EA Sports NHL 12

[Danny]

You're right about the lack of improvements over the last 3 years archi, definitely not comparable to what the FIFA development team has achieved in that time frame for sure. My biggest gripe about the NHL series, which pretty much holds me back from buying it every year, is its flawed and clumsy career/GM mode and the awfully primitive AI of your CPU controlled team mates on both defence and offence.
GM mode menu feels very inconvenient to navigate, and the mode is way too simplistic. I feel like a lot of options are missing that are essential to the simulation of a GM job. I know that most casual gamers don't care about it, but that's what you've got the season mode for, where you can simulate a full NHL season without being bothered by all the tasks of a GM.
AI has been awful the last couple of years IMO, way too static on offence, especially visible during a powerplay. And too passive on defence, you pretty much have to cover the puck carrier on your own, sometimes, especially while killing a penalty, you'd like to control the Dman to control the crease and would like to let the other players handle the rest of the work, but that's pretty ineffective since you know your Ai team mates are gonna allow great scoring chances from the slot all the time. It also feels as if the AI enters the zone too easily on the higher difficulty levels, and maintains puck possession in your own too effectively, CPU players seem too agile and their passing too crisp and accurate, which makes the game too hectical and unrealistic IMO.

[Primis]

AI has been awful the last couple of years IMO, way too static on offence, especially visible during a powerplay. And too passive on defence, you pretty much have to cover the puck carrier on your own, sometimes, especially while killing a penalty, you'd like to control the Dman to control the crease and would like to let the other players handle the rest of the work, but that's pretty ineffective since you know your Ai team mates are gonna allow great scoring chances from the slot all the time. It also feels as if the AI enters the zone too easily on the higher difficulty levels, and maintains puck possession in your own too effectively, CPU players seem too agile and their passing too crisp and accurate, which makes the game too hectical and unrealistic IMO.

Honestly the Defensive AI feels better in 12. I noticed it right away. I'd call it the one true improvement from 11, because the new physics engine quite frankly feels and looks exactly like 11.

However, the offensive AI seems exactly the same. To me I'd compare it to the year in Madden where the left the Offensive AI the same and dramatically ramped up the defensive AI -- except not as big of a jump.

I still maintain though that until they fix the endless list of broken things with online/EASHL that they either need ot shelve online and concentrate on offline, or they need to bring the hammer down for how they handle online.

[Danny]

Since you mentioned graphics, they're fine to me, not much of an improvement but I assume they're working close to the limits of the current gen consoles. Presentation is another thing that annoys the hell out of me though. Lack of proper pre-game stuff, like anthems and player presentations by the announcer, lack of precise stat screens prior to and during the game, overly simplistic goal reviews, which are far too rare anyway, and not enough running time for goal horns, goal music and game intro. Especially annoying if you like to download and edit the audio files yourself, like me, so every team has their realistic music. The running time for all of those has actually decreased around 20% from NHL 10 to NHL 11.
As far as offensive AI, haven't played it myself, but heard from various people that it actually is improved. If it isn't there really is no point buying it for me.
Personally I couldn't care less about online mode, either it's just me and my bad luck or most of the people playing FIFA/NHL online are complete d*cks. Agreeing on slider settings isn't an easy thing and I never like playing with the default sliders, I change pretty much everything.

[archibalduk]

I thought some TV company (who specialise in graphics/presentation for sports TV shows in the US) were contracted by EA in order to improve the in game presentation. Yet, it seems barely any different to 09 or 10???

I still haven't decided whether to buy this yet. I don't currently own a copy of NHL (I traded in NHL 09 after the 09/10 season as I wasn't playing it anymore) and really crave an NHL game. However, I don't want to waste money on it if I don't play/enjoy it. I've been playing the demo more and more and can't really make up my mind. Even having played the demo a lot, it still feels like NHL 10.2 (or 09.03 is another way of looking at it). EA hyped the 300+ improvements (leading me to think we'd see the sort of incredible gameplay overhaul FIFA has seen) but alas it doesn't feel very much different - except that you can check the goalies (and to be fair, the defence does feel a little tighter - at least for the AI team - I'm not sure about the AI teammates on the human team though). Having said that, I'm still intrigued about how they've created individual player types so that players will play differently to each other - but if it's as disappointing as the gameplay improvements then it'll probably amount to nothing.

