Disappointed is probably one word I'd use to describe this game. Feels more like a patch to NHL 17 than anything else. TPS is still clunky. It always feels like you are fighting your player to get into position, and if you slip up just a bit, you wind up totally out of control. Still having problems facing the play, lack of VC is not helping. Defense still seems to take a back seat to offense, even with the addition of the DSS. Players with the puck seem to skate on rails while those without are skating with concrete blocks.
I saw someone glitch goal with a between the legs deke twice in a row against a computer goalie. The same player tried this more than once, so I don't know if this is a new thing or not.
Overall I think its time to scrap TPS. Stop adding features that nobody is asking for and start fixing the problems that are still in this game (Skating, Defense, VC, Puck Pickups, Suction Cup Boarding, Agility Boost With Puck vs Without, Menu System, etc.) Being in software myself, it boggles my mind how some of these bugs are not triaged yet, some that have existed in multiple versions of the product. This leads me to believe more time is spent adding new things instead of fixing the current problems in the game.
I won't even get into the debate of preset classes vs attribute based players, but I still believe that was a big mistake to completely remove it. This series seems to be heading backwards instead of moving forward. This will be the first year that I will not be buying this game. I cannot continue to support a path forward I do not agree with, and most of all, that is unenjoyable. It is mostly a sense of frustration while playing. It's a shame too because this used to be a go to game. Maybe someday the series will start moving in the direction the fans of the series would like instead of the way EA believes it should go.
Really, my expectations are pretty low for these games but I still enjoy them. Just kinda take the game for what it is. Beta seemed fun, didn't have an awful lot of time to play but it's about what I expected. Everything did seem a bit better though, marginally that is but still an improvement. I'll still buy.
This year's version kinda reminds me of the NHL 12 of last gen. Wasn't too much different from NHL 11 but we'll see a game changer for NHL 19. Whether its good or bad only time will tell..
Do you want fast paced action at break neck pace? Ridiculous hitting all over the ice? Crazy goals and insane hockey play? Did you play NBA Jam and think, I wish they made a more arcade version of this? Did you find the last Fast and Furious movie too nuanced for you? Then buckle up because NHL 3's will blow your mind. It's over the top thrills while hitting you BELOW! THE! BELT!
And if you're rolling your eyes at what I just wrote, then you'll hate it as much as I did.
i loved NBA jam...but i don't really like basketball.To me hockeys is 6's period.I hate the current format for OT in the NHL.
NHL 3's was okay, certainly not a mode that I'll get much use out of. I wasn't even going to try it but since I got the beta before others I had little choice with no one on.
The game itself feels smoother, it's not a major upgrade but I didn't expect that but I did like the defensive skill stick, I thought it worked well in the versus games I played in.
I thought the goalies were better, they seemed to react faster and smarter to the situations then in NHL 17.
The computer team mate AI seemed improved to me as well. I was able to locate my guys when I looked for them there were very few instances where I wondered where my team mates were. I didn't feel like I had to do everything on my own like in NHL17.
Overall the game felt much much smoother and I can't wait to play the rest of the week and getting the game in September.
Played a game of threes drop in... It was actually a lot of fun. Defensive skill stick is the best addition the series has had in year. Anyone underselling it is not using it to its full potential. You can be way more active on D and open up a world of options. I use it more often than not.
I just can't believe they haven't improved the skating. NHL players should not feel like zambonis. Please please please buff straight ahead speed, acceleration and agility a good deal across the board. It should be fun to skate, not a chore. Player movements should be precise and quick. If I know where I want to be on the ice I should be able to get there, and stay there, no problem.
