I think last gen's NHL games were better.

[Ratboy]

Sure, the graphics or physics might not have been as good, but the games were more FUN. I keep a 360 around just to play NHL 15 and it's Be a GM mode is way better than what we're getting 4 years later on better hardware. NHL 08 to 14-15 were mostly good to great games. Special mention to 09 for the EASHL, but a big minus on the curve goal.

I might find an old copy of '14 to play cause I think that was my fav overall last gen. That or '11. (in both of those I managed to use the sliders to make the CPU difficult yet fair to play against, which is a big deal to me in these games.)

The newer games seem more sluggish to me, the older games may have been more arcadish but they're way more engaging IMO.

Seriously EA, step up your game.

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[Turin]

NHL 11 was my favourite.

 

[n00bxQb]

With few exceptions, definitely. NHL 10, 11, 14, 15, and Legacy were decent, IMO, though the pre-NHL 13 games feel dated now.

 

[Cloned]

NHL 11 was the pinnacle. Most active community, EASHL was legitimately tons of fun to play back then.

 

[BruinDust]

NHL 11 was my favourite.

NHL 11 was the pinnacle. Most active community, EASHL was legitimately tons of fun to play back then.

Same, NHL 11 was the last one I really enjoyed. NHL 12 was pretty good but felt like a small step back IMO.

Then along came NHL 13, with the HUT we know now (permanent cards) and the horribly-executed (and still is to this day) glide skating mechanic and mirror-movement AI, and it all went of the rails.

 

[Ratboy]

With few exceptions, definitely. NHL 10, 11, 14, 15, and Legacy were decent, IMO, though the pre-NHL 13 games feel dated now.

As someone who hasn't played 11 in years, how do you remember it being dated compared to 14? I'm trying to decide which one to get, but I'm thinking 14 because the commentary (Couldn't stand Clement and whoever, Doc and Ferraro are a step up IMO) and I always loved the replays in the presentation. I remember there being a weird bug where the puck would bounce against the boards and it would take an extra second for your d-man to collect the puck for some reason.

but also, did 11 have the "authentic" puck size? Little details like that make a big difference to me. I also liked how you could run the goalies lol (I think that option was in 12 and beyond). I do remember being content with the CPU's difficulty level in both 11 and 14. also things like having a fantasy draft available for Be a GM mode are crucial to me, seeing as these rosters are now wayyyyy out of date.

This question is to anyone really, it would be neat to compile what we all liked and disliked about the various versions.

 

[Tak7]

Generally, NHL on this generation of consoles has been very, very poor,

As someone who was pretty satisfied with just a few simple changes as long as I got updated rosters for $60 every year, the lack of innovation over the past few years is utterly numbing now.

The entire franchise feels so.... tired & stale right now.

 

[Hasa92]

They were and even back then the effort EA put into these games was pathetic.

 

[542365]

I liked the GM mode a lot better on previous gen. The contracts are still f***ed even though this is the 5th game of this generation. They haven't fixed it. And morale is a total failure and needs to go away.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Not even close. This game is pure trash. They took out any skill and logic outta hockey

To be good at this game..you have to switch to comps to make your plays

Talk about backwards

 

[Ratboy]

I liked the GM mode a lot better on previous gen. The contracts are still ****ed even though this is the 5th game of this generation. They haven't fixed it. And morale is a total failure and needs to go away.

For sure the new GM mode blows. Turn on owner mode and you can set hot dog prices or renovate for no reason at all. It doesn't add to the experience. I cant think of any benefit to having to balance budgets for things that dont effect your team. Morale is more of a pain than anything. Yeah you can turn them off but both of those modes are implemented poorly.

 

[ek93]

Absolutely. My level of fun has been on a steady decline every year since 11.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Why didn't people like NHL 13?

GM Connected was the most fun I have had out of any NHL game mode.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

Why didn't people like NHL 13?

GM Connected was the most fun I have had out of any NHL game mode.

For me, it was the skating changes. They were completely unnecessary, and ruined the fluidity of the game.

I've only played 19 a few times so far, but I'm happy with how skating feels now.

 

[The Flying Octopus]

Remember when you had to wait to join a club after leaving a club. Miss those days.

 

[Cup or Bust]

I still have an Xbox 360 mostly to play NHL 10. Unfortunately the new gen games look realistic and the players may very well move more realistic, but what good is that if none of the other players on the ice are ever in the right place. I would rather the players move when and where I want them too, it makes for a more enjoyable game. No slider configurations can ever get the game to where I feel like I am playing a realistic game of hockey that produces realistic stats, nor does it stay very fun to play either. Just my opinion though, I am sure many like the newer games.