This is why we needed 2K Sports to come in and give EA some competition. The NHL series last saw major improvements when 2K was giving EA a run for its money. It's the same for FIFA. Until EA got their act together, PES was a better game for quite a few number of years. It's interesting that FIFA continues to develop (perhaps thanks to the ongoing competition with PES) whereas Madden and NHL (neither of which have any competitors) have become stale.

[Danny]

Funny/Annoying thing is, I remember some sports games from the old PS1 that had both anthems and starting line up presentation by the arena announcer. And the guy would also announce home team goals properly. You're right about the lack of competiton for EA. I used to play PES a lot, switched to FIFA when FIFA10 came out, love the series now, but sincerely hope for a successful PES, if only as a kick in the ass for EA to do even better next year. 2ks sports games have been amazing, just look at NBA 2k11 these days, probably best sports game ever. We can only dream for that type of hockey game.

[archibalduk]

So has anybody bought NHL 12? I'm really craving a hockey game but I just don't think it's work forking out £38 for it. If I see it for closer to £30 then I might go for it, but it seems prices on all games are creeping up and I just don't think this game justifies the RRP.

Operation Sports have an extremely good review of the game and I'd highly recommend anybody wanting to buy it first read their review (here's the link). The review comprises of a summary review and then four detailed reviews. The gameplay review is particularly interesting.

Operation Sports' conclusion is very similar to ours; it's basically NHL 11 v2.0:

In all, NHL 12 is the best playing hockey game EA has made, at least in this generation of consoles. The career and dynasty modes are very deep, and EASHL and HUT continue to be a lot of fun to play. There are a handful of issues that plague each mode, but the gameplay is great enough to bolster the game’s overall value.

If you are a hardcore hockey fan, do not hesitate to pick up NHL 12. For everyone else, you might want to think twice if you already own NHL 11, but this game is definitely still a solid buy for casual hockey fans.

A user comment below their article is also very useful to keep in mind:

Problem is that the more I play with this game, the more I find things that are close to what I was seeing last year, just not as terrible. For exemple, the AI D won't pin themselves on the board without pressure, but they will do odd things this year like shooting at their own net to change side.

[Danny]

No I didn't get it yet, too much trouble at work currently, not enough time for gaming. Might pick it up next week, will report

[bestrafer7]

I played it all day today, picked it up last night. I've played about 35 games online in the HUT mode and about 45 games on Be A Pro with my CHL player, Mikhail Grigorenko. I will say the only bug I ran into is that when playing an online game, I killed off my opponent's 2 min PP opportunity only to have to replay the entire sequence about three minutes into the game later.. so I just had to kill it off again.

the online game has it's flaws as dekeing the goalie back and forth from either side of the net is still an easy goal as your goalie's AI is still not up to par. I have noticed the goalies are making saves they wouldn't have last year, which is a good thing, you won't see too many 13-2 games like you did with NHL 11. I really like the traffic in front of the net, it adds a little bit more realism to the game. the game overall is an upgrade over NHL 11 in depth, presentation and gameplay and is worth picking up in my opinion (I've owned every copy of the EA series NHL games since 2002 for consoles and I've owned every copy of the NHL 2K games that sega had made) This game is definitely the most up-to-date for gameplay of any hockey game I've ever owned and having the CHL teams is an added plus for me.

Anyone ever play NHL 2K8 for the 360? I loved that games control scheme, it took for McDavid-ing ever to get a hang of, but once you mastered it, it made the game flow like no other hockey game I've ever played.

[archibalduk]

I'm going to sleep on it, but I'm very very tempted to buy this for the XBox if I can find it for a good price...

Bestrafer - thanks for your views. How do you find the individual player characteristics/traits that have been introduced this year? Do they make any difference?

[bestrafer7]

How do you find the individual player characteristics/traits that have been introduced this year? Do they make any difference?

To be honest, I have yet to play a versus match online or even single player yet with an NHL team. I'll let you know when I test it out on Tomas Holmstrom today.

Here is a video explaining how it should work:



Mod note: I've embedded your Youtube link into your post.

[archibalduk]

I released earlier today that I had a voucher for my local Game store which expires the end of next week. So I went into Game to pick it up but was shocked to see it selling for £44.99 ($71 US)... There is no way any game is worth that much money. Game is selling it for £37 online but the voucher is not valid online. So I think I'll wait a little while until the price is nearer £30 / $50 US.

