NHL 24, the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY OFFLINE Edition

@PernellKarl027 I’m with you on a lot of the things so far in offline. I tried to give benefit of the doubt to start my not moving the sliders or even changing game strategies.

The good-
The arena feels lively finally! For an extended part of the game too. Can’t wait to get to playoffs in franchise mode and hope it ramps up. I wish in the open of the game they’d at least give you the starting goalies stats. I barely look at the boards to notice what’s being said because I’m trying to pay attention to the play. Having replays back for goals as well as other cut scenes so you can line change helps so much. I feel like the replays to go to intermission can add one more though, I always feel I’m getting cutoff one way or another with the D line change.

The bad-
Compared to what I dealt with last year the CPU teammate AI does play better, although I still have a problem with breakouts where it feels like no one wants to go. Too many times my D pairing is leading a rush and it just doesn’t feel accurate. In those cases a turnover happens and the forwards play their spots and the D is all out of sorts because the forwards didn’t go on the rush (I have a post with clips asking devs how to fix). Hitting in offline modes feels no existent. You can line up and hit perfectly and you either bounce off them like nothing happened or you miss completely and they skate right by you. I also love at one point it said I had 10 hits in the first period, I yelled “where??” because I didn’t think I hit anyone to that point. Another bad is when trying to do a line change I can’t skate a player to the doors and off the ice like previous years?? I have a player dead tired so going back on defense I go and take the forward that’s tired (mind you I already had clicked on line change about a minute earlier and they had the puck) and I skate by the doors thinking ok player should be off AND NOPE. I click off thinking it’s been enough time for them to leave and nope I see his tired * trying to skate after a defenseman on the point. I check the replay and I see I’m literally skating into where the door is and when I click off the player just skates back into the play instead of leaving. It’s really annoying when you play with just manuel line changes. The passing icons take way too much time to get up, and when they finally do you’re getting checked into oblivion by the CPU. Last but not least, the Ozone AI feels shotty at times. Too many times on a rush do players stand on top of each other, teammates constantly getting in your way when you’re trying to get free around the boards, and when you’re going D to D on the point, no one goes and stands in front of the net!! No one attempts to try and get open so you’re stuck trying to cycle the puck with all five players just stuck in the mud not wanting to move.

My ugly- Pressure system stinks. I hate how quickly it fills up. Also I noticed it only does a 30 second countdown before going back and having to refill the bar. I only noticed it because TWICE in the Ozone of cycling the puck around I couldn’t get a shot off, or find a shooting lane and the zone pressure just goes away… even though I still have them pinned in their zone. It was baffling. I wish we could turn it off. As for the gage meter on the ice I kind of don’t notice it (even though I play with my camera on dynamic medium and zero shadow with authentic puck size). I’m too concentrated on the puck and the play than the gage now. I’m ok with the goalies, I only notice them flopping around when the pressure gage is full and they have zero to no energy, but I agree with you about the goal celebrations. They totally feel out of place of offline modes. I miss being able to run into the boards after scoring a cross crease goal and having the crowd react (btw that’s been the only goal I’ve been able to find. Zero shots I’ve taken from anywhere on the ice have gone in *puke emoji*. I miss the times in NHL 20 where I can shoot from the slot or from the middle of the faceoff circle and snipe anywhere on a goalie). I wish we could go back to just hitting the buttons on goals to celebrate. I miss hitting triangle (PS5) and doing the special celly for certain players, and hitting R1 or circle for pretty much everyone else. I feel like these take away from the game itself.

Sorry for the long rants. I hope EA sees this and makes changes. I thought last year was the quickest I didn’t want to play this series but this year it’s after day 1. It’s kind of depressing because I would play this game year round until the next one came out. Now it just feels bleak