If the skating engine was improved this purchase would be a no brainer. Defensive players now have the tools to deal with faster, more agile forwards. Hockey is an incredibly fast sport. Make the game reflect that!
yeah i just can't agree, the game is the sloppiest it has ever been. just bouncing pucks everywhere... well except when it really should be.
and i'm sorry but the def skill stick SUCKS. for no other reason than the stupid button setup. should have been free to move the stick wherever (not just fwd/back/sidetoside) and it should be on all the time with right stick. puck chop should still be RB+RS and hip check still RS click. just get rid of the stupid right stick hitting and just use real physics.
the game will get better with practice but it's annoying where they have been taking these sports games with all the clunky controls. i felt like there was more animations taking control than ever.
and mostly i'm disappointed that out of the 100s of things I could list wrong with 17 maybe 1 or 2 were addressed. All the same bugs, all the same problems, blah blah blah. Basically we are paying for them adding a couple of dekes and def skill stick. which is cool but IMO has screwed up a pretty good button setup.
Overall, I like what I see but am somewhat underwhelmed at the same time.
Pros:
-Skating improved since 17
-3's looks like it'll be fun to mix in every once in a while.
-Connection to other players is quick -- no waiting a lifetime to find a game.
-3v3 EASHL is fun and peaked my interest in EASHL again.
-Having 3v3 and 6v6 search options together is a nice touch.
-I look forward to seeing the lower overalls and seeing there impact.
-Defensive skill stick is a welcome addition. It'll take practice but so far so good -- not too OP, not under powered.
-Dekes don't have he invincibility bubble. You can get rocked at any point of the animation -- I love this!
-AI is much better. Great positioning in front of net, makes better passes. I'm impressed.
Cons:
-Dekes aren't quite what I imagined. I would like to be able to hold out my one hand deke and have control of it - like previous iterations. The dekes just don't seem to be as fluid as I'd like them.
-It felt like a 70 overall and a 85 overall are able to do the same dekes equally as well. Not sure if this was just coincidental or not.
-Although 3's is something fun to mix in, it doesn't replace the massive hole that GM Connected left. I can't imagine 3's gets as much volume after the initial release. With that said, I can see it being very attractive to casual players.
-For emphasis, GM Connected please. I'd pay an additional $20 for it as a DLC
Overall, it's been an okay experience. I think it feels different than 17, but nothing groundbreaking. This shouldn't be a surprise because the game is in a good place. I was really hoping for more control with deking.
I'm glad it wasn't focused on HUT. I will continually hope for GM Connected and improvements to franchise mode. I look forward to hearing more about the offline modes as I tend to play these more often than online modes. Thanks for the beta codes, I'm looking forward to release, will be preordering on the 28th
The BETA is NHL 17 with D skill stick. The AI is still behaving like drunks, the skating is the same clunky mess, button inputs still not registering + all the little things like stupid replay angles, player switching, CPU positioning, controlled players jumping into bench, scoring by plowing into goalie, and much much more - it's all there.
NHL 18 will essentially be a small patch. For the price of a full game.
Add Captains and Alternates back to EASHL. Nuff said not gonna type a big reply like some
of these guys. Is it really that hard to add a few lines of code and image files for C's and A's. Come on EA if your going to make a new game every year you have to add "NEW" features to your games.
Increase default online game speed and accel to max 100, hockey is fast, quick, agile. Players shoudnt feel like theyre in sand, it should feel like ice, slippery and fast, fast, fast. Other than that, everything is fun. Havent quite figured where hip checks went to, ill have to look thru the controls again. The new dekes were a chore to figure out but once I learned a few button combos and how/when to pull them off, I felt an accomplishment having some new tricks up the sleeve. Threes is awesome for a quick casual mode, brings some new life into the game. I was able to spend multiple hours in a single game just going back and forth in a game to 10/win-by-2 with moneypucks, very intense. Havent tried out goalie yet but im sure it will be exciting to make a big save on some of the new dangles. DSS is awesome, love being able to angle a streaking breakaway off into the corners on the backcheck and great for pressuring forecheckers outside the slot. Job well done. Still getting the occasional wonky 'spinning the opposite direction of play' on defense sometimes but vision control seems to be improved a bit. Love the new camera cutscene angles, and the small details such as spinning the stick in the hands during faceoff readying, and it seems that player postures on faceoffs (wings/dmen) now look more relaxed and have a few different poses so not every player is looking the same exact hunched over ready to go. I think that having a few 5-man team celly cutscenes would be more welcomed by the community instead of the custom cellys/2-man hug and its been voiced since last year - I propose that an official poll be voted on as to whether to keep the custom ones or have realistic looking team celly cutscenes be implemented. Menus look great and are really cool. Soundtrack so far isnt bad. Liking the addition of 6's or 3's option in EASHL, decreases the amount of partial lobby backouts.