[Danny]

Varying between 65 and 70 € in local media stores here. 57,99 on Amazon.

[archibalduk]

Varying between 65 and 70 € in local media stores here. 57,99 on Amazon.

Whoa that's extremely expensive!! And I thought £44.99 (= €51.55) was expensive!

[Danny]

Yeah I got used to it, console games have always been that expensive over here. I shall be getting my copy tomorrow nonetheless, got a buddy who doesn't like paying full price for new games but is always willing to pay up to 40 for used ones in good condition. So if I don't like it I'm gonna sell it within a week or so.

[archibalduk]

The first week of sales of NHL 12 has broken its franchise history (link). However, its 416,000 sales doesn't really compare with 1.4m NFL 12 sold or the 2.6m FIFA 11 sold in their respective first weeks.

[archibalduk]

NHL 12 has gotten a bit of a slating over at Operation Sports about the much hyped "Full Contact Physics Engine": http://www.operationsports.com/features ... s-realism/

This looks very similar to the physics/contact issues with the FIFA 12 demo (see Brian's post here). If you want to see what I mean, check out this crazy video: http://www.easports.com/media/play/video/93151606

OS sums it up pretty well:

Remember NHL 12's pre-release hype video where EA Canada told hockey fans, "Size does matter"? Sorry, EA, but size doesn't matter until NHL 12's hip check is fixed. Because whether your player is 5'7", 120 pounds or 6'9", 275 pounds, he falls like a giant redwood tree by simply brushing against hip checks. Alternatively, he can spend the entire game crouched down with his keister in the air scoring ridiculous one-hit KOs.

Even if your player is skating far away from the play and nowhere near the puck, he can be taken out with a hip check and interference won't be called.

[Danny]

Got it Tuesday and have to say it's quite underwhelming. Changes are marginal and there are still the same issues that have already been present in NHL09.

[Calv]

Have decided against getting 12; I'll probably trade in 11 for F1 2011 as well

[archibalduk]

Reviews/reactions from users on Operation Sports have been very mixed. However it seems that more of those who play offline and happier with it than those that play mostly online.

Apparently a patch is planned to fix the physics problems. I still don't understand how these issues were not picked up in testing - either for NHL or FIFA.

It doesn't sound worth the £40 but if I see it for around £30 then I'll probably buy it. I haven't owned a copy of NHL since 09 and so I'm hopeful that the three years' worth of improvements will be enough to keep me happy.

[Danny]

Online is a disaster. From what I've seen you can only use the default slider settings, which are horribly unrealistic. Playing online completely feels like that pond hockey mini-game 2k sports once had in their NHL game.

[archibalduk]

I encountered a bit of an anomaly when playing the demo yesterday. I was near the crease and took a shot with the backhand. The puck went behind the goalie, hit the post, went along the goal line (although clearly at least an inch or two behind the goal line) and then the goalie grabbed it out of the goal and froze it. It wasn't called as a goal; it merely went for a faceoff. However, it was clearly behind the line and even the instant replay confirmed this.

[dabo]

Maybe the ref didn't see it.

I don't understand why there is not 4 refs in the game.

[Danny]

Got it Tuesday and have to say it's quite underwhelming. Changes are marginal and there are still the same issues that have already been present in NHL09.

I have to say, after fiddling around with the sliders for hours I'm starting to enjoy it. Still torn whether to keep it or not, as it still has the same flaws NHL09 already had, lack of penalties, hardly any hooking/holding penalties, teammates standing in your way during breakouts, winger taking the faceoff on the PK instead of the center if the faceoff is on his side etc. On the other hand I really feel the AI is improved, I like the new one timers, one knee animation is sexy, and you can't just one time it from any postion anymore, the CPU doesn't try those cheap unrealistic one timers anymore either, it only works when the shooter is in a proper position, goalies are pretty good and finally the difference between star players and dime a dozen third liners is more visible, provided you have set the respective slider to the maximum or close to it. Defensive AI of your teammates is indeed better, so you don't have to take care of everything on your own when defending. Grr don't know what to do

[archibalduk]

To be honest, I'll most likely buy it just for the improved AI. I'd be interested to hear what your slider settings are by the way.

[Danny]

yeah sure I can do that tomorrow