EA appear to have baked the entire cake this year.

I'm VERY impressed.

Couldn't have said it better myself PK. I can't get enough of the demo. Played that thing where you try to score a goal in OT vs Phoenix and wristed one top shelf with Penner.

Freaking demo is awesome and it really feels like hockey more so than any other sports game feels like its counterpart. It's weird too, on AS difficulty the puck is much more lively to me.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 1:23 pm

Wow I don't think I've seen a demo turn a game from not going to buy to must buy like this is a while.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:18 pm

JRod wrote:Wow I don't think I've seen a demo turn a game from not going to buy to must buy like this is a while.

Between NHL and PES it appears to be the season of the great demo.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:20 pm

I purchased this every year until finally the fatigue set in, and I didn't grab it last year. Glad they seemed to have shaken things up some. Can't wait to try the demo!

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:50 pm

As a casual hockey fan I really had no interest in this until PK and JRod posted their impressions. If JRod is happy it must be a good game.

I preordered it and got my Amazon $15 credit.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:42 pm

Rodster wrote:As a casual hockey fan I really had no interest in this until PK and JRod posted their impressions. If JRod is happy it must be a good game.

I preordered it and got my Amazon $15 credit.

Oh, I haven't played it, I'm just commenting on the amount of DSP'ers basically said their interest in NHL was low. The demo quickly turned that around.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:47 pm

I ordered it from Amazon as well.. No shortage of games coming out to put that $15 towards.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:44 pm

I got lucky and beat the moments scenario in 17 seconds on my 1st try. I won the draw and scored on a great 2-1.

I'm super impressed with the demo.

I wrote some other impressions here: http://www.puckgamer.com/nhl-13-demo-impressions/

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:10 pm

FifaInspected wrote:I ordered it from Amazon as well.. No shortage of games coming out to put that $15 towards.

I just ordered from Amazon also. It's my first time ordering a video game from Amazon. I chose 1 day (release day) delivery. Are they usually good with release day delivery? I might lose it if I don't get this on release day

. Really digging the demo..

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:31 pm

Diablo25 wrote:
FifaInspected wrote:I ordered it from Amazon as well.. No shortage of games coming out to put that $15 towards.
I just ordered from Amazon also. It's my first time ordering a video game from Amazon. I chose 1 day (release day) delivery. Are they usually good with release day delivery? I might lose it if I don't get this on release day . Really digging the demo..

Amazon is AWESOME !!!

I'm a Prime member and their shipping is 99.999% always on time. If you selected release day shipping. YOU WILL get it that day via UPS.

As a Prime member which cost me $79 per year. I get release day shipping for free whereas it cost non Prime members $.99 extra.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:40 pm

Rodster wrote:
Diablo25 wrote:
FifaInspected wrote:I ordered it from Amazon as well.. No shortage of games coming out to put that $15 towards.
I just ordered from Amazon also. It's my first time ordering a video game from Amazon. I chose 1 day (release day) delivery. Are they usually good with release day delivery? I might lose it if I don't get this on release day . Really digging the demo..
Amazon is AWESOME !!!

I'm a Prime member and their shipping is 99.999% always on time. If you selected release day shipping. YOU WILL get it that day via UPS.

As a Prime member which cost me $79 per year. I get release day shipping for free whereas it cost non Prime members $.99 extra.

Thanks for the feedback Rodster! My mind is at ease. $15 bonus credit and it's cheaper than GameStop's overnight!

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:09 pm

webdanzer wrote:I purchased this every year until finally the fatigue set in, and I didn't grab it last year. Glad they seemed to have shaken things up some. Can't wait to try the demo!

I was exactly the same web and its done me a world of good.

Digital Sportspage

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