So no more hip checks?... And no more stride dekes
If I am not mistaken, hip checks are still in, was it L1 + click the right stick or something? If it is, it's good there a 'safety catch' like that to prevent accidental clicking which I did a lot.
The beta is a bit of a dilemma for me, I need to play more - I knew preorder was out of the window for me, but now I am wondering is NHL18 worth getting for DSS alone? It depends on what the other blokes are doing in my team. Yesterday the mood was really down and disappointed, so i don't know.
Oh yeah, last night an opponent in EASHL tried some fancy between the legs deke or something and flew straight on his face on ice just on his own. That was priceless!
1) Defensive Skill Stick is a great addition. It's funny though, because this feature was in the game for years now. It seems they've made it more natural and are calling it "all-new" .
2) Hitting slider is not right. I have been happy with being able to actually bump a player trying to go wide, however, in my first game - Toews and Kane both hit by AI Seabrook (yes, both CHI teams) and injured. Injury occurrence needs to be nerf'd a bit.
3) Pass assist is still horrendous. No, I don't want to go to the point when I have a guy cross crease wide open.
4) Acceleration is really off this year. Anchor tied to your **** for the first 3-4 strides.
5) Pivoting causes a severe reduction in speed, which is wrong. If I am moving forward on skates, then pivot, I'm still going just as fast.
6) Stick lift is nerf'd again, just like 17's beta and launch until they patched it.
7) Matchmaking has a few major flaws that need to be corrected before release:
A) Take All-Star/National teams out of ranked play if we cannot see the opposing team prior.
Allow us to filter for ping/latency allowance.
C) Couch Co-Op, my favourite mode online versus, is only for Casual (not ranked). Needs to be fixed ASAP. The default for matchmaking should also be for any amount of players on the opposing team.
8) Change "chop" back to its original control. Clicking down the right stick is unnatural and this was almost as unnecessary a change as when line strategies were moved to R1 (poke check) last year.
9) Puck carrier has movement unlike a player without the puck. It is clear EA is trying to make offence even easier, despite adding the DSS.
10) Defenseman will lock their skates up instead of pivot often, which has always been an issue, especially when their is a transition in the neutral zone.
11) Issue of player going for a change while a pass is coming is still there.
12) Puck pick-up is still horrendous. Love doing pirouettes around a puck.
13) Unnecessary puck pick-up animations still flagrant.
14) Player selection is still f'd. What happened to holding R2 making you a Defenseman? Now it cycles between multiple players I don't want to be, instead of allowing me to anticipate a breakout pass and blow-up the outlet or pick it off.
Don't you think it's very telling that EA doesn't give us the opportunity to play a normal offline game to test out the gameplay?
I mean 3vs3 is completely different from the setting and I don't care at all about online play because it's such a pain to play against all those kiddies just trying to cheese you.
I'm still very upset about the fact that they simply don't care about the requests of roster sharing and that they again won't introduce an in-depth franchise mode like Madden has FOR YEARS.
This will be a very hard decision for me. I love hockey but the series is just stuck in development hell for a long time now.
Played the beta, what a horrible game, mechanics are utter crap, players still turn like trucks, passes dont go where you aim, when you control a player its so broken it doesnt feel like your free to control him, offsides all the time, momentum is absolutly stupid. Nothing to keep from the gameplay, needs to be broken down and rebuild by a company who gives a crap.
This is my opinion, i like a game with a fun gameplay not a game with 500modes but a unplayable unfun gameplay of a copy paste game year after year, still no buying the game this year.
