My Own Feedback On EA NHL
Been playing this game since PS1 days. It got me into the sport. This years game I can say has been pretty upsetting. Half the time the game freezes or lags offline. Then I’m forced to restart my consoles or app. Then there is the drop-in momentary freeze during intro that bugs me. Sadly I can’t play club because I don’t hade time to commit. Community lobbies and indoor games with gear on need to be a thing again. Not this outdoor arcade 6’s where it takes an an hour to find a game people just quit.
Just sucks when you buy a game you think is gonna be worth it just to be disappointed. BAP had a great concept but the lack of presentation, no option to play a full junior career, and now the only being able to choose junior tournaments not allowing the custom roster I made or having the option to choose an NHL team made that mode boring.
Franchise mode I play the most but we need better presentation especially for Stanley Cup finals.
HUT. Cup Chase keeps having random freezes so I gave up on that. The Wildcard ranks take way too long. As for Ranked it’s not bad but the amount of ET opponents I get being in a PT zone makes it unplayable. I even have my ms set….
Gameplay:
Goalies: Why does the left arm on the goalies look so warped during their stance? Never in my life have I seen this happen IRL or in previous games. They also have this issue of wanting to use their elbow during a glove save which I find interesting… Lastly on that goalies if they haven’t faced a shot or face like 1-2 weak ones shouldn’t lose pressure. I find it drains too quickly and often I get drained trying to protect my goalie from flopping around like he is in Timbits hockey.
Players:
Skating: I have noticed they skate with their skates pointed inwards like doing the pizza strategy when you go ski for the first time. This seems to have made them skate like they have to go take a dump but are holding it in until they make the washroom.
Defensive strategy.
Often I drive my opponents to the outside to close off the middle. For some reason my AI defender on opposite side likes to puck watch and leave out of position. I’m then chasing back to block the cross pass. Other times the AI will literally get in my way and slow me down. Some known issues is poke checking or stick lift don’t register. I had this happen against an opponent who was spamming his controller and kept getting the puck. Was quite annoying so I played the body just for them not to move an inch.
Line changes: This happens 9/10 times and it bugs me. My D will change during a rush from my opponent and then I’m back checking to cover the mistake. Defensive players shouldn’t be changing unless the player is going towards the neutral zone and our team is in possession or it’s clear to do so. Also often my team will have full energy and the 4th line decides to come on against the opponents top line? Makes no sense to me.
Next is AI IQ and positioning.
Defence: If the puck is on the strong side the strong side winger should be sharking his check and if pucks in the corner down low he goes to help get possession. Strong side D does the same. Weak side players should not be going deep down low in the D-zone for the puck. Weak side D should be watching the net. Weak side winger should be watching the points and covering also. Often the D is this game play way to offensive and don’t have any defensive IQ while the wingers are always skating away making it difficult to find an outlet. Usually what happens is I then have to play against the neutral zone trap by the time I get the puck and have to reset our breakout to create space and outlets.
Just so much wrong with the gameplay that it’s become frustrating and unplayable
