I think last gen's NHL games were better.

[Ratboy]

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.

They've tried to make the game play with a very loose puck and I get that approach in a sense, because turnovers and puck possession can be an issue for the pros due to the speed the game is played these days. But at the same time your player has trouble picking up the puck in front of the net for an (what should be) an easy rebound shot or something related. It's like the players lose the puck for no damn reason it's something that needs to be addressed.

 

[JuJu Mobb]

Some people don't understand that you have to slow down and let the player slide in this game. You can't always be at full speed. If your left joystick is always touching the edge of the little circle on your controller, you're not playing the game right.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

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

NHL Championship 2000 is known for having the Foxtrax puck, and I think during the time of the PS1, the NHL faceoff series was the main competitor against EA.

 

[Blitzkrug]

The problem with these games is what they did with the AI

From 10-14 (can't speak about 09 since i never played it online), online vs was strictly one versus one. You, and your opponent. The AI was just good enough where it would occasionally bail you out of a bad situation, but for the most part player skill would win the day. I say this as someone who was top 1000 level in NHL 13. I was like...172-52-10 at one point. Great game and when i got beat, it felt like the other guy genuinely deserved to win for the most part.

Fast forward to NHL 15. AI was appallingly bad. Defense was never in position, got constantly burned for chasing and setting up in the offensive zone was a nightmare. People rightfully complained. Next year comes, and for some reason the AI is ludicrously overpowered. They stifiled you in your own zone and the offensive zone with that stupid suction board pin, they could win the game for wussy players if they refused to forecheck (which a lot of them did.) and the fact they would block damn near every shot from the blue line to the inner circles due to the puck seemingly being magnetically attracted to them. It basically made cheesing the only way to play the game at a higher level

19, at beta/launch was legit a step in the right direction. User controlled defense was made both more viable and fun to play since they have you multiple options (well timed poke check, stick lift that actually worked, good positioning, etc) at your disposal. But of course, presumably because all of the "game changers" and people who don't understand hockey is a game played from multiple angles and strategies. Now we're back to almost the same garbage NHL 18 was with the tiresome AI and broken mechanics (puck pickups, puck acting like a superball and refusing to stay anywhere)

Sure you can play 19, but after like...maybe 2 games you feel drained from the fact you're playing against the opposition as his or her AI. It's not to say 11-14 didn't have its issues (EASHL got reallllly exploit-y) but they were light years ahead of what the games are now.

 

[Romkey]

It's incredibly frustrating that the same glitch goals happen every other year. The curl and snipe was a huge issue in 17, was somewhat fixed in 18, and is again a big issue in 19. Also, the backhand-forhand-backhand deke should not work 100% of the time. EA needs to pull their heads out of their asses and actually give us a game that functions like real hockey. My favourite game was 14, I wish they just did a graphic update and rosters to 14 and kept it the same.

That being said, I really like customizing my build in EASHL. The traits are a great idea and I like how they balance your player. On paper its a great game, but on the ice it has severe deficiencies.

 

[John Price]

It's amazing how far we've gotten into the current generation and the game is STILL flawed and basically identical to years past in terms of commentary and presentation. They reuse the same Doc lines every year

"Waffleboarded!"

shoots goal into net after offsides call"He'll pay for that one." (the commentary line the LAST 3 YEARS)

 

[Favster]

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

The easiest puck strips in one on one situations are unrealistic. You can flatten a guy in the corner, he will get back up with the puck before I have time to retrieve it. It's not about timing, it's just very bad physics. The creators of this game need to watch more hockey.


FYI I'm on a pretty good 3's team so I do play the game quite a bit and I get what you say. I'm looking forward to the day where I play hockey and not NHL, if you know what I mean. It's just very frustrating.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I haven't bought an EA NHL game the last few years because it's looked like the same old shit with the same, tired old engine.

I'm having a lot of fun going back and playing NHL 2002 and the older NHL games on PC.

 

[Romkey]

It's amazing how far we've gotten into the current generation and the game is STILL flawed and basically identical to years past in terms of commentary and presentation. They reuse the same Doc lines every year

"Waffleboarded!"

shoots goal into net after offsides call"He'll pay for that one." (the commentary line the LAST 3 YEARS)

"A young woman from Shawinigan got that puck."

 

[rschile]

"A young woman from Shawinigan got that puck."

That's a good line lol. Common sense is that the more arcade style a hockey game is the better. NHL 09 was the best in my opinion I play legacy now its probably pretty similar. Big hits not as many stupid penalties. The people making the game now must not actually play the game. when you play against a guy online you pick your teams before you even meet so i pick team canada every time. and if i dont i just get stick checked non stop lol. the game almost lacks common sense now. they probably cheaped out hired people with programming degrees but lack basic common sense

 

[Blitzkrug]

It doesn't even need to be arcade-y. When you get arcadey you get the crap like NHL 05-08 on the PS2/Xbox generation consoles.