Replies
I saw someone glitch goal with a between the legs deke twice in a row against a computer goalie. The same player tried this more than once, so I don't know if this is a new thing or not.
Overall I think its time to scrap TPS. Stop adding features that nobody is asking for and start fixing the problems that are still in this game (Skating, Defense, VC, Puck Pickups, Suction Cup Boarding, Agility Boost With Puck vs Without, Menu System, etc.) Being in software myself, it boggles my mind how some of these bugs are not triaged yet, some that have existed in multiple versions of the product. This leads me to believe more time is spent adding new things instead of fixing the current problems in the game.
I won't even get into the debate of preset classes vs attribute based players, but I still believe that was a big mistake to completely remove it. This series seems to be heading backwards instead of moving forward. This will be the first year that I will not be buying this game. I cannot continue to support a path forward I do not agree with, and most of all, that is unenjoyable. It is mostly a sense of frustration while playing. It's a shame too because this used to be a go to game. Maybe someday the series will start moving in the direction the fans of the series would like instead of the way EA believes it should go.
This year's version kinda reminds me of the NHL 12 of last gen. Wasn't too much different from NHL 11 but we'll see a game changer for NHL 19. Whether its good or bad only time will tell..
This was moved to clicking down on the right stick and flicking the direction you want to chop the puck.
You probably had a goal that counted as 2. That's intended. It's a power up of sorts you can activate.
i loved NBA jam...but i don't really like basketball.To me hockeys is 6's period.I hate the current format for OT in the NHL.
The game itself feels smoother, it's not a major upgrade but I didn't expect that but I did like the defensive skill stick, I thought it worked well in the versus games I played in.
I thought the goalies were better, they seemed to react faster and smarter to the situations then in NHL 17.
The computer team mate AI seemed improved to me as well. I was able to locate my guys when I looked for them there were very few instances where I wondered where my team mates were. I didn't feel like I had to do everything on my own like in NHL17.
Overall the game felt much much smoother and I can't wait to play the rest of the week and getting the game in September.
I just can't believe they haven't improved the skating. NHL players should not feel like zambonis. Please please please buff straight ahead speed, acceleration and agility a good deal across the board. It should be fun to skate, not a chore. Player movements should be precise and quick. If I know where I want to be on the ice I should be able to get there, and stay there, no problem.
If the skating engine was improved this purchase would be a no brainer. Defensive players now have the tools to deal with faster, more agile forwards. Hockey is an incredibly fast sport. Make the game reflect that!
and i'm sorry but the def skill stick SUCKS. for no other reason than the stupid button setup. should have been free to move the stick wherever (not just fwd/back/sidetoside) and it should be on all the time with right stick. puck chop should still be RB+RS and hip check still RS click. just get rid of the stupid right stick hitting and just use real physics.
the game will get better with practice but it's annoying where they have been taking these sports games with all the clunky controls. i felt like there was more animations taking control than ever.
and mostly i'm disappointed that out of the 100s of things I could list wrong with 17 maybe 1 or 2 were addressed. All the same bugs, all the same problems, blah blah blah. Basically we are paying for them adding a couple of dekes and def skill stick. which is cool but IMO has screwed up a pretty good button setup.
Pros:
-Skating improved since 17
-3's looks like it'll be fun to mix in every once in a while.
-Connection to other players is quick -- no waiting a lifetime to find a game.
-3v3 EASHL is fun and peaked my interest in EASHL again.
-Having 3v3 and 6v6 search options together is a nice touch.
-I look forward to seeing the lower overalls and seeing there impact.
-Defensive skill stick is a welcome addition. It'll take practice but so far so good -- not too OP, not under powered.
-Dekes don't have he invincibility bubble. You can get rocked at any point of the animation -- I love this!
-AI is much better. Great positioning in front of net, makes better passes. I'm impressed.
Cons:
-Dekes aren't quite what I imagined. I would like to be able to hold out my one hand deke and have control of it - like previous iterations. The dekes just don't seem to be as fluid as I'd like them.
-It felt like a 70 overall and a 85 overall are able to do the same dekes equally as well. Not sure if this was just coincidental or not.
-Although 3's is something fun to mix in, it doesn't replace the massive hole that GM Connected left. I can't imagine 3's gets as much volume after the initial release. With that said, I can see it being very attractive to casual players.
-For emphasis, GM Connected please. I'd pay an additional $20 for it as a DLC
Overall, it's been an okay experience. I think it feels different than 17, but nothing groundbreaking. This shouldn't be a surprise because the game is in a good place. I was really hoping for more control with deking.
I'm glad it wasn't focused on HUT. I will continually hope for GM Connected and improvements to franchise mode. I look forward to hearing more about the offline modes as I tend to play these more often than online modes. Thanks for the beta codes, I'm looking forward to release, will be preordering on the 28th
The BETA is NHL 17 with D skill stick. The AI is still behaving like drunks, the skating is the same clunky mess, button inputs still not registering + all the little things like stupid replay angles, player switching, CPU positioning, controlled players jumping into bench, scoring by plowing into goalie, and much much more - it's all there.
NHL 18 will essentially be a small patch. For the price of a full game.
I WILL NOT BUY.
of these guys. Is it really that hard to add a few lines of code and image files for C's and A's. Come on EA if your going to make a new game every year you have to add "NEW" features to your games.
If I am not mistaken, hip checks are still in, was it L1 + click the right stick or something? If it is, it's good there a 'safety catch' like that to prevent accidental clicking which I did a lot.
The beta is a bit of a dilemma for me, I need to play more - I knew preorder was out of the window for me, but now I am wondering is NHL18 worth getting for DSS alone? It depends on what the other blokes are doing in my team. Yesterday the mood was really down and disappointed, so i don't know.
Oh yeah, last night an opponent in EASHL tried some fancy between the legs deke or something and flew straight on his face on ice just on his own. That was priceless!
2) Hitting slider is not right. I have been happy with being able to actually bump a player trying to go wide, however, in my first game - Toews and Kane both hit by AI Seabrook (yes, both CHI teams) and injured. Injury occurrence needs to be nerf'd a bit.
3) Pass assist is still horrendous. No, I don't want to go to the point when I have a guy cross crease wide open.
4) Acceleration is really off this year. Anchor tied to your **** for the first 3-4 strides.
5) Pivoting causes a severe reduction in speed, which is wrong. If I am moving forward on skates, then pivot, I'm still going just as fast.
6) Stick lift is nerf'd again, just like 17's beta and launch until they patched it.
7) Matchmaking has a few major flaws that need to be corrected before release:
A) Take All-Star/National teams out of ranked play if we cannot see the opposing team prior.
C) Couch Co-Op, my favourite mode online versus, is only for Casual (not ranked). Needs to be fixed ASAP. The default for matchmaking should also be for any amount of players on the opposing team.
8) Change "chop" back to its original control. Clicking down the right stick is unnatural and this was almost as unnecessary a change as when line strategies were moved to R1 (poke check) last year.
9) Puck carrier has movement unlike a player without the puck. It is clear EA is trying to make offence even easier, despite adding the DSS.
10) Defenseman will lock their skates up instead of pivot often, which has always been an issue, especially when their is a transition in the neutral zone.
11) Issue of player going for a change while a pass is coming is still there.
12) Puck pick-up is still horrendous. Love doing pirouettes around a puck.
13) Unnecessary puck pick-up animations still flagrant.
There will be more, stay tuned.
RobDangle
I mean 3vs3 is completely different from the setting and I don't care at all about online play because it's such a pain to play against all those kiddies just trying to cheese you.
I'm still very upset about the fact that they simply don't care about the requests of roster sharing and that they again won't introduce an in-depth franchise mode like Madden has FOR YEARS.
This will be a very hard decision for me. I love hockey but the series is just stuck in development hell for a long time now.
This is my opinion, i like a game with a fun gameplay not a game with 500modes but a unplayable unfun gameplay of a copy paste game year after year, still no buying the game this year.
rip NHL
Konami or 2K, please so something.