It seems like a lot of people like NHL 11, is there much difference from NHL 10? I can probably pick it up for a dollar.

 

[kirby11]

I have a 360 since I'm a pretty casual gamer and still have NHL 12. My buddy got an Xbox One recently and we played NHL 18 for a bit. I vastly prefer 12. There are still a lot of issues with it, but at least players could pick up pucks and make 3-5 foot passes. Plus, in 18, it feels like there's no weight to the players. We also had the classic EA ice tilt experience of outshooting the computer something like 40-12 and losing 3-1.

 

[Nuckles]

Yup, the current gen games are pretty terrible. Yeah, they're more realistic, but that doesn't make it a better video game than the previous gen games. The gameplay is slow, boring, frustrating, and has a much lower skill ceiling and higher skill floor. I played the games for hundreds of hours every year from NHL 09-14, but I only played 17 for three months (until the end of the season in the 6s league I was in) and I'll be doing the same with this year's game. I'd much rather play a fun, arcade-y hockey game than a boring, realistic game.

The most annoying part of all of this is that the beta was actually pretty fun with the changes they made to the skating engine thanks to the feedback they took from the "game changers". It was by far the best gameplay they had on the current gen consoles. Then for whatever reason they decided to push out a big patch within a few weeks to revert it back to the slow, boring, frustrating gameplay from the last few games.

To give you an idea of how bad this game is, here's the goals per game per team in the most popular 6s league in the series.

*scoring is up to around 2.39 GPG (per team) since this was first made
**the numbers under each game are the seasons

 

[Ratboy]

Yup, the current gen games are pretty terrible. Yeah, they're more realistic, but that doesn't make it a better video game than the previous gen games. The gameplay is slow, boring, frustrating, and has a much lower skill ceiling and higher skill floor. I played the games for hundreds of hours every year from NHL 09-14, but I only played 17 for three months (until the end of the season in the 6s league I was in) and I'll be doing the same with this year's game. I'd much rather play a fun, arcade-y hockey game than a boring, realistic game.

The most annoying part of all of this is that the beta was actually pretty fun with the changes they made to the skating engine thanks to the feedback they took from the "game changers". It was by far the best gameplay they had on the current gen consoles. Then for whatever reason they decided to push out a big patch within a few weeks to revert it back to the slow, boring, frustrating gameplay from the last few games.

To give you an idea of how bad this game is, here's the goals per game per team in the most popular 6s league in the series.

*scoring is up to around 2.39 GPG (per team) since this was first made
**the numbers under each game are the seasons

They always seem to release patches which make the game worse. They're so dense
Was there any problem in particular that they wanted to change? Doubt it.

:Edit:
But the curve goal in 09 was never patched. Just needed to change the goalies angle a bit. That was a game breaking, massive exploit. EA taketh and EA.. taketh away.

 

[Ratboy]

I've been playing NHL games since NHLPA 93 on SNES. I'm not asking for them to go back to the insanely arcadey games of 2000-2003 or anything like that. I just feel like there's not a good, modern hockey game out there and it's kinda frustrating.

I'd rather play 94 than what they're offering now (and I do on PC ). At least it's fun.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

NHL 11 was my favourite.

NHL 11 is fantastic. I had a ps3 just to play that beauty

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I've been playing NHL games since NHLPA 93 on SNES. I'm not asking for them to go back to the insanely arcadey games of 2000-2003 or anything like that. I just feel like there's not a good, modern hockey game out there and it's kinda frustrating.

I'd rather play 94 than what they're offering now (and I do on PC ). At least it's fun.

If I want something realistic, Ill play either Blades of Steel 2000, NHL Championship 2000, or NHL Faceoff 2001 on the PS1. Classic games play so much better than this current system set up now.

 

[Favster]

Removing the puck from opponents is laughably unrealistic in NHL 19 and it makes the game bland and boring to me. The amount of times I will hit/stick lift/poke check and he keeps the puck is mind boggling and extremely frustrating. It seems like every game they release has 1 glaring deficiency and this year, it's removing the puck which makes it pretty much unplayable.

 

[JuJu Mobb]

Removing the puck from opponents is laughably unrealistic in NHL 19 and it makes the game bland and boring to me. The amount of times I will hit/stick lift/poke check and he keeps the puck is mind boggling and extremely frustrating. It seems like every game they release has 1 glaring deficiency and this year, it's removing the puck which makes it pretty much unplayable.

I personally have no problem with that. It's all about timing, body position and accuracy.

 

[Ratboy]

If I want something realistic, Ill play either Blades of Steel 2000, NHL Championship 2000, or NHL Faceoff 2001 on the PS1. Classic games play so much better than this current system set up now.

These are games I have never tried but I'll check em out, thanks for the suggestions!