Just literally dig up the old engine and brute force it on to current gen. It'll surely be better than the crap they're working with now.

 

[Tavares2Matthews]

Last gen was 100% better than the games they've put out on current gen.

I went back a couple months ago and tried out NHL 08-13 on Xbox 360 and had a lot of fun.

 

[SUBdrewgANS]

GM Connected was the best feature they ever created. It just needed some fine tuning. They abandoned it too early.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

GM Connected was the best feature they ever created. It just needed some fine tuning. They abandoned it too early.

"Nobody played it".
Their reasoning why. Possibly because it took 3 hours to simulate a week to your next game, not because it was a bad mode.

But hey, everyone get out and earn some outdoor rink parkas! Also buy a one Legend player HUT pack for $85 US.

"Over 200 Legends"
Reveal - Cale Hulse, Cory Cross, Jason Labarbera, etc. etc.

 

[Blitzkrug]

GM connected was the last time i played this game seriously. I actually got booted out of my first league for "glitching." It wasn't so much glitching as everyone was letting me skate into the slot and shoot top corner constantly.

I was like 25-8-2 so it's not like i was blowing everyone away.

 

[JGaudreau]

There are many issues with the new gen but my number 1 issues is the skating is so unresponsive my hands are strained after a few games. It's been this way since they implemented the "new and improved" skating physics system. You just always have so little control and it's so hard to move up the ice with speed my controller is always creaking and shifting and my hands are dead after 2 games.

NHL 14 was the peak. I completely stopped purchasing EA games after UFC2 when my idiot fighter kept throwing hooks when I was trying to jab and I kept getting KO'ed from bad controls, I recommend you all do as well. EA is trash tier gaming.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Another shoutout to 11.

I remember having all my buddies who were playing in the Q at the time on my HUT team but had them all edited to be in the 90's overall. You'd slap the 15 game contract on first and then put the 50 on to get 65 games before their salary went up.

That was fun. It was a way to legitimately build a creative, yet competitive team. Now you simply want the best players in the league.

 

[Tavares2Matthews]

You know you got problems when the old, old games still hold up better than the current games. I'd like to think their lack of creativity is mostly whats holding them back.

They need a complete tear down of that company and bring in people who, yes, want to make money but they understand that they'll make money if their product speaks to the consumer.


NHL 19 isn't exactly speaking to people....

 

[Tavares2Matthews]

You know you got problems when the old, old games still hold up better than the current games. I'd like to think their lack of creativity is mostly whats holding them back.

They need a complete tear down of that company and bring in people who, yes, want to make money but they understand that they'll make money if their product speaks to the consumer.


NHL 19 isn't exactly speaking to people....

 

[Cup or Bust]

I just purchased NHL 11 for a couple of bucks. Between that and NHL 10, I doubt there is much I am missing from the newer games. I find the game play much better. I might get the Legacy edition as well. Nothing really interests me in purchasing NHL 19. Me and my brother played it and laughed more at some of the ridiculous animations and hilarious AI then anything else.

If NHL 20 comes out for PC that will interest me though.

 

[sexydonut]

NHL 94, cause I'm legitimately old, and it actually plays a LOT better than the current NHL 18. Played it when I was supposed to be studying for some lame summer course. Played it when everyone else in Vancouver was rioting downtown. Played it, and didn't think that video hockey games a generation later would be less enjoyable. At least NHL 19 has the sounds and realistically animated NPCs in the arena crowds.

What's the point of making the game realistic when it becomes a slog?

 

[sexydonut]

Just wish EA would publish it on PC, or on Nintendo Switch. They were probably paid off by Sony/MS to have the game on PS/Xbox, as PC has a larger audience and zero publishing costs.

Even more lame when I default to using old school controls. The right stick for shooting sounds good on paper, but I find the SNES/Genesis/DOS era controls to be more intuitive.

 

[HaNotsri]

I blame the animations. The action is more instant when the puck warps to your stick, it also eliminates the weird dead zones. Everything has a weird delay and skating is more like steering a boat than skating. Rocket league is more like hockey than the game EA delivers right now.

 

[Turin]

Some people don't understand that you have to slow down and let the player slide in this game. You can't always be at full speed. If your left joystick is always touching the edge of the little circle on your controller, you're not playing the game right.

I find that was ALWAYS the case and in this game it works the least because hitting is OP now and deking is severely neutered.

 

[Turin]

Played NHL 14 with my nephew the other day and was shocked at how much more enjoyable the gameplay was. It was like a real hockey game instead of a puck bounce simulator where everybody skates like Mark Recchi with shit in